Sunlight vs VMware vSAN comparison

Sunlight.io and Broadcom are both solutions in the HCI category. Sunlight.io is ranked #28, while Broadcom is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5. Sunlight.io holds a 1.4% mindshare in HCI, compared to Broadcom’s 7.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Sunlight.io users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Sunlight

Read 2 Sunlight reviews

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987 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

VMware vSAN

Read 234 VMware vSAN reviews

18,505 Views
12,028 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Sunlight

VMware vSAN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

VMware vSAN and Sunlight compete in the hyper-converged infrastructure solutions category, focusing on high-performance storage and computing capabilities. VMware vSAN seems to have an edge due to its extensive integration with the VMware ecosystem and seamless storage solutions for virtual environments.

Features: VMware vSAN offers integration and scalability within VMware’s suite, robust data protection, deduplication, and compression. Sunlight provides a lightweight hypervisor, better storage performance, and lower resource consumption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware vSAN deployment integrates with existing VMware environments, offering ease through familiarity for users and comprehensive documentation. Its customer support is extensive due to VMware’s established network. Sunlight deployment focuses on simplicity and quick installation, ideal for rapid edge scenarios. Although responsive, its customer service lacks VMware’s global reach.

Pricing and ROI: VMware vSAN involves a significant setup cost associated with its comprehensive features, leading to a higher ROI within a VMware ecosystem. Sunlight provides a cost-effective solution with lower initial costs, offering strong ROI through efficient resource usage in specialized environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Sunlight vs. VMware vSAN Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sunlight vs. VMware vSAN

August 2026

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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

Sunlight

Ranking in HCI

28th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMware vSAN

Ranking in HCI

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

234

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the HCI category, the mindshare of Sunlight is 1.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSAN is 7.9%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
VMware vSAN	7.9%
Sunlight	1.4%
Other	90.7%

HCI

Featured Reviews

RajeshKANUMURY

Chief Executive Officer at GniYes Inc.

Performs well, effective, and has responsive remote technical support

Sunlight is a scalable solution. It supports on-premises and distributed deployments, as well as public deployments. It has a single pane of management so I can manage all of my VM installations in a distributed manner. It also has a footprint, that allows me to operate on Edge. If for example, you have a retail shop with 2,000 locations and they use a networked point of sale system, or if you are Chipotle and they have so many locations and they have to use a backend system at each location. At the moment, these are all standalone systems that operate with very little connection to the central. We could, however, connect and create a network using Sunlight. We can virtualize and run with Edge thanks to Sunlight. This allows us to operate and obtain high-end computing on Edge for retail. Sunlight is a startup. I am not sure how many users they have, but we have been using it constantly and using the technology to bring in customers.

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ShyamikaThamel

Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium

Managing mixed RAID workloads has improved data protection and delivers strong performance

VMware vSAN can be improved in certain areas. In cases involving our large data stores with large VMs, we experience some latency, not during normal operation, but during database backup operations. We observed latency due to buffer issues from the top-of-the-rack switches. These issues are mostly network-related because all storage data traffic travels through the network. I have recently used Nutanix, and I observed that Nutanix provides better performance than VMware vSAN due to its data locality features. VMware vSAN is now providing data locality, but we did not use that option. If VMware vSAN provides additional features in the next release, such as the VM balancing feature called DRS on the cluster that VMware previously had, it would be beneficial. With DRS, VMs can move easily from one node to another within the same cluster. Nutanix does not provide that flexibility. When placing a VM on a cluster in Nutanix, the placement uses a balancing component. After that, the VM remains on the same host. If any contention occurs on the CPU or memory side, the VM stays in place until contention happens. If issues occur, the VM migrates to another host while transferring all objects to the same host. This is how their data locality is maintained. When a VM moves to any host, it moves with all VM objects. VMware vSAN does not currently offer this option. If a VM moves to another host, it accesses the disk object through the network, which increases latency. VMware vSAN now offers an option to select data locality, but it does not function like Nutanix. This is why some latency remains. If VMware vSAN can improve this feature, it would be very helpful and VMware would regain its top position.

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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

"It supports the latest technology of NVMe SSD, which is PCIe-based SSD. It has a very good IOPS performance as compared to vSAN. For the same system, I get 1,000 IOPS with vSAN, and with Sunlight, I am able to get almost 10,000 IOPS. In terms of features, it has almost all the features, such as HA and centralized dashboards. It can be managed centrally, and the visibility of the system is very good. They also have very good technical support and customer or partner training."

"The performance and small footprint of this solution are its most valuable features. I am able to obtain and use more than 90 percent of the physical hardware capacity."

"If I had to use VMware or Nutanix, the same application would take three nodes and provide 400,000 IOPS, or input-output operations, but with Sunlight, I can get four million IOPS for the same price, allowing me to run an application on much less hardware."

"To give you an idea, we spend roughly 50% less on equivalent storage by using VSAN to replace our more traditional SAN architecture."

"This will definitely reduce your TCO by at least 50%."

"The most valuable features are secure IOPs and LAN security."

"The lower skill cost of maintaining it meant that we could do more with the people that we had."

"vSAN is scalable for us. If any additional capacity needs to be included, we just add to the host and configure the vSAN cluster."

"It's the kind of solution that is very easy to use, which may be its most valuable aspect for our organization."

"The performance has exceeded our expectations and exceeded our traditional converged infrastructure."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

More VMware vSAN pros

Cons

"My recommendation would be to add this technology to Azure, Microsoft Azure so that we can bring it to the market, or deploy it on public clouds such as Microsoft Azure and Google. It is currently only available on Amazon's public cloud."

"Its reporting and dashboards need to be improved. It currently has very basic reporting options. It should also be made easier to deploy on Unix operating systems. It is easy to deploy on Windows and Linux, but it is currently not easy to deploy on Unix."

"It lacks the bells and whistles that are typically associated with Amazon Services or Nutanix."

"While VMware vSAN is quite comprehensive, if we are running multiple infrastructures, applications, databases, and other elements, having a diagnostic tool to identify the actual problem area, whether application-side or infrastructure-side, would be beneficial."

"The customer service is good but there is a cost for it. It does not come free."

"On the DevOps side, if there could be more automation it would be more helpful."

"I was not sure about its stability because we have a big SAN shop and I got the impression that it’s good for small offices and not the larger ones."

"This is quite an expensive solution."

"The platform's cost affects the business. This particular area needs improvement."

"Anytime I have encountered issues with stability, it usually was the result of a poor design or poor implementation."

"I love VMware – it’s allowed us to virtualize our server infrastructure, but I haven’t tested the stability of VSAN extensively yet."

More VMware vSAN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an operating cost for the VDIs, which is an additional cost. However, the licensing fee is half that of VMware or Nutanix."

"What made us go with this solution was price point. When you can utilize existing storage infrastructure, and not have to continually purchase new SAN products out there that are going up in price as time goes by, then it's a wonderful thing."

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

"It is not a subscription model. It is a purchase model, but it is very important that you also buy technical support from VMware. This is probably the only disadvantage of vSAN. It depends on the use case, but it can be very expensive."

"The product's price is not high. The tool is available at a normal price."

"The product is quite expensive, regarding the open source solution."

"The solution requires a license. The payment is on a yearly basis and It is not overly expensive."

"Cost-wise, the Nutanix licenses were cheaper, but in terms of the hardware, there was some contention around it. So, in terms of implementation, the way Nutanix was projecting the implementation on their end was that there were a lot of open-source admin platforms. vSAN is a licensed product in VMware, and Nutanix was proposing a KVM solution, which is open source. That's why their pricing was a bit cheaper, but when we were trying to compare it with an enterprise version of their management platform, it boiled down to the VMware vSAN being most effective in the long run."

"VMware vSAN is an expensive platform. We purchase its yearly license."

More VMware vSAN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

11%

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	101
Midsize Enterprise	58
Large Enterprise	135

Questions from the Community

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What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?

While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...

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How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?

HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...

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How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?

We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...

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Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

Azure Local vs Sunlight

Compared 6% of the time

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform HC Series vs Sunlight

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StarWind HyperConverged Appliance vs Sunlight

Compared 5% of the time

Huawei FusionCube Hyper-Converged Infrastructure vs Sunlight

Compared 5% of the time

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VxRail vs VMware vSAN

Compared 10% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware vSAN

Compared 10% of the time

Everpure FlashArray vs VMware vSAN

Compared 5% of the time

NetApp AFF vs VMware vSAN

Compared 5% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs VMware vSAN

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCI

July 2026

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Buyer's Guide

VMware vSAN

July 2026

Download VMware vSAN product report

Also Known As

No data available

vSAN

Overview

Sunlight offers tailored solutions for businesses aiming to optimize their operations through innovative technology, providing enhanced performance and efficiency.

As a leader in technological advancement, Sunlight provides tools that enhance productivity, ensuring seamless integration with current systems while maintaining high adaptability. With an emphasis on performance, it supports businesses in navigating the complexities of modern technologies, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition.

What are the most important features of Sunlight?

Scalability: Easily adapt to changing business demands without sacrificing performance.
Integration: Blend effortlessly with existing systems for minimal disruption.
Security: Protects data with robust security protocols.
Customization: Offers tailored solutions to meet specific business requirements.

What benefits should users look for in Sunlight reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs through optimized resource allocation.
Enhanced Productivity: Streamlines processes, allowing staff to focus on core tasks.
Reliability: Ensures consistent performance across all platforms.
Support: Provides comprehensive customer service for a seamless user experience.

In specific industries, such as finance and healthcare, Sunlight is implemented to manage large volumes of data accurately, ensuring critical information is processed effectively and securely. It assists in achieving compliance with industry regulations, promoting a trustworthy reputation.

Sunlight.io

VMware vSAN is renowned for scalability, speed, and management ease. Its performance equals traditional SANs, offering fast speeds with diverse disk types at a reduced cost, ensuring VM access amidst hardware failures, and integrating effortlessly with VMware tools for straightforward setup.

As a leader in virtualization solutions, VMware vSAN offers high-performance storage comparable to traditional SANs, allowing SSD-like speeds with a mix of disk types. It integrates into VMware tools, leading to easy setup and policy-driven management, leveraging diverse storage policies, deduplication, and compression for enhanced efficiency. It's especially valued for its ability to scale storage and applications affordably, supporting growth without heavy initial investments. Despite the advantages, areas for improvement include encryption, UI, hardware compatibility, and affordability for SMBs, with notable resync and performance monitoring challenges. Compatibility issues with non-VMware environments and complex updates and support are critical points highlighting a need for improved management interfaces and troubleshooting to enhance user experience.

What are the key features of VMware vSAN?

Scalability: Allows easy scaling of storage and applications without significant initial investments.
Speed: Rivals traditional SANs, offering SSD-like speeds.
Management: Seamless management through integration with VMware tools and policy-driven frameworks.
Resilience: Ensures VM access during hardware failures.
Efficiency: Offers deduplication and compression to optimize storage use.

What benefits or ROI should organizations consider in reviews?

Cost-Effectiveness: Supports horizontal and vertical growth without heavy costs.
Integration: Enhances cloud infrastructure and VDI with easy integration.
Automation: Provides automation for storage and compute consolidation.
Availability: Ensures high availability for VMs and workloads.
Performance: Known for strong performance suited for diverse workloads.

VMware vSAN is implemented across industries for virtualization and cloud infrastructure enhancements, being a cornerstone for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and the management of VMs. It supports major workloads like ERP and hyperconverged infrastructure, widely respected for its performance, seamless integration into VMware's ecosystem, and cost-efficiency, particularly appealing to small and medium businesses without extensive storage infrastructure investments.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Lavazza, Infraspace

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Buyer's Guide

Sunlight vs. VMware vSAN

August 2026

Free Report: Sunlight vs. VMware vSAN

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