The solution is primarily used to house VMs, virtual machines.
Entrepreneur at WindiS
A straightforward setup with good documentation and excellent stability
Pros and Cons
- "The documentation is very good."
- "The stability has been very, very good."
- "Sometimes you can't find items and you need to log onto different physical servers to do technical tasks. I don't fully understand why this is the case."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Virtualization changes radically the IT landscape. Rare are our customers who have not implemented it. vSphere is #1 in hypervisors and offers the flexibility and the fastness our customers need.
What is most valuable?
VM models is a great feature. It allows to create VMs very fast and already patched with the different configurations that the are needed.
The ease to move a VM from a host to another or even to another storage/DC is very convenient. That all this can be done while users work on the VMs is awsome.
What needs improvement?
The graphical vSphere vCenter interface is now in HTML. I'm not very found of it. Sometimes you can't find items and you need to log in to the different hosts.
Some work has to be done with this admin console.
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VMware vSphere
June 2026
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have many years (lost the count...) of experience with this solution, beginning with version 4.0, then 5.0, 5.5, 6.7 and finally 7.0 and use it daily.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been very, very good. I didn't have any crashes. There aren't bugs or glitches. I find it to be a very, very strong architecture.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, I haven't really had the opportunity to address this as my customers are not very big companies and we have relatively small data centers.
How are customer service and support?
I've never had to call VMware. You basically can find everything on the web. VMware's website is very good and there is a lot of information everywhere about vSphere on the web with real experts of the product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward, only a few questions to answer, and you have your hypervisor ready !
What about the implementation team?
Always in house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is relatively low. VMware proposes the Essentials kits which are very affordable for SMB companies.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I didn't really evaluate any other solutions. I haven't even really looked at Hyper-V, although my clients sometimes ask about it.
What other advice do I have?
We are implementors and our customers don't sometime have any dedicated IT guy. But, as vSphere works well once implemented, there's relativally less to do.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of Technical at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
A virtualization platform with useful standard features
Pros and Cons
- "I like the standard features."
- "We use vSphere primarily for data center solutions, having migrated most of the physical workloads to a virtual environment, and even physical data center migrations were made possible because of VMware workloads."
- "The price could be better."
- "Given that, I don't think VMware should be charging so much for the hypervisor."
What is our primary use case?
We use vSphere primarily for data center solutions. We migrated most of the physical workloads to a virtual environment. Even physical data center migrations were made possible because of VMware workloads. We had replication workloads using such technology for DR purposes. I've also deployed a Nutanix cluster with the VMware Hypervisor.
What is most valuable?
I like the standard features.
What needs improvement?
The price could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using VMware vSphere for eight or nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable product. I have a little reservation about their vSAN product, which I don't think is well suited for co-work loads that require performance. In that aspect, I tend to favor Nutanix, but other than for vSAN, I think it's a good product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup becomes simpler by the day. It's very easy. But it wasn't easy before and was pretty tedious. But these days, it's easy.
The deployment time depends on the workload and how large the environment is. If there are a lot of hypervisors and migration work, it could take anywhere from two to six days or more to install and deploy.
What about the implementation team?
I work as an integrator, so I implemented this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It could be cheaper. But not only cheaper because Nutanix's hypervisors are free of charge out of the box. You don't even have to pay for the hypervisor's enterprise version. Given that, I don't think VMware should be charging so much for the hypervisor. The hypervisor is a commodity now.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give VMware vSphere a nine.
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
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSphere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
903,147 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Feature-rich, easy to implement, and easy to scale
Pros and Cons
- "I don't see any challenges in using this product."
- "Overall, for me, everything with this product looks good and I can recommend it."
What is our primary use case?
We are using vSphere as a multi-tenant platform. We are hosting VMs for a few of our customers.
What is most valuable?
We are utilizing all of the features and they are good.
I don't see any challenges in using this product.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware vSphere for between three and four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable product and I haven't heard any negative feedback from my implementation team about it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We implement this product for medium and large-sized companies. It is easy to scale.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not personally been in touch with VMware support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have not used another similar solution.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation is an easy process for us, which is why we're using VMware cloud as a product. The length of time required for deployment depends on the customer. We need to know their requirements, and then we proposed timelines and inform them accordingly. It is defined by the number of nodes and the number of workloads.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy vSphere for our customers. We also offer maintenance and support as part of a managed service.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is quite an expensive product, although everything is included in the standard licensing fee.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, for me, everything with this product looks good and I can recommend it.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Principal Engineer at ST Engineering Limited
Great provisioning setup of VMs; integration with services automation could be improved
Pros and Cons
- "The provisioning setup of VMs is good."
- "We deploy this solution for our clients, from small to large enterprise."
- "I'd like to see a simplified integration with services automation."
What is our primary use case?
We deploy this solution for our clients, from small to large enterprise. We are resellers and I'm the company's principal engineer.
What is most valuable?
A valuable feature is the provisioning setup of VMs. It's the most common feature used by our clients.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see a simplified integration with services automation. At the moment it requires a lot of network from partners and solution providers to do this - there are a lot of third party components that require integration. If they could improve this it would mean less integration for some key products and services.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have no complaints about the technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing costs aren't too expensive, although you pay extra for additional features.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to understand your requirements before choosing a solution.
I would rate this solution a seven out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. reseller
IT TECHNICAL/ SERVER ADMINISTRATOR at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Valuable features, user-friendly, and priced reasonably
Pros and Cons
- "I have found the Storage vMotion feature to be the most valuable."
- "One problem that needs fixing is when we run the backup for the servers, the servers become inaccessible to everybody on-site while it is creating a snapshot."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to host our business-critical applications and servers on-premise.
What is most valuable?
I have found the Storage vMotion feature to be the most valuable.
It is a very user-friendly solution.
What needs improvement?
One problem that needs fixing is when we run the backup for the servers, the servers become inaccessible to everybody on-site while it is creating a snapshot. If your server size is large you will have to wait longer when the server is unavailable.
In the future, it would be a benefit for VMware to improve on the Storage vMotion feature by making it become faster between host. It takes a lot of time to transfer files between hosts currently.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability in my experience is good.
How was the initial setup?
I was not at the company when they did the deployment of vSphere version 5.5 but I did do the deployment of a host on version 6.7, which is quite straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable and you are able to purchases licencing for certain time frame intervals, monthly, yearly etc.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend the solution to others working in IT.
I would give the solution a nine but the vMotion feature takes too long for transferring files between stored data sources.
I rate VMware vSphere an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Database Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Robust and easy to use with good performance and efficiency
Pros and Cons
- "The performance is efficient."
- "I would recommend this solution; it's robust, it's working and it's easy to use."
- "One of the areas creating a crash is when you are cloning."
- "One of the areas creating a crash is when you are cloning. If you are cloning a virtual machine and you have any license on another system it will crash and we have to contact third-party support for assistance."
What is our primary use case?
We have Hyper-V on a physical machine and another virtual machine. We are using this because of iSCSI, and we are using VMware for performance and production.
What is most valuable?
The performance is efficient. You can log the performance and report on the bottlenecks or any other problems you encounter.
What needs improvement?
One of the areas creating a crash is when you are cloning.
If you are cloning a virtual machine and you have any license on another system it will crash and we have to contact third-party support for assistance.
It's not cloning 100%.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSphere for eight years.
We are using version 5 and 6.7.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution, we have not had any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution. We have three people in our organization who are using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We did not contact technical support. It wasn't necessary.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are working with Hyper-V. It was so poor that we started using VMware.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, it was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price could be lower.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are looking for other solutions, specifically for Hyper-V and domain controllers.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution. It's robust, it's working and it's easy to use.
I would rate VMware vSphere a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Presales Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Fast deployment of services, ease of movement, and great scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The ease of movement of these machines is the most valuable. It is very easy to move these machines between physical hosts. The fast deployment of services is another valuable feature."
- "Its price can be better. It is very expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We use it in the data centers of our customers for server consolidation and new deployments.
What is most valuable?
The ease of movement of these machines is the most valuable. It is very easy to move these machines between physical hosts. The fast deployment of services is another valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
Its price can be better. It is very expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for ten years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. It is great in terms of scalability. We have 50 to 60 users in our organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is great. I would rate them a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
In general terms, it is easy to deploy, but it depends on the size of the project. The deployment duration varies. A basic deployment doesn't take more than one hour.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to go ahead with this solution. It is a very functional product. Only its price needs improvement.
I would rate VMware vSphere 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. Partner
Executive Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Easy and quick to install, flexible, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are that it's stable, easy to use, and it's flexible."
- "The price is a big issue for us because the market is very competitive in our country, so we can't really push our VMware vSphere products because the customers will prefer to use something cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
We have been using ESXi hypervisors with vCenter. We use it for both private and public clouds.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are that it's stable, easy to use, and it's flexible.
What needs improvement?
The price is a big issue for us because the market is very competitive in our country, so we can't really push our VMware vSphere products because the customers will prefer to use something cheaper. Customers in our country are very price-sensitive, so if the price were reduced it would be more popular.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with VMware vSphere for the past decade.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a simple product to use and we haven't had any issues with using it, right out of the box. We plan to continue using it in the future.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product. Our entire business and virtual machines run on vSphere, and our customers do, as well.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have been in contact with technical support and had a good experience. We are satisfied with them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another similar solution prior to vSphere.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment is straightforward and probably takes less than 20 minutes per host.
What about the implementation team?
It is easy to install and we did it by ourselves.
We have two engineers who are responsible for maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive product, especially because we need to pay in US Dollars. Really, it depends on the exchange rate. If the exchange in our country is bad then the product becomes even more expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other hypervisors and based on my experience, I find that vSphere is top-rated.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of Infrastructure at CLM Software
Benchmark of the visualization market and the go-to choice for about every customer that we deal with.
Pros and Cons
- "VMware vSphere is the benchmark of the visualization market and the go-to choice for about every customer that we deal with."
- "It would be useful to have features like micro-segmentation, changing the mix as well as part of vSphere."
What is our primary use case?
Most use cases are here in Brazil. The company is moving to vSphere after exchanging from a legacy platform. Most of our clients have not previously considered digitalization. Now, they look up KVM solutions for DevOps, the Zain app, and Zain desktops for desktop visualization. For some clients, these alternatives may seem more enticing. We did a vSphere implementation for a customer in the last 12 months. I think it was version 6.5.3. We used it for a retail company. We also cater to small to medium-sized companies in the US market. I estimate about a hundred people use vSphere.
How has it helped my organization?
Visualizing infrastructure is a very important aspect of what we do. VMware vSphere is the benchmark of the visualization market. It's the go-to choice for about every customer that we deal with.
What is most valuable?
As we are a service partner, I think the most valuable feature vSphere has is the ability to visualize infrastructure. Other similar software does not have this capability.
What needs improvement?
The visualization market is likely going to adopt more features in the network aspect of the typical data center. It would be useful to have features like micro-segmentation, changing the mix as well as part of vSphere. This is not currently provided and to achieve this, you need the VMware NSX product, which is a different product with its own license. I think some sort of migration tool could be introduced to migrate to the cloud. It should include integrations with a hooked cloud environment, or on-prem and even between clusters. For example, sometimes I need to migrate a VM from a vSphere environment to a hooked cloud environment.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with vSphere for some years. My company has had a contract with Lenovo for about a year and a half. I am an IT professional. I work with VMware vSphere for our customers.
We are a value-added distributor for some partners like Lenovo. We re-sell vSphere as an end product. We are VMware partners.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
vSphere is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable as it is the visualization benchmark.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't remember engaging technical support for vSphere. I have not required support thus far for the product. The documentation is very good.
How was the initial setup?
I had some issues with this installation, but not from the vSphere angle. We have to watch compatibility measures between the hardware we are using and other software. It's not a problem with vSphere itself. It's the basic compatibility that we must follow.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license growth of vSphere depends on the growth of the visual environment and the addition of more hosts.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Although vSphere is still a very useful option for visualization, some clients are trying alternative DevOps solutions for less critical sites. However, they use vSphere as an option for visualization in production.
What other advice do I have?
Just follow the documentation. It's very useful and informative. Before you implement, check the licensing, to see if the license is okay and the compatibility metrics are okay. I would rate VMware vSphere 9 out of 10.
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. Partner
Jefatura del Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información at SERGEAR SAC
Provides great backup and is extremely reliable
Pros and Cons
- "Provides good backup to our servers."
- "The most valuable feature is the reliability for our own servers, the backup of the information on our servers."
- "It's an expensive solution."
- "The main issue for us is the cost of the solution."
What is our primary use case?
We are a construction business and this solution enables us to securely operate our technology. We are customers of VMware vSphere and I'm the company's head of IT.
How has it helped my organization?
We have many power outages and VMware is very reliable in terms of dealing with that kind of experience on a regular basis.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the reliability for our own servers, the backup of the information on our servers.
What needs improvement?
The main issue for us is the cost of the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine - we need to upgrade our hardware and that is currently an issue.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We currently have 25 employees using this solution with another 20 users who work remotely.
We have two people managing vSphere.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our experience with technical support has been very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used SAN products and we've recently decided that we're going to move to Nutanix.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward with deployment taking two weeks. We had an independent integrator who was responsible for this and they did a good job.
What other advice do I have?
This is a very good product for small business or community organizations.
I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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