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RHEV vs VMware vSphere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 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

RHEV
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware vSphere
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
452
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of RHEV is 3.9%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere is 19.4%, up from 18.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Sujeet-Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is scalable and affordable, but it lacks features, and it is not easy to manage
Management of RHEV is not as easy as VMware. Some features do not work. The product does not provide features similar to VMware’s VMotion. After creating the cluster, the VM is moved to another node if we move down. However, the VM does not move the parent node automatically. It has to be moved manually. VMware moves it automatically. RHEV moves it to the parent node only if we restart. Everything can be handled in VMware through the GUI. However, in RHEV, some things can be managed through UI, and others cannot. We have to troubleshoot and use CLI. A few features of the product do not work as well as those in VMware.
Neeraj Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines virtualization and has features like high availability and vMotion
The primary use case is for virtualization, including the implementation of vSphere, vCloud Foundation, vCloud Director, and cloud automation with vSphere My customers, particularly SMBs, mainly utilize High Availability (HA), DRS, and vMotion features. The vMotion feature is beneficial for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Red Hat is the most stable system."
"The price is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's much cheaper than, for example, VMware."
"The solution makes migration easy."
"We find the ease of use of this solution to be invaluable. It is user-friendly and integrates well with other software."
"When you purchase RHEV, you are essentially buying a subscription license. This license can be integrated with various client types, including these integrations with the subscription."
"I can control and manage everything. I know everything that's cooking inside. This is the best part for me."
"There aren't any bugs on the solution."
"The solution is stable."
"VMware vSphere has useful tools for management and support."
"Performance; We have seen a performance boost because we have been able to more dynamically allocate either memory or processors."
"It has high clustering and availability features. These features are not found with other hypervisors."
"The scalability is good."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is the ease of deployment. It's also user-friendly and has been on the market for more than a decade, so it's a leading technology in hypervisor solutions."
"The most valuable features are the seamless HA with vMotion and being able to run vCenters in HA mode."
"The web console is the most valuable feature for me. Because no matter what happens with the server, I can still get to it with the web console."
"It's a very nice tool to be able to reduce your footprint, consolidate servers, and accumulate several servers in a high-density configuration."
 

Cons

"Specifically, enhancements in managing virtual machine migrations, cloning, and the creation of different VMs could further optimize its functionality."
"RHEV can improve by keeping pace with new features and new enhancements. They should not be halted or delayed innovation because over the past quarter the enhancements have not been as fast as they have been previously."
"It would be better to have more patches, especially kernel-level updates, live and online so that we can keep the business up and running during this period."
"The Administration of the Oracle database and the SAP ERP needs improvement."
"While everything needs improvement in some way, I have no specifics."
"The documentation is not as good as it should be."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly."
"The UI should be more interactive with additional features."
"It is expensive."
"The hardware cost is high."
"In addition, I think some of the backup features or the prediction features can be improved."
"The setup is easy. However, the configuration expansion can be difficult. The full implementation took three to four days. This included the move from physical servers to virtual ones."
"Monitoring information could always be improved."
"They must work on the price, as well as the technical support."
"The management of the product demonstration is weak."
"I would like more Amazon stuff inside of VMware."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of RHEV is high. It is an open-source solution, the price should be less. The price should not be on par with a solution, such as VMware. It's not more or equal to VMware, it's less, but the difference should be more substantial."
"I believe we pay on a yearly basis."
"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"We have to pay extra for vulnerability and fault tolerance."
"I would say the price is acceptable."
"This is an open-source solution."
"Its price depends on the use cases."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
"The price of the solution could be cheaper compared to others."
"My advice when it comes to pricing is that pricing is a bummer, especially when it comes to SnS coverage."
"The pricing is justified. It may be a bit high, but the features are worth it."
"I don't like the price because it's too expensive."
"Considering the number of users, it is pretty reasonable. I am not aware of any costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"I currently use the yearly licensing option, and I think that the pricing is fine for this solution."
"It is easy to understand the licensing of vSphere. We have standard enterprise licensing."
"The cost of the licenses is acceptable and we haven't seen any major increases from the vendor in the time we've been using it."
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Comparison Review

VL
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Answers from the Community

SB
Feb 7, 2024
Feb 7, 2024
Hi Sridhar, This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you: FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels o...
See 2 answers
Anne Cubarrubia - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 21, 2023
Here is a comparison of the two hypervisors, RHEV (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization) and VMware vSphere: RHEV Pros: Open source Highly scalable Cost-effective Cons: Not as mature as VMware vSphere Not as widely supported as VMware vSphere VMware vSphere Pros: Mature and widely supported Wide range of features Easy to use and manage Cons: Not open source Can be expensive Some prefer RHEV because it is open-source and cost-effective. However, VMware vSphere may be the better option if you need a hypervisor with a wide range of features and support. As to which solution consumes fewer resources, RHEV is a lighter-weight hypervisor than VMware vSphere, so it consumes fewer resources. However, you must remember that each hypervisor's resource consumption depends on the configuration and workload.
RG
Feb 7, 2024
Hi Sridhar,    This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT  in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you:  FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels of functionality sold in editions with different price points Bare-metal performance for virtualized applications Application high availability (Enterprise Plus version only) Prioritized high availability so critical workloads are restarted first Desktop and server virtualization One infrastructure for managing desktops and servers Add-on products for desktop virtualization: VMware Player, VMware Horizon View, VMware Horizon DaaS, and VMware Horizon Mirage Remote access to virtual desktops through SPICE Full support for multimedia applications Management server Included in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization subscription Requires purchase and license of VMware vCenter and database support Virtual machine density 40 cores: 4,682@288 40 cores: 3,824@234 160 cores: 14,061@864 160 cores: result not available Self-service portal Allows users to provision and manage VMs and templates with a browser Requires the purchase of VMware vCloud Automation Center Integration with OpenStack technology Supports the open Neutron pluggable networking API Supports VMware’s NSX networking plug-in Supports the OpenStack image service for a unified image repository between virtual and cloud platforms Does not support the OpenStack image service
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RHEV?
The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The success of your setup depends on how well you plan.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for RHEV?
It should be more affordable and available. It should target companies, especially new ones, that need servers with capacities of around 518+ units. It should be priced appropriately because it mig...
What needs improvement with RHEV?
We should improve how we manage storage domains and make more comprehensive control available through the command line. RHEV needs to consider those points that can be integrated. The REST API shou...
What is IOMMU?
DEEPEN DHULLA did explain well IOMMU. IOMMU has to be activated at the bios level. It exists on Intel and AMD platforms. It is used a lot inside virtualization platforms like VMware VSphere. It pr...
Why KVM??? Help please!
We use VMware and KVM. We find that KVM is a lot simpler to use and it provides the virtualization we need for Linux and Windows. For us, VMware does not offer any advantage. Moreover, KVM is free.
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.
Abu Dhabi Ports Company, ACS, AIA New Zealand, Consona, Corporate Express, CS Energy, and Digiweb.
Find out what your peers are saying about RHEV vs. VMware vSphere and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.