I recommend VMware ESXi to mid-level and mid-enterprise customers. I also recommend it to those who are looking for more Windows and Linux workloads.
Digital Platform Manager at Strategic Synergy Inc
Though useful for virtualization, it can be expensive
Pros and Cons
- "VMware ESXi's most proven and beneficial area for our virtualization needs revolves around clustering."
- "There have been issues with the tool's technical support and pricing of licenses, making them areas where improvements are required."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
VMware ESXi's most proven and beneficial area for our virtualization needs revolves around clustering.
What needs improvement?
I don't see any technical weaknesses in the product, especially after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom. There have been issues with the tool's technical support and pricing of licenses, making them areas where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have fifteen years of experience with VMware ESXi.
Buyer's Guide
VMware ESXi
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about VMware ESXi. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
How are customer service and support?
For most of the customers, the SLAs have been down lately, and it may be because of the transition from VMware to Broadcom. I rate the technical support a six out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I use VMware ESXi and VMware vSphere Foundation.
I have used IBM PowerVM. I rate the technical support for IBM as nine out of ten.
I have worked with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and Nutanix for HCI. In terms of cost, Nutanix will be advantageous. In terms of use cases, one of the direct alternatives to VMware will be a Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.
My company has operated as a partner and reseller for Nutanix and Redshift for a bit less than ten years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool has become expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Over VMware ESXi, I can recommend Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and Nutanix for HCI to my customers.
What other advice do I have?
Considering how VMware ESXi has affected our customers' overall IT cost, most are now looking to move out of VMware.
There are no issues with the product's performance.
Right now, Broadcom's acquisition of VMware has impacted the cost plus support. Maybe the recommendation will be for a different virtualization technology, such as Nutanix and Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.
I rate the tool a five to six out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Last updated: Aug 27, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSystem Engineer at TS Qatar Systems and Communications
Plays a crucial role in virtualization in data center operations, including server and network virtualization with NSX
Pros and Cons
- "Pricing could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use VMware ESXi for virtualization. ESXi is a hypervisor that runs virtual machines, providing the foundation for a virtualized infrastructure. It plays a crucial role in virtualization in data center operations, including server and network virtualization with NSX. Additionally, it supports software-defined data centers with vSAN.
How has it helped my organization?
VMware includes several security features that can be enabled, such as disabling the default administrator account and implementing strict access control policies. We have a set of restrictions and features that we can enable to enhance protection.
What is most valuable?
VMware is lightweight software. It consumes a few hundred MB for installation and has an easy-to-manage interface. Socialization is the most valuable feature. It is the configuration parameters available in the ESXi user interface. There are different parameters available. You can customize each of them and deploy a VM according to whatever specifications you want.
What needs improvement?
Pricing could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware ESXi for five years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. You can add a significant number of servers to your infrastructure.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support does provide the support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and takes 30 minutes to complete. There are no issues with the new installations. There were issues with older or outdated versions, which are less relevant today. Our digital version encountered problems with a few servers randomly rebooting and failing to load properly. Upon investigation, those issues were due to corrupt files. These file corruption issues occur in obsolete versions of ESXi.
One responsible person can handle the deployment process.
What other advice do I have?
Maintenance is very easy. You need to have regular backups, and the remaining is the hardware, which we need to monitor. We also check for hardware errors and events in the environment. In the customer environment, a single person will maintain the solution.
We are not using any remote deployment tools or provisioning servers. We follow three common practices. Our use case involves a limited number of servers, typically three or four. Our provisioning strategy involves installing ESXi on the servers using a DVD or a USB drive. Once the installation is complete, the server will obtain a DHCP IP address, and we can access the user interface using this IP address. We can configure the storage datastore. Once the datastore is configured, we are ready to create virtual machines.
I recommend the solution. Nothing needs to be considered because this does not have a dependency or needs hardware. They need to purchase supported hardware, and VMware is very supportive of most of the servers on the market.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Last updated: Jun 26, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
VMware ESXi
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about VMware ESXi. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
General Manager at Dataposit Ltd
Useful to consolidate IT environment but needs to improve patching process
Pros and Cons
- "In my opinion, the most helpful features in VMware ESXi are vMotion and storage vMotion. Customers really like these features, which allow us to perform IT downtime activities without shutting down the physical server."
- "The solution needs to improve its patching process."
What is our primary use case?
People typically use VMware ESXi to consolidate their IT environment. They're moving away from having single virtual machines on physical servers and want to consolidate their IT infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, the most helpful features in VMware ESXi are vMotion and storage vMotion. Customers really like these features, which allow us to perform IT downtime activities without shutting down the physical server.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs to improve its patching process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool's stability a six out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I don't think the solution is scalable unless it's running from the storage layer. However, it is scalable and can run many virtual machines on one physical host. That's one way to look at it. I'd rate its scalability as a seven on a scale of one to ten, with one being low and ten being high.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment takes 15-30 minutes to complete.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the product's ease of integration a seven out of ten. I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: Jul 25, 2024
Flag as inappropriateTechnical Support Engineer at Greenware Technologies LLC
User-friendly, easy to install, and supports third-party applications
Pros and Cons
- "VMware ESXi is a user-friendly solution that is easy to install and supports third-party applications and software."
What is our primary use case?
We use VMware ESXi as a server virtualization tool. The tool is more compatible with the VDA environment.
What is most valuable?
VMware ESXi is a user-friendly solution that is easy to install and supports third-party applications and software.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware ESXi for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware ESXi is a scalable solution. We support multiple vendor clients, and each site has multiple users depending on the environment. An average server starts with a minimum of three nodes and can grow to a maximum of 50 to 100 servers.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is very easy and can be done in five to ten steps. It's a very easy setup, and everyone can learn to install the solution.
What about the implementation team?
It takes 10 to 15 minutes to deploy the solution.
What other advice do I have?
The solution meets our organization's compliance and data protection requirements by releasing vulnerability patches every two to three months, which provides more security in our environment. Maintaining the tool is not very difficult.
VMware ESXi is easier to handle than other products and not very complex. I would recommend the solution to other users.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Last updated: Jun 6, 2024
Flag as inappropriatePresales Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Robust virtualization solution with disaster recovery capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are disaster recovery and vMotion. Those are the most important ones. Moreover, integrating ESI with ID Workflow is quite easy. The product is highly stable. I rate it a nine out of ten. The solution is highly scalable. I rate it a nine out of ten. The initial setup is straightforward. I recommend the product. It’s good and is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Overall, I rate this product an eight out of ten."
- "The pricing strategy could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for virtualization in production environments.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are disaster recovery and vMotion. Those are the most important ones. Moreover, integrating ESI with ID Workflow is quite easy.
What needs improvement?
Since the product is being acquired by Broadcom, the pricing strategy could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for the past 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is highly stable. I rate it a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is highly scalable. I rate it a nine out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is priced on the higher side.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have also worked with OpenShift. It is a competitor to VMware ESXi.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the product. It’s good and is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Overall, I rate this product an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Last updated: Jun 17, 2024
Flag as inappropriateHR Specialist at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Provides good and satisfactory performance to customers
Pros and Cons
- "My customers are satisfied with the solution’s performance."
- "The solution’s pricing could be reduced."
What is most valuable?
My customers are satisfied with the solution’s performance.
What needs improvement?
The solution’s pricing could be reduced.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware ESXi for one year.
What other advice do I have?
My customers are using VMware ESXi. The solution's price has increased since Broadcom bought VMware ESXi, and that's why customers are moving to another solution. I have researched Proxmox, but we are also researching the use of the monitoring tool Datadog.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: May 3, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Download our free VMware ESXi Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Product Categories
Server Virtualization SoftwarePopular Comparisons
Proxmox VE
Hyper-V
Red Hat OpenShift
Nutanix AHV Virtualization
Oracle VM
XCP-ng virtualization platform
Virtuozzo Hybrid Server
Buyer's Guide
Download our free VMware ESXi Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- When evaluating Server Virtualization Software, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- VMware ESXi or VMware Workstation?
- VMware vs. Hyper-V - Which do you prefer?
- How does VMware ESXi compare to alternative virtualization solutions?
- Which hypervisor provides the best network performance at 10gb or higher?
- VMware has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for four years. Agree/Disagree? Why?
- Which is the best server virtualization solution?
- Oracle VM vs. latest VMWare?
- Which virtualization platform would you recommend to a healthcare company with 1000-5000 employees?
- Why is Server Virtualization Software important for companies?