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VMware Workstation vs VMware vSphere comparison

The compared VMware vSphere and VMware Workstation solutions aren't in the same category. VMware vSphere is ranked #2 in SVS , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 19.8% mindshare in the category. VMware Workstation is ranked #2 in VD , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 16.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of VMware vSphere users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of VMware Workstation users who would recommend it.
VMware vSphere
Read 449 VMware vSphere reviews
  • 36,496 Views
  • 30,140 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
VMware Workstation
Read 54 VMware Workstation reviews
  • 10,580 Views
  • 7,466 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

VMware vSphere and VMware Workstation compete in the virtualization category. VMware vSphere holds the upper hand in enterprise-level capabilities due to its robust management of large-scale virtual environments, while VMware Workstation is favored for desktop-based operations and cost-effectiveness.

Features: VMware vSphere offers robust enterprise-level capabilities, high availability, and scalability catering to large-scale virtual environments. VMware Workstation is noted for its ease of use, suitability for testing and development, and resource efficiency tailored for individual use.

Room for Improvement: VMware vSphere could improve its simplicity in integration and offer better licensing options. Users also suggest enhancements in customer support responsiveness. VMware Workstation could benefit from adding more advanced features, supporting larger networking functionalities, and improving its scalability for more complex use cases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware vSphere presents a complex deployment process suitable for significant installations, with mixed reviews regarding customer service. VMware Workstation provides easier deployment requiring minimal infrastructure modifications, though its customer service could also show increased responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: VMware vSphere incurs higher setup costs and significant investment but promises substantial ROI for large organizations. VMware Workstation, on the other hand, is a budget-friendly option providing satisfactory ROI for smaller-scale or individual uses.

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Categories and Ranking

VMware vSphere
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
449
Ranking in other categories
Server Virtualization Software (2nd)
VMware Workstation
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Virtualization solutions, they serve different purposes. VMware vSphere is designed for Server Virtualization Software and holds a mindshare of 19.8%, up 18.6% compared to last year.
VMware Workstation, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), holds 16.9% mindshare, up 14.4% since last year.
Server Virtualization Software
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Vikas Dhumale - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 18, 2024
Offers good performance and is useful for banking systems
Speaking about the application deployment process, I work at the L1 level in my company. In my company, the L3 is a different department that manages the application deployment process, and most of them go for tools apart from the ones under VMware to manage the VMs. I am only creating new VMs and assigning RAM space, and if something comes up, then I create new RHEL-based systems. When it comes to the application deployment process, my company manually deploys the applications. For automation purposes, our company uses Jenkins to collect the logs and provide a GUI with the help of a username and password to the end user, after which they can collect the logs from Jenkins. I work at an L1 level in my company. The integrations and infrastructure-related areas of the product are managed by another team in my company. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Nowadays, people don't prefer to go for cloud-based solutions. Most of the companies prefer VMware as they want some level of security in the environment. VMware allows users to have in-house products. Most companies or banks are not moving over to cloud-based tools. VMware is used in banking systems. I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
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Shambhu Narayan Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 22, 2023
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
Currently, we are creating storage, and we are using multiple machines. We use the solution for production purposes, and we are creating Linux and Windows machines VMware has included graphical uses and many features in VMware Workstation. VMware Workstation is easy to manage and understand. It…
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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

"An easy way of providing near-zero downtime services, the operation of the instances between clustered services, and providing the projected SLA for our customers."
"It offers a good return on investment because its maintenance and subscription costs are very durable."
"We've found the High Availability and flexibility to be important."
"The ability to to virtualize systems and run those virtual workloads with a fewer number of servers is tremendous."
"The most valuable feature of VMware vSphere is the ability to work in a big system infrastructure."
"Valuable features really depend on different projects. We are using the traditional infrastructure based on VMware vSphere. We are also using the high availability (HA) and Distributed Switch features to extend our network and switch between different hosts. The VMotion and SVMotion features are very essential for us to relocate the storage of virtual machines to different storage or vSANs. We are using VMotion and SVMotion features several times of the day. We are also using another VMware product to replicate a lot of solutions to a second replication site."
"The stability of VMware vSphere is very good. It has high resiliency, it is one of the best solutions on the market."
"Ease-of-Use; The solution is very simple to use and to manage. Updates are simple. The biggest feature that enables the ease of use is the fact that you can update via the web interface. With a couple of clicks, the update is done; no manual intervention, you just click Update and it automatically reboots the server for you and you're back up and going again."
More VMware vSphere pros
"We are able to simultaneously run multiple operating systems in a single machine and have virtually no performance hit."
"The technical support is good."
"I like that it's easy to use. It's easy to deploy virtual machines. You have to insert your ISO and the image of your OS and configure it. They provide a step-by-step guide, and you have to follow it. In the end, you have to start the machine, and that's all you have to do. I liked that they synchronized the mouse, keyboard, and everything. When you finish the installation, it directly links to your laptop. This makes copying and pasting things from my laptop inside the virtual machine easy."
"Instead of relying on dual-boot operating systems, I can utilize open-source tools within my infrastructure. This approach allows me to create an in-house cloud platform suitable for testing. VMware Workstation enables me to perform tasks across various operating systems using a single device. It has helped me save time."
"I have found this product excellent for test/dev environments. This is 90% of what I use this product for."
"It will not harm any of the computer settings to run a specific program. For example, if a program needs a specific security policy, we don't have to use the shared configuration. We have an individual copy of Windows installed on the virtual machine, so anybody can access that. It helps us a lot."
"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."
"VMware Workstation is great for migrating and patching operating systems."
More VMware Workstation pros
 

Cons

"Response time could be improved."
"The initial setup is a bit complex."
"The performance of the solution could be better and there could be an extra level of security."
"There needs to be more integration overall. That would be quite helpful."
"The solution's technical team is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"It could use a smaller learning curve."
"The ability to run ARM based VMs on an x86 platform for testing purposes. With the growing use of SBCs running on ARM architectures for IoT devices, it would be very useful if developers could build and deploy VMs running operating systems like Raspbian used on Raspberry Pi devices on their existing x86 ESXi environments. Even if this is not possible through some form of emulation, the ability to add ARM hypervisors to vSphere environments would be very useful. This will enable more rapid development cycles for customers just getting started with IoT but already existing vSphere users."
"There should be a bit more flexibility in terms of the hardware we can use with the product."
More VMware vSphere cons
"The dashboard can be improved."
"The product could provide the features available in Microsoft Hyper-V."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"The support can be improved."
"The product is outdated."
"The solution should provide a guide on its installation."
"VMware Workstation uses more resources like CPU and disk space, especially the CPU, which is a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"Installing VMware Workstation isn't so easy. It's highly complex compared to Windows. I rate it four out of 10 for ease of installation. Setting up a remote desktop only takes a minute or so, but the Workstation itself takes some time."
More VMware Workstation cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't like the price because it's too expensive."
"The product is worth what you pay for it. I definitely feel like I"m getting good value."
"Its price is quite high. VMware licensing is quite costly. You have to pay for the CPU and Threads, but if you want good service, you have to pay the price. Its cost is not more than 1 million for us."
"I did a comparison between physical server to virtual. There was a point in time where we would size out a virtual server to be a massive size, then we'd buy a physical server of the equivalence. We saved somewhere around 20 percent going virtual, as opposed to the physical equivalent."
"Flexible pricing would be nice. Some of the pricing models are fairly big."
"The pricing is more expensive than Microsoft."
"You get what you pay for."
"They can do better by giving better pricing. Their pricing is on the expensive side. As a matter of fact, we are considering switching to OpenStack. We only work with perpetual licenses. As a company, we don't do subscriptions."
More VMware vSphere pricing and cost advice
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"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."
"VMware is expensive. Licensing can be tricky. For example, I recently had a client running VMware vSphere Essentials and wanted to migrate to a more scalable solution. However, they had no choice but to purchase a completely new license and deploy a completely new instance of VMware."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"I use the free version of VMware Workstation."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
More VMware Workstation pricing and cost advice
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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…
Read full review
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Dec 15, 2021
Dec 15, 2021
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 work before we put it into production. VM Workstation can also give us an idea of the issues we can anticipate and how best to address them. This solution is also great at creating labs for our team ...
2 out of 4 answers
SA
Nov 23, 2021
Both are VMWare products. simply v-sphere is a hypervisor Tier-1 technology stack VMWare workstation is a desktop release installed on windows or Linux OS if your requirement is limited need few VMs for testing purpose you can go for Workstation. but if you need production VMs you need a separate independent hardware server for v-sphere esxi hypervisor. 
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reviewer1650858 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 24, 2021
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 work before we put it into production. VM Workstation can also give us an idea of the issues we can anticipate and how best to address them. This solution is also great at creating labs for our team when working on certifications. VM Workstation can be a bit clunky, though. There is a lot of resource consumption and the overall performance could be a bit more effective. Visio stencil for technical documentation would be a nice improvement. This solution is relatively expensive.. VMware vSphere is very good from a recoverability point of view; everything can be stored much easier on a virtual server than a physical one. VMware vSphere is very good with memory sharing between VMs and CPU scheduling between VMs. The command-line tools integrate well with Microsoft products, so it’s easy to manipulate them. VMware vSphere is very stable and very scalable. The initial setup with VMware vSphere can be a bit complex. You need to have a good understanding of VMware. This solution does not permit hard partitioning. We found there were occasional bugs and errors and that the HTML5 is not up to par. The pricing and licensing options can get expensive. Conclusion: The two solutions are both VMware and perform amazingly. They are dependable and very reliable. VM vSphere is a hypervisor and is created for large-scale production. VM Workstation is best as a test environment, although many choose to use VM Workstation in front of VM vSphere and migrate test projects, results, and data documentation to VM vSphere.
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See all 4 answers
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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.
See all answers
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere Logo
Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere
Compared 24% of the time
Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere Logo
Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere
Compared 14% of the time
Oracle VM vs VMware vSphere Logo
Oracle VM vs VMware vSphere
Compared 13% of the time
RHEV vs VMware vSphere Logo
RHEV vs VMware vSphere
Compared 10% of the time
Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs VMware vSphere Logo
Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs VMware vSphere
Compared 5% of the time
More VMware vSphere Competitors
VMware Fusion Pro vs VMware Workstation Logo
VMware Fusion Pro vs VMware Workstation
Compared 29% of the time
Hyper-V vs VMware Workstation Logo
Hyper-V vs VMware Workstation
Compared 22% of the time
Proxmox VE vs VMware Workstation Logo
Proxmox VE vs VMware Workstation
Compared 10% of the time
KVM vs VMware Workstation Logo
KVM vs VMware Workstation
Compared 9% of the time
Oracle VM VirtualBox vs VMware Workstation Logo
Oracle VM VirtualBox vs VMware Workstation
Compared 6% of the time
More VMware Workstation Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
October 2024
VMware vSphere reportDownload VMware vSphere product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware Workstation
October 2024
VMware Workstation reportDownload VMware Workstation product report
 

Learn More

VMware
VMware
 

Overview

VMware vSphere is a powerful and complete server virtualization platform that allows its users to create and manage virtual data centers and machines. VMware vSphere is designed to help IT departments set up and run applications using the most cost-effective computer resources. By using vSphere, organizations save the time and energy necessary for purchasing infrastructure and software and reduce ongoing maintenance and operational burdens on IT teams.

Infrastructure administrators and network operators can access and manage the vSphere server by using a web-based cross-platform client application or via the vSphere client tool provided with vSphere. 

VMware vSphere provides visibility into VMs and enables its users to carry out operations to manage VMs. This includes tasks such as:

  • Powering VMs on and off
  • Launching the VM console
  • Shutting down guest operating systems
  • Settings configurations
  • Taking system snapshots

VMware vSphere Benefits

Some of the benefits of using VMware vSphere include: 

  • Reduced costs: Since VMware applications are run on a server, it is not necessary to spend large amounts of your organization’s money on hardware, software, and infrastructure.
  • Increased productivity and customer satisfaction: VMware is able to operate multiple complex processes simultaneously. With all your applications being managed and run on the cloud, downtime, failures, and application errors are rare. VMware easily scales up and down to meet your computing needs. The high availability that VMware provides allows your IT staff to focus on other issues and keeps your customers satisfied with the service they receive.
  • Unlimited access to your VMs: VMware’s user-friendly cloud-based interface allows any employee to work from any location at any time.
  • Enhanced security: VMware’s security tools deliver full visibility into your entire system. This keeps your applications and data more secure, in any type of environment. VMware provides multiple protective tools including antiviruses and anti-malware, as well as backup and recovery services.

VMware vSphere Features

Below is a list of some of VMware vSphere’s key features:

  • Transferable virtual machine images: Export and import virtual machine images from your local environment. This gives users the ability to set up and configure their systems locally and only upload them to the server once everything is working properly. VM images can be moved back and forth between vendors, ensuring that your company is never tied up to a specific cloud vendor.
  • User-friendly interface: Using VMware’s intuitive console, you can easily create, manage, share, and deploy virtual machines.
  • API integration: VMware’s APIs support integration with third-party applications for data protection, multipathing, and disk array solutions.
  • Distributed power management: Automate efficiency by continuously optimizing server power consumption within each cluster.

Reviews from Real Users

VMware vSphere stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. A few major ones are its virtualization abilities, its flexibility and availability, and its user-friendly interface.

Felix D., an Automation project administrator, DCS, I&E at Centennial Cayman Corp, writes, “The connectivity is fantastic, and many functions can run together in one server. If you need to scale, we can continue to add components or modules. It's a beautiful virtual solution that has many advantages over physical hardware, where you have to use devices and wiring to connect all your projects.”

VMware Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure that they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.

Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next-generation interface and gives users the ability to seamlessly run several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more, using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.

VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. VMware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent of a standard x86 actual machine. It easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.

VMware Workstation Benefits

VMware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:


  • Improved overall IT processes.
  • Better, more efficient deployment outcomes.
  • Enhanced application performance.
  • Better server availability.
  • Less physical hardware and additional devices needed.
  • Cost-effective.
  • Decreased outages or downtime.
  • Faster provisioning of applications and resources.
  • Reduced power consumption.
  • Reduced Environmental Impact.



Reviews from Real Users

Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC says, “The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating 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.” 

Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB says, “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.” 


“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.” A PeerSpot user who is a Chief Technical Officer at a construction company.

are Workstation is part of a suite of robust Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) tools or Desktop Hypervisors that allows users to run Kubernetes clusters, containers, and Virtual Machines (VMs). Users have the option to choose between VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation Player to ensure they get the most out of their VMware Workstation experience.

Workstation Player is best used as a command line or single graphical operation. It works very well for running different operating systems using a secure cloistered sandbox on a general consumer PC. Workstation Player is an industry favorite for use in an educational environment to better expand the knowledge concerning computer systems and global information technology. Workstation Pro is created for astute IT developers and professionals. The solution provides an intuitive next generation interface and gives users the ability to run seamlessly several virtual machines at the same time. Users can easily create clones, configure virtual networks, connect to vSphere, and more using a crisp, visually enhanced dashboard that provides full transparency to show multiple VMs and more.

VMware Workstation solutions rely on components in next-generation 64-bit x86 CPUs to develop robust, secure VMs that are able to utilize many different operating systems and all of their applications. Vmware Workstation’s modern technology intuitively links the physical hardware devices to the virtual machine's virtual resources enabling each VM to have its own I/O devices, memory, disks, and CPU in addition to the equivalent to a standard x86 actual machine.VMware easily installs onto the host operating system and is able to offer comprehensive hardware support by utilizing the device support from the original host.

VMware Workstation Benefits

Vmware Workstation has many desirable benefits. Some of those benefits include:


  • Improved overall IT processes.
  • Better, more efficient deployment outcomes.
  • Enhanced application performance.
  • Better server availability.
  • Less physical hardware and additional devices needed.
  • Cost-effective.
  • Decreased outages or downtime.
  • Faster provisioning of applications and resources.
  • Reduced power consumption.
  • Reduced Environmental Impact.



Reviews from Real Users

“The most valuable feature of the VMware Workstation is the ease of creating 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.” Walter G., Owner at Secacon Gygli Engineering LLC

“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.” Toni L., CEO at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB

A Chief Technical Officer at a construction company says,“Having a user-friendly interfaceis important for me. I'm not a coder, even though I do a little bit of programming. Also, I don't use the command-line interface when I can avoid it. When I do have to use it, I look up what I'm supposed to type and then type it.” 

 

Sample Customers

Abu Dhabi Ports Company, ACS, AIA New Zealand, Consona, Corporate Express, CS Energy, and Digiweb.
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November 2024
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