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Hyper-V vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Hyper-V
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
142
Ranking in other categories
Server Virtualization Software (3rd)
VMware Workstation
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Virtualization solutions, they serve different purposes. Hyper-V is designed for Server Virtualization Software and holds a mindshare of 14.5%, down 15.7% compared to last year.
VMware Workstation, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), holds 17.0% mindshare, up 13.1% since last year.
Server Virtualization Software
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Ananth Narayana Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost-effective and good for small workloads while addressing update-driven challenges is needed
I use Azure Monitor and other monitoring solutions to support clients in Accenture's managed services. We support multiple environments, primarily on cloud platforms like Azure and AWS, and also on-premises environments with operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Solaris, among others…
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The simplicity and intuitiveness of the platform. It was a very simple adaptation, if you have any experience in virtualization."
"One of the most valuable features of Hyper-V is ease to use."
"It runs our most critical workloads and supports all our branch offices."
"I like that it's easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from how my company uses Hyper-V for replication."
"The interface is quite good."
"The virtualization aspect of the solution functions similar to VMware is one of its most valuable features…It is a stable product."
"We can perform maintenance on equipment during the day because we can live migrate all of the machines from one server to another."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
"Great at solving connection problems."
"The platform’s most valuable feature is snapshot."
"It's really easy to build testing environments with VMware Player."
"The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease to create a development environment. When you have different ongoing developments, you often need to create a lot of different development environments. With this workstation solution, you can have a development environment for all the things you develop."
"The initial setup is simple and takes only five minutes to complete."
"The tool’s GUI is very user-friendly."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support, you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution."
 

Cons

"Traditional architecture, such as converged infrastructure, should be done away with"
"The management of Hyper-V could improve, there is a lot to improve in that area."
"When one server or one virtual machine fails, or one is turned off, the virtualization stops, and we have to initiate again with human intervention."
"It needs to improve the handling of the amount of storage."
"The product can be a bit difficult to use."
"I suggest improvements in platform support and performance considerations for Hyper-V."
"It needs to improve compatibility with third party software."
"It might make it easier to move VMs across Hotmail hosts. This application process make it a little bit easier."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"One improvement is mouse emulation. Some people in the office want to use a five—or seven-button mouse like they're used to at home, but they can't with the workstation setup."
"The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"They could add more integration between them, and compatibility with the standard virtualization format."
"VMware Workstation’s scalability could be improved."
"Its networking features need improvement."
"The solution freezes sometimes."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Hyper-V is expensive."
"The licensing is good for a data center environment."
"I do not have experience with pricing or licensing of the product."
"The licensing is pretty straightforward."
"The license is free."
"The product is a bit expensive, but it is worth the money."
"Licensing cost depends on the edition you choose. There are two main options: Standard and Datacenter. With a Datacenter license, you can only create two virtual machines that are covered by the license itself. You can create more VMs, but they won't be licensed and could result in charges during an audit."
"For us, it is free, so it was a prime factor for choosing this solution."
"You need to pay for a license, but I don't think it costs that much. I think it's a one-time payment."
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive tool. I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low or good price."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VMware Workstation's costs are lifetime."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
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Comparison Review

it_user234735 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 10, 2015
Hyper-V 2012 R2 vs. VMware vSphere 5.5
I was won with Hyper-V 2012R2 recently and the table below based on customer RFP (edited). This articles all about technical, there is not related with TCO/ROI, licensing cost, “political”, etc. Another to noted is the Windows Server 2012 licenses is based on 2 socket CPU, meanwhile…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
35%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does KVM compare with Hyper-V?
KVM is better. But let's just look at the software instead of judging. Hyper-V was a free solution from Microsoft to virtualize Server or Client OS as it is a feature on Windows Server since 2008 a...
How does Proxmox VE compare with Hyper-V?
One of the best things about Proxmox VE is that it is open-source and very inexpensive. You get all of the same features as with the more well-known products. Proxmox VE is very easy to deploy - it...
What do you like most about Hyper-V?
The initial setup is not difficult at all. It is very easy.
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM Workstation primarily to test environments to determine how well a solution will...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Large customer base from all industries, all over the world. Two major Hyper-V customers are Telefonica and EmpireCLS.
Akademiska Hus
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