IBM Public Cloud vs VMware Tanzu Platform comparison

IBM and VMware are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 6.3, while VMware is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of VMware users who would recommend it.

IBM Public Cloud

Read 17 IBM Public Cloud reviews

3,902 Views
2,933 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

VMware Tanzu Platform

Read 21 VMware Tanzu Platform reviews

2,088 Views
1,651 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Public Cloud

VMware Tanzu Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

IBM Public Cloud and VMware Tanzu Platform compete in cloud and application development. IBM Public Cloud has the upper hand in terms of cost-effectiveness and enterprise security, while VMware Tanzu offers advanced features that justify its higher cost.

Features: IBM Public Cloud offers AI capabilities, scalability, and enterprise-grade security. It allows ordering custom hardware and supports serverless functions with IBM Functions. VMware Tanzu provides robust Kubernetes support, integrates seamlessly with vSphere, and allows comprehensive application monitoring and management.

Room for Improvement: IBM Public Cloud could enhance its documentation clarity and broaden its specialized app development support. It could improve its integration capabilities with third-party tools. VMware Tanzu can focus on simplifying setups for less complex applications and perhaps explore cost reduction strategies for smaller enterprises. Additionally, Tanzu could further enhance its user interface for even easier navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Tanzu offers streamlined container-based deployment with solid documentation and responsive service support. IBM Public Cloud provides user-friendly deployment and reliable customer support, though its documentation can lag behind Tanzu’s in clarity. Tanzu's container focus contrasts IBM’s comprehensive approach.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Public Cloud presents a clear pricing model beneficial for businesses seeking lower setup costs, thus offering strong ROI. VMware Tanzu, despite its higher initial costs, provides significant ROI through robust modernization capabilities and efficiency over time. IBM’s solution is cost-effective for scalable solutions, while Tanzu’s ROI is driven by its advanced app and infrastructure management features.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 847,772 peers since 2012

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

IBM Public Cloud

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Platforms (6th)

VMware Tanzu Platform

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (13th), Cloud Management (25th), Development Platforms (3rd), Container Management (3rd), Service Mesh (7th), Agile and DevOps Services (2nd)

Featured Reviews

Shivakumar Kuppannan

Founder & CEO at Star Systems India Private Limited

No hidden charges, 100% stable, and allows us to have bare metal servers for dedicated workload

It pretty much has all the features. There are many applications and features, and because of that, we need to walk through or study all the material and do hands-on. We need clear documentation or support for using IBM Public Cloud. The UI is fine, and everything else in terms of usability and configuring the cloud is also fine. The only thing is that when we're stuck or get an error, we need some technical support. Normally, for any cloud, we get a lot of information on the web, but that is missing in the case of IBM Public Cloud. We need some technical support documents. That is the only thing missing in IBM Public Cloud.

Read full review

DarshanChaudhari

Solutions Architect Hybrid Cloud Practice US/Europe at Tech Mahindra Limited

Empowers seamless connectivity and integration through APIs while offering robust auto-scaling

I am involved in IT services and we provide a solution to customers. We work with VMware, Nutanix, OpenShift, and Microsoft Hyper-V The Tanzu platform is highly available, scalable, and flexible. It offers native services for autoscaling and integrations through APIs, allowing seamless…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The beauty of cloud service providers, especially public cloud service providers, is that they are scalable every time when you need them because their payment model is pay-as-you-go."

"For non-complex applications, the IBM Cloud works fine and the price is much lower than the competitors."

"An advantage of IBM Public Cloud is the bare metal server. We can take the bare metal server. It's not shared with anyone. We can deploy our applications without sharing them with anyone. That is an advantage of IBM Public Cloud."

"The availability is second to none. Customer support is very good."

"The initial setup was very easy. It's quite straightforward. Deployment took about fifteen minutes. Everything is well organized."

"It provides robust analytics and management tools to give customers complete visibility into their environment and infrastructure."

"This is a predictable and dependable service."

"It's straightforward, has a good environment and is cost-effective."

More IBM Public Cloud pros

"The most important thing about the solution is its flexibility."

"I have multiple Kubernetes environments within my environment. TMC gives me a single pane view, which is good for managing everything."

"The most popular feature of VMware Tanzu Mission Control is its graphical user interface for describing network policies on the Service Mesh, which is highly integrable with other tools commonly used in supply chains such as security."

"The observability platform and end-to-end service portal provided by Tanzu are the most valuable features."

"The initial setup is easy."

"A feature we find valuable is that other products can also be integrated with Mission Control. This means that we can see the status of specific clusters, as well as view the monitoring application logs all from one point."

"There are a lot of services available in VMware Tanzu Application Service, such as databases and application servers. You have everything you need in one application and you do not need to search outside of the solution."

"The Tanzu platform is highly available, scalable, and flexible."

More VMware Tanzu Platform pros

Cons

"They could improve on customizing reporting capabilities."

"It could be more secure."

"It will be challenging to implement if you do not have any experience."

"The product should offer more computing, similar to Amazon."

"While they have about 99% of what we need, the only exception, perhaps, was the push notification feature that was discontinued. They delayed the replacement product."

"Maybe performance enhancers and reports could be better improved. If they do so, it would be better. Of all the drawbacks I saw, this would be the biggest enhancement."

"There is not a lot of support for this solution, which is something that needs to be improved."

"The solution needs to be more autonomous. It should let the DL go to allow for more jobs on the cloud. It could have a better interface as well."

More IBM Public Cloud cons

"The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions such as HPE."

"VMware Tanzu Service Mesh could add better integration with other cloud platforms, such as vRealize Automation or VMware vCloud Director for cloud providers."

"The implementation is not easy, it is very complex and can take a day or two to complete."

"It is not easy to build a solution with containers. It has a graphical user interface, but you need to have a lot of knowledge of Linux and how to work in the command mode. Its support can also be improved. Currently, its biggest disadvantage is that it is a new product, and the clients prefer to go for a solution that has been in the market for a long time. There are not that many people who know this product."

"The infrastructure is quite challenging."

"Addressing the high upfront costs could improve the product. Implementing a subscription-based model with tiered service options could make it more accessible to a broader range of customers."

"This product doesn't have a GUI. In order to use it properly, I need to connect it to a new GUI or build a GUI to manage it — it's pretty difficult."

"Tanzu could provide more granular control over whatever networking is being done on the containers. I would also like to see a slightly more detailed view of application-level tracing. I'm referring to the connections between different microservices. If they added a service-matching feature, that would be helpful for the customers to build or be more effective."

More VMware Tanzu Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the trial version of this solution, so we have not paid anything."

"Pricing is not as fair as Amazon or Azure."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."

"IBM has a lesser price compared to other cloud service providers like Azure and AWS."

"IBM Public Cloud is pretty cheap. They have an ongoing free tier that basically won't expire, so as long as your solution is small enough, you can have a test set that you can use for demos, which will cost you almost nothing."

"In order to be competitive, you have to commit to a contract for at least one year, but you pay a fixed monthly fee."

"It pretty much has a standard price. There is no hidden price with IBM Public Cloud."

"The licensing fees are straightforward and predictable."

More IBM Public Cloud pricing and cost advice

"It is not the most expensive option, and I believe the capabilities align well with the value it provides."

"I would recommend that businesses look into the full price for their requirements. The price is high, but there are some open-source add-ons that can be used for customization while keeping costs down, although these might not be suitable for everyone."

"The solution is only for large or medium size enterprises because it is expensive."

"VMware Tanzu Mission Control is cheaper than Red Hat OpenShift."

"The price of VMware Tanzu Mission Control is greater than that of Red Hat's competitor solution"

"The product is not expensive, but it is not cheap."

"There are different licenses available. You have to upgrade your license if you want to scale the solution more."

"The least expensive licensing cost for VMware is around $350 per core."

More VMware Tanzu Platform pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which PaaS Clouds solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

University

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud?

The front end is not pervasive, so it is very difficult get the status of your current services or account from a mobile device.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Public Cloud?

The most valuable feature of IBM Public Cloud is the AI integrations.

See all answers

Which is better - OpenShift Container Platform or VMware Tanzu Mission Control?

Red Hat Openshift is ideal for organizations using microservices and cloud environments. I like that the platform is auto-scalable, which saves overhead time for developers. I think Openshift can b...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware Tanzu Application Service?

The solution is integrated very well with a lot of other systems. Also, its GUI is very good.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Application Service?

Since I have a developer team, they use the solution for testing purposes.

See all answers

Comparisons

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 35% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 34% of the time

Amazon AWS vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

Dell ECS vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Google Cloud vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Public Cloud Competitors

Rancher Labs vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Kubernetes vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 8% of the time

More VMware Tanzu Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Public Cloud

April 2025

Download IBM Public Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Tanzu Platform

March 2025

Download VMware Tanzu Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM Bluemix

Tanzu Application Catalog, Application Platform, Application Service, Hub, Mission Control, Service Mesh, Build Service, Concourse for VMware Tanzu

Overview

IBM Cloud is a full-stack cloud platform that spans public, private and hybrid environments. Build with a robust suite of advanced data and AI tools, and draw on deep industry expertise to help you on your journey to the cloud.

IBM

VMware Tanzu Platform is designed for cloud-native development and management of Kubernetes, CI/CD processes, microservices, and containerized workloads. It supports deployments both on cloud and on-premises, providing centralized management via Mission Control.

VMware Tanzu Platform offers seamless integration with vSphere, ESX, and vSAN, supporting centralized cluster management and lifecycle management. The platform provides a GUI for monitoring CI/CD pipelines and network policies, enhancing multi-tenancy and Day 2 operations. Users can easily manage Kubernetes clusters, monitor applications, and integrate with tools such as GitHub, GitLab, Cloud Foundry, and Azure. It ensures compliance and security for service providers, financial institutions, and businesses.

What are the key features of VMware Tanzu Platform?

Integration with vSphere, ESX, and vSAN: Enhances compatibility and flexibility.
Seamless Cluster Management: Centralized control over Kubernetes clusters.
CI/CD Pipelines and Network Policies: Simplifies monitoring and management.
Multi-tenancy Support: Facilitates resource sharing among multiple users.
Comprehensive Lifecycle Management: Streamlines deployment and scalability.
Observability Platform: Provides enhanced visibility and control.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in VMware Tanzu Platform reviews?

Centralized Management: Simplifies operations and reduces manual effort.
Enhanced Compliance and Security: Meets regulatory requirements.
Flexibility in Deployment: Supports both cloud and on-premises options.
Seamless Integration: Works with multiple vendors and tools.
Developer-Friendly Environment: Improves productivity and innovation.

Industries such as financial institutions, service providers, and businesses requiring rigorous compliance and security deploy VMware Tanzu Platform. These entities benefit from centralized management, streamlined DevOps processes, and integrated tools, enhancing their capabilities in cloud-native developments and containerized workloads.

VMware

Sample Customers

Uvionics Tech, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alpha Modus, Inventive, Web Business Consulting, FindBrok, SilverHook Powerboats, United Way of Allegheny County

Verizon, Cerner, Zipcar, Avarteq

Buyer's Guide

IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM Public Cloud vs. VMware Tanzu Platform report.

See our list of best PaaS Clouds vendors.

We monitor all PaaS Clouds reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.