Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs VMware Tanzu Platform comparison

Pivotal Cloud Foundry and VMware Tanzu Platform are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Pivotal Cloud Foundry is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0, while VMware Tanzu Platform is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8. Additionally, 93% of Pivotal Cloud Foundry users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of VMware Tanzu Platform users who would recommend it.

Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Read 15 Pivotal Cloud Foundry reviews

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6,345 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

VMware Tanzu Platform

Read 21 VMware Tanzu Platform reviews

2,088 Views
1,651 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Pivotal Cloud Foundry

VMware Tanzu Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Pivotal Cloud Foundry and VMware Tanzu Platform compete in the cloud computing category, focusing on application deployment and infrastructure management. VMware Tanzu has an upper hand in integration, especially with VMware products, while Pivotal Cloud Foundry is recognized for its ease of use and application management.

Features: Pivotal Cloud Foundry is known for seamless CI/CD integration, strong Java support, and robust scalability. It ensures excellent performance with minimal downtime. VMware Tanzu Platform is distinguished by its strong Kubernetes management, robust observability features, and comprehensive integration capabilities with VMware products.

Room for Improvement: Pivotal Cloud Foundry can improve by simplifying setup, enhancing documentation, and offering better migration support to public cloud environments. Additionally, there is a demand for richer service offerings and more cost-effective runtime operations. VMware Tanzu needs enhanced integration with non-VMware solutions, simpler management of diverse environments, and better disaster recovery features. It could also focus on improving customization options and cost efficiency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PCF is flexible, supporting hybrid and private cloud environments, with customer support that often receives positive feedback despite setup challenges. VMware Tanzu supports both hybrid and public cloud deployments and provides strong customer support through VMware, though integration complexities can create challenges. PCF is noted for simplicity, while Tanzu offers strong infrastructure support.

Pricing and ROI: Pivotal Cloud Foundry's costs are typically based on cloud size and licensing, with some users finding it expensive compared to other options, yet reporting good ROI for its scalability and deployment capabilities. VMware Tanzu's pricing is perceived as high, suitable for larger enterprises, with some discounts, offering robust bundled solutions but more expensive due to its comprehensive features. Both platforms are seen as pricey but provide strategic advantages that improve ROI.

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

Buyer's Guide

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

April 2025

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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

Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

8th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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

Vasundhara Joshi

Senior Software Engineer at Wells Fargo

Seamlessly scalable since applications written in Java and .NET do not create issues for its users

Regarding the setup phase, every step is a hurdle. With Pivotal Cloud Foundry, I won't get any proper resources for that. Even if I Google it, there is no proper solution for Pivotal Cloud Foundry. However, if we go for Azure or some other cloud, we can get a lot of information. I believe there is not much information for Pivotal Cloud Foundry since it may be some license issue. If you go for Azure, the migration process is straightforward. Since we have been given 10 GB of space in the public cloud, we are utilizing it in our company. So, we are trying to deploy our application on the cloud, and for us, it is like a trial process for now. From our total application rate, I can say that only two to three percent is on Pivotal Cloud Foundry. Currently, half of the code is in the shell script, which is causing issues. Also, most people in my organization have worked on Java-related code. For most of the applications, they are using the same, that is, shell script and AUTOsist, and so we haven't migrated yet. So that is the reason that we are planning to opt for a hybrid model so that we don't have to migrate completely to Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

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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…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Pivotal Cloud Foundry is very robust, especially for building Java."

"It is a scalable product...We are not facing any particular issues since most of the applications in our company are written in Java and .NET."

"We find its stability and scalability valuable."

"It supports CI/CD, and is integrated with the CI/CD very well."

"The most valuable feature of Pivotal Cloud Foundry is the UI, it is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its ability to scale. The services that connect to the database are also very good."

"Pivotal Cloud Foundry is very easy to use compared to other cloud technologies. It has a very good performance."

"The solution is stable and resilient. In our company, we do not even see any challenges with the solution."

More Pivotal Cloud Foundry pros

"We never experienced any problems with scalability."

"The Day 2 operations support is the most vital feature"

"The most valuable feature of VMware Tanzu Mission Control is the management functionality of the cluster life cycle. Additionally, the solution integrates well with other vendors, such as Velero for backups and Sonobuoy for compliance. Additionally, it works well in multi-cluster environments."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ability to check the flow of all the different variants within our applications."

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

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

"Tanzu is easy to upgrade and scale, whether we're talking about horizontal or vertical scaling. It is as smooth as possible without any downtime. The platform maintenance, upgrading, and operations part is very smooth."

"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."

More VMware Tanzu Platform pros

Cons

"Pivotal Cloud Foundry doesn't have certain advanced features."

"I'd like to see a larger service offering."

"Pivotal Cloud Foundry is not scalable, infinitely, because when you install it on a set of virtual machines it is very hard to scale. It's easy to scale on an application level, but not it is not similar to if you were using Amazon. Amazon you can scale thousands of applications."

"It should offer more security features."

"In the next release, I would like to see easy integration with external tools."

"In the next release, they should offer additional applications for the databases, and improve the deployment experience."

"There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future of Pivotal Cloud Foundry."

"The user interface should be simpler to navigate because it t can take time for users to learn it."

More Pivotal Cloud Foundry cons

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"We want to see a new feature that helps build more security architecture like Zero Trust Security or shifting left in Kubernetes."

"Customers have noticed a considerable price increase after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom."

"Tanzu provides better manageability as compared to OCP, but when it comes to tagging it with other products, it's a bit rigid. If I have to bring in any new product or something out of the box from a different vendor, working with Tanzu becomes a little difficult. For example, if I want to use the F5 services, I have to add one more layer of Avi, but I don't want to do that. If I have a list of the products that I want to use, such as for firewall services, with Tanzu, I will have to go through another layer, which creates complexity."

More VMware Tanzu Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Pivotal Cloud Foundry could improve. However, in this category of solutions, they are all expensive."

"You're paying for the number of virtual machines you want to install in the installation."

"The price of Pivotal Cloud Foundry is based on the customer's requirements. However, the price is comparable to other similar solutions."

"Licensing is on a monthly basis and right now we pay $24/month. There are no other costs over and above that."

"The pricing is on the higher side and there are cheaper options available."

"We do pay for the licensing cost because we have opted for a private cloud setup. So, it is a cloud setup, and we have to make payments based on the cloud size. I do not consider it very costly when comparing it to the market."

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

"The solution is bundled in with Cloud Foundry so the pricing is not independent."

"One of our Spanish customers told us that VMware Tanzu Service Mesh is a very expensive product for their data center."

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

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

"The license for VMware Tanzu Application Service is expensive. The license should be cheaper."

"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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

39%

Manufacturing Company

18%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which would you recommend - Pivotal Cloud Foundry or OpenShift?

Pivotal Cloud Foundry is a cloud-native application platform to simplify app delivery. It is efficient and effective. The best feature is how easy it is to handle external services such as database...

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What do you like most about Pivotal Cloud Foundry?

I find the ease of deployment and management of microservices to be the most valuable features. The platform also has good auto-scaling capabilities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pivotal Cloud Foundry?

I would say it is around a nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. Just short of Oracle. It's sort of Oracle cloud.

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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

Microsoft Azure vs Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Compared 32% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Compared 31% of the time

Google Cloud vs Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Compared 11% of the time

Cloud Foundry vs Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Compared 3% of the time

More Pivotal Cloud Foundry Competitors

Rancher Labs vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 17% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Kubernetes vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs VMware Tanzu Platform

Compared 4% of the time

More VMware Tanzu Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pivotal Cloud Foundry

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

VMware Tanzu Platform

April 2025

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Also Known As

PCF, Pivotal Application Service (PAS), Pivotal Container Service (PKS), Pivotal Function Service (PFS)

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

Overview

Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF) is the leading enterprise PaaS, powered by Cloud Foundry. PCF provides a cloud-native application platform that allows you to continuously deliver any app to every major private and public cloud with a single platform. PCF is proven to accelerate feature delivery with higher developer productivity and a 200:1 developer to operator ratio. PCF's built-in security and self-healing capabilities reduce risk in your app portfolio while maintaining high-availability at scale to keep customer facing systems online even in the most challenging circumstances. pivotal.io

VMware

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

Humana, Citibank, Mercedes Benz, Liberty Mutual, The Home Depot, GE, West Corp, Merrill Corporation, CoreLogic, Orange, Dish Network, Comcast, Bloomberg, Internal Revenue Service, Ford Motor Company, Garmin, Volkswagen, Solera, Allstate, US Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, ScotiaBank

Verizon, Cerner, Zipcar, Avarteq

Buyer's Guide

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs. VMware Tanzu Platform

April 2025

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