Azure Stack vs VMware Cloud Foundation comparison

Microsoft and VMware are both solutions in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.9, while VMware is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 29.4% mindshare in HCCP, compared to VMware’s 24.3% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Azure Stack

Read 64 Azure Stack reviews

4,648 Views
3,104 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VMware Cloud Foundation

Read 26 VMware Cloud Foundation reviews

3,119 Views
2,187 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Azure Stack

VMware Cloud Foundation

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared Azure Stack and VMware Cloud Foundation based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

The user feedback on Azure Stack emphasizes its seamless integration with Azure cloud, hybrid cloud environment, and strong security features. Additionally, positive reviews mention competitive pricing, helpful customer service, and positive ROI. On the other hand, VMware Cloud Foundation is praised for its ease of use, scalability, and reliability. Improvements suggested include enhanced user interface and deployment process.

Features: The valuable features of Azure Stack include seamless integration with Azure cloud, a consistent hybrid cloud environment, and advanced security and compliance features. In contrast, VMware Cloud Foundation offers ease of use, seamless integration with existing VMware environments, simplified management and configuration, reliability, scalability, and flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Azure Stack is considered reasonable, with no unexpected expenses, according to user feedback. On the other hand, user feedback on VMware Cloud Foundation's setup cost is not mentioned in the summaries provided., Azure Stack has been reported to offer improved scalability, flexibility, security, and cost savings. Users appreciate its seamless integration with Azure services and ease of deployment. VMware Cloud Foundation, on the other hand, has been praised for its significant returns, improved efficiency, streamlined operations, and optimized resource utilization. It offers comprehensive features, seamless integration, and flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs. Both platforms have proven to be valuable investments with positive ROIs.

Room for Improvement: Azure Stack users have requested improvements in the user interface, documentation, platform performance, available services, and collaboration options. VMware Cloud Foundation users have highlighted the need for enhancements in interface, deployment process, configurability, documentation, compatibility, and overall user experience.

Deployment and customer support: The duration required to establish a new tech solution with Azure Stack varies, with users spending either three months on deployment and an additional week on setup, or one week for both deployment and setup. In comparison, VMware Cloud Foundation also varies in duration, with some users taking three months for deployment and others taking a week for setup., Azure Stack has received positive comments on its customer service for providing excellent assistance and prompt issue resolution, while VMware Cloud Foundation's customer service has been praised for their helpfulness, efficiency, and ability to promptly address and resolve queries and concerns.

The summary above is based on 42 interviews we conducted recently with Azure Stack and VMware Cloud Foundation users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation Report (Updated: September 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

September 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Azure Stack

Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (2nd)

VMware Cloud Foundation

Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category, the mindshare of Azure Stack is 29.4%, down from 36.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Cloud Foundation is 24.3%, up from 21.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

Q&A Highlights

Helder Venancio

Works at Azule Energy

Sep 07, 2023

What are the constraints of Azure Stack and VMware Stack?

Here are some of the constraints of Azure Stack and VMware Stack: Azure Stack Azure Stack may not be as scalable Some say Azure Stack may be more expensive than other hybrid cloud solutions. Azure Stack requires specialized skills to manage and operate. VMware Stack VMware Stack can be complex to deploy and manage. It requires a high-performance network to achieve optimal performance. VMware Stack may not be as flexible as Azure Stack based on deployment options. Here are some of the differences between Azure Stack and VMware Stack: Azure Stack is a pre-packaged solution that can be deployed on-premises, while VMware Stack is a software solution that requires the installation of VMware hypervisors on physical servers. It is reported that Azure Stack may be priced based on the number of cores and memory used, while VMware Stack may be priced based on the number of virtual machines deployed. Azure Stack includes more features than VMware Stack, such as Azure Active Directory integration and machine learning capabilities. If you are looking for a scalable and easy-to-manage solution, it may be best to consider Azure Stack. If you value flexibility and cost-effectiveness more, it may be worth looking into VMware Stack.

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Featured Reviews

reviewer1456617

IT Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Mar 3, 2021

Stable, easy-to-use and good technical support

We use Azure Stack to deliver Microsoft's Azure services from our organization's data center Azure Stack is a good product because it's flexible and easy to work with. It depends on the type of user, as some users prefer an easy tool and environment for management. Other users prefer a detailed…

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JoseFuentes

developer at Network Rail

Jul 1, 2024

Offers a clear separation of management and workload but customer support could be better

The main thing is the license. We are a little worried about the changes around licensing at the moment, so we are mainly looking at other platforms. We don't like the way VMware charges for licenses since they were bought by Broadcom. There's always something to worry about with VMware. They tend to change their license from product to product. When they started years ago, they started with a bundle, and then the bundle was not enough. We had to buy more licenses because the bundle of vSphere was not good. As we went to standard, it worked well to provide different options and functionalities, but then we had to purchase additional licenses. It has always been unclear about our licenses. The confrontation they have with Microsoft is not helpful. They need to source servers, and that's the big issue. Another area of improvement: Maybe the network one, the NSX. VMware changed it to NSX-T, so it's improved, and we are in the process of migrating. Maybe the migration between old systems to new ones could be a little smoother. And the support provided by VMware is not very good. The quality of VMware support. We're doing the migration from NSX-V to NSX-T, and we requested VMware consultants on-site, but the communication is not very good. We've been doing this for over six months, and they don't help us a lot with the migration. They're supposed to be the experts, but the commands they give us to try don't always work. We try something else, and it lowers the performance of the business systems. We've done the migration for a testing environment, but now we have to run the solution in production. It took too long to bring the right people on board. We've been asking them repeatedly to give us help with the migration, and they eventually brought somebody in who was good. Things are good now that we found the right person, but they're very disjointed. When we try to learn it ourselves, it doesn't always work with these people.

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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

"One of the features I really appreciate is the Hybrid Cloud Extension UI."

"The beauty of Azure is that most of the features are easily accessible. It is user-friendly. Almost all resources in Azure are very easily accessible. For example, you can access a virtual machine, and you can scale it up. You can go ahead with different infrastructure-as-a-service in Azure for the platform or for the cloud. Different levels of development could be done using it."

"The solution's technical support is great since, in our company, we get answers to most of our questions, and most of our queries get resolved with the help of the documentation itself."

"It is helpful from a security point of view because we can create our own isolated, private environments that contain virtual networks, and we can put security rules in place."

"Azure Active Directory is the most valuable feature."

"Azure Stack provides us with computational power. We also get an option to have it with Azure Cloud, which is beneficial. We don't need to buy any other extra servers or any virtual machines with high-end graphics."

"You can scale the solution if you need to."

"Azure Stack is very stable."

More Azure Stack pros

"The ability to auto-scale is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable aspect of VMware Cloud Foundation is you can manage everything from area."

"VMware Cloud Foundation makes it easy to set up new environments. You get hosts in a pool, which you can build into a new cluster."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the disaster recovery software."

"We are using it for infrastructure automation."

"The solution is very stable."

"I'm able to deploy many platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Azure on VMware."

"It is a scalable platform."

More VMware Cloud Foundation pros

Cons

"The solution's price is high, and the implementation process is difficult. I would like to see a lower price and simpler implementation for Azure Stack."

"I would only recommend this solution to smaller organizations like ours because I cannot really speculate what big issues that the bigger organizations will face."

"PaaS is not ready because they are only offering MS SQL as a service, web applications as a service, and containers as a service."

"Azure Stack could use some improvement when it comes to seamless support for disaster recovery scenarios of higher availability regarding multi-regions."

"I would like to see better network integration."

"If you look at the documentation set, there are rims and rims of it. You try to drive something from the console, and it's quite complex. It's not it's not easy and straightforward. You've gotta sit down and review it, look at the documentation, and work your way through it. It's not intuitive."

"We face some challenges with database rebuilding."

"It is not easy to set up. Technical expertise is required."

More Azure Stack cons

"The documentation could be easier to read"

"Working on features that could include the capability to migrate workflows from non-VMware environments would be highly beneficial."

"The price could be better. VMware Cloud Foundation is overpriced, but I think we get what we pay for. It would be better if it were cheaper because it would be easier to go to customers and get them to buy it. We'd get more projects, and that would be great."

"The solution could improve by being more secure."

"Cost is a challenge when convincing clients, especially for large deals."

"They need to offer more support for Mac."

"The deployment is clumsy and complex. There are too many things that need to be done in order to deploy."

"The customization has room for improvement."

More VMware Cloud Foundation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is in the medium range cost-wise. For each component, I sort of buy licensing. Each component has its licensing fee by the number of users or by size."

"The pricing is very expensive."

"The cost of Azure Stack is much cheaper than VCE."

"Azure has a subscription version. It has a pay-as-you-go subscription with a subscription ID. So, you have your particular subscription with an enterprise agreement. There is a dev-type subscription for development and testing. The pricing seems pretty reasonable. The pricing could be per resource."

"The premium version is too costly."

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."

"Azure stands out for its flexibility with pay-as-you-go options."

"The pricing falls in the middle. It serves as a mediator between being expensive and being affordable, but it's not exactly cheap either. I would rate it a six out of ten."

More Azure Stack pricing and cost advice

"The price of VMware Cloud Foundation is a bit high. However, it comes with a lot of useful features and can handle a lot of operational complexity. Overall the price can be seen as being fair for what it offers."

"The pricing of VMware Cloud Foundation could improve, it is expensive."

"There is an annual license required to use the solution."

"It is quite expensive."

"The licensing is expensive compared with Hyper V and Unitech's platform."

"The tool's price is slightly on the higher side, but I guess you think there is no one-to-one comparison with other tools. The licensing part has become easier, while earlier, it was quite complex."

"This solutuion can be expensive for small and medium-sized companies."

"VMware Cloud Foundation is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

More VMware Cloud Foundation pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Stack?

For hybrid cloud operations, the seamless transition it enables is key. Most enterprises have a lot of workloads on-premises, and they want a smooth way to move into the cloud. Some things are on...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Stack?

I find Azure Stack to be very costly. The people who manage the budgets are satisfied with the solution’s medium pricing, which is neither very expensive nor very cheap. I think the solution has a ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Stack?

You have vulnerability management tools as well. The way this solution gives you steps to follow to remediate vulnerability is not very well done. It can't be an idealized process. It needs to deal...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware Cloud Foundation?

VMware Cloud Foundation provides us with the vSphere dashboard through which we can manage, monitor, schedule, and spin up your virtual machines. We can manage, monitor, and get reports of your inf...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Cloud Foundation?

It is quite expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Cloud Foundation?

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS Outposts vs Azure Stack

Compared 26% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs Azure Stack

Compared 12% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Azure Stack

Compared 4% of the time

Google Anthos vs Azure Stack

Compared 2% of the time

VMware Software Defined Data Center vs Azure Stack

Compared 2% of the time

More Azure Stack Competitors

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 17% of the time

AWS Outposts vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 11% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 5% of the time

Google Anthos vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 4% of the time

More VMware Cloud Foundation Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack

September 2024

Download Azure Stack product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Cloud Foundation

August 2024

Download VMware Cloud Foundation product report

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Microsoft

VMware

Overview

Information not available

VMware Cloud Foundation makes it easy to deploy and run a hybrid cloud. VMware Cloud Foundation provides integrated cloud infrastructure (compute, storage, networking, and security) and cloud management services to run enterprise applications in both private and public environments.

Sample Customers

Weblink, Fathym, Sage, CFD Support Ltd, The UberCloud Inc.

ricoh, dell technologies, sky

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

September 2024

Free Report: Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.

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