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 7.8, while VMware is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5. Microsoft holds a 28.9% mindshare in HCCP, compared to VMware’s 21.9% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Azure Stack

Read 66 Azure Stack reviews

3,791 Views
2,703 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VMware Cloud Foundation

Read 31 VMware Cloud Foundation reviews

2,753 Views
2,014 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Azure Stack

VMware Cloud Foundation

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Azure Stack and VMware Cloud Foundation are competing in the hybrid cloud management space. Azure Stack has an upper hand with its hybrid cloud readiness, while VMware Cloud Foundation stands out with its comprehensive full-stack management capabilities.

Features: Azure Stack offers a robust PaaS environment, seamless integration with Microsoft tools, and flexibility for hybrid environments. VMware Cloud Foundation excels in automating manual processes, managing virtual interactions, and includes features like load balancing and high availability.

Room for Improvement: Azure Stack could enhance its security, networking, and integration capabilities and is seen as expensive with a lack of full Azure cloud features. VMware Cloud Foundation is also perceived as costly with room for improved integration with third-party solutions and a need for simpler process upgrades and stronger federation features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure Stack is favored for hybrid environments but has mixed user experiences with technical support. VMware Cloud Foundation is often used on-premises, with concerns around support and licensing complexities after acquisition by Broadcom. Both products are noted for their stability, though deployment challenges vary.

Pricing and ROI: Azure Stack's flexible pay-as-you-go model is noted for specific cost-effectiveness, yet its pricing can be high compared to AWS and Google Cloud, with concerns about licensing and cost predictability. VMware Cloud Foundation, while criticized for high initial costs, offers potential savings through infrastructure consolidation and operational efficiency, justifying its comprehensive feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

April 2025

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.3

Azure Stack improves cost-effectiveness and utilization, benefiting larger organizations, though financial returns vary among customers.

Sentiment score

5.7

VMware Cloud Foundation offers cost savings and stability, though full ROI may take time, enhancing infrastructure efficiency and services.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

VMware Cloud Foundation allows cost and time savings by quickly deploying infrastructure requests and integrating automatic ticketing and backup services.

Muneer-Hussain

Credit Analyst - Risk Management at Boubyan Bank

In terms of ROI, although VMware Cloud Foundation is expensive, it saves time in most cases, which indirectly saves costs for users.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.5

Azure Stack's support satisfaction varies, influenced by subscription levels, with room for improvement in response times and staff expertise.

Sentiment score

6.9

Customers find VMware Cloud Foundation support satisfactory, with efficient service, but suggest faster responses and more qualified engineers.

As a Microsoft partner, we have access to level two technical support, which is efficient and helpful.

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

The technicians handling the tickets do not seem very technical.

JitenderSingh

Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

There are times when support is unclear, and even VMware support personnel may lack familiarity with certain parts, causing difficulties.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

The technical support from VMware is very good.

Payam Majidzadeh

VMware Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Our technical support team is capable of providing support on the operating system side.

Abid_Ali

Deputy Manager, Customer Services at Jaffer Business Systems

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Azure Stack offers scalability and flexibility for various business sizes, despite some regional service availability challenges.

Sentiment score

7.8

VMware Cloud Foundation is praised for scalability, especially for large enterprises, despite potential hardware and licensing limitations.

Solutions can scale up in a matter of minutes, offering serverless options that help manage costs efficiently, making it highly scalable.

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the scalability of Azure Stack as eight.

JitenderSingh

Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

When more hosts are added, performance goes slow.

Abid_Ali

Deputy Manager, Customer Services at Jaffer Business Systems

VMware Cloud Foundation supports scalability and company growth.

Muneer-Hussain

Credit Analyst - Risk Management at Boubyan Bank

In terms of scalability, I also rate VMware Cloud Foundation as an eight out of ten.

Payam Majidzadeh

VMware Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.8

Azure Stack is praised for stable performance, quickly resolving minor issues, effectively managing heavy loads, with room for improvement.

Sentiment score

7.9

VMware Cloud Foundation is stable and reliable, though migration challenges arise; requires skilled teams for optimal performance and updates frequently.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

The stability of VMware Cloud Foundation is very high.

Abid_Ali

Deputy Manager, Customer Services at Jaffer Business Systems

If one component fails to operate in a timely manner, the entire infrastructure can go down because everything is interconnected.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Room For Improvement

Azure Stack users want improved features like support, pricing, integration, flexibility, monitoring, networking, and AI while reducing complexity.

VMware Cloud Foundation needs improved integration, pricing, and management, while addressing customization, migration, and advanced multi-site challenges.

The precision of anonymous activity tracking should be improved, particularly in identifying the correct location because IP information is sometimes inaccurate.

JitenderSingh

Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

More integration with AI capabilities would be beneficial

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

Each user needs deep knowledge of every aspect of virtualization.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

VMware Broadcom needs to include auto resource allocation at the VM levels.

Abid_Ali

Deputy Manager, Customer Services at Jaffer Business Systems

VMware Cloud Foundation is complex, and there are always updates regarding security features, accessibility, and the user interface.

Payam Majidzadeh

VMware Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Setup Cost

Azure Stack's pricing is high but flexible, with significant upfront costs, and noted for support, stability, and security.

VMware Cloud Foundation is costly compared to competitors but offers valuable features that may justify its expense for enterprises.

If Microsoft lowers the price, more small businesses would be able to adopt the Enterprise E5 license.

JitenderSingh

Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Azure Stack pricing is generally reasonable, though it has been getting expensive recently due to inflation and changes in Microsoft’s charging strategy to US dollar-based billing.

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

The cost has become very high, especially after Broadcom's acquisition, altering the licensing model to a more expensive core-based system.

Muneer-Hussain

Credit Analyst - Risk Management at Boubyan Bank

The price is quite higher than some other vendors.

Abid_Ali

Deputy Manager, Customer Services at Jaffer Business Systems

VMware Cloud Foundation is quite expensive when compared to its competitors, but it does save time, which in turn saves money.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Valuable Features

Azure Stack offers seamless integration, hybrid cloud capabilities, advanced security, and cost efficiency, supporting diverse workloads with ease.

VMware Cloud Foundation simplifies automation, management, and customization, enhancing deployment efficiency and flexibility for comprehensive cloud solutions.

Azure Stack provides federated authentication which is seamless with on-premise infrastructure, offering good performance and throughput.

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

They allow me to track all user activities.

JitenderSingh

Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Stack report

VMware Cloud Foundation is its ability to manage everything from a single console, including network, virtualization, and storage management.

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

It includes virtualization hardware as compute using vSphere, storage virtualization, network virtualization, and automation all combined in a single solution.

Payam Majidzadeh

VMware Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

VMware Cloud Foundation allows for extensive customization, aligning with our customer requirements.

Muneer-Hussain

Credit Analyst - Risk Management at Boubyan Bank

For more quotes and insights, download the VMware Cloud Foundation report

Categories and Ranking

Azure Stack

Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

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

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category, the mindshare of Azure Stack is 28.9%, down from 31.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Cloud Foundation is 21.9%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

Featured Reviews

Sarath-Boppudi

Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at Strategic Architects

Seamless integration and impressive scaling capabilities for efficient architectural solutions

The scalability of Azure Stack is commendable. It can scale up within two to three minutes upon request. SQL Server is a good use case for data warehouses. It is scalable and can be set to serverless to reduce costs when not in use. Power BI Fabric offers a useful way to stack data in data warehousing solutions. Azure Stack provides federated authentication which is seamless with on-premise infrastructure, offering good performance and throughput. The integration with Microsoft's environment is also efficient.

Read full review

Mangesh Parjane

Technical Manager at Owens & Minor, Inc.

Experience has improved centralized management through single console operations

There is room for improvement in how section updates are handled. The challenge lies in the difficulty of pinpointing issues when something goes wrong at a single stage. Also, each user needs deep knowledge of every aspect of virtualization, and the VMware personnel might not fully grasp aspects outside their expertise, requiring the involvement of other professionals.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

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...

See all answers

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

Azure Stack pricing is generally reasonable, though it has been getting expensive recently due to inflation and changes in Microsoft’s charging strategy to US dollar-based billing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Stack?

More integration with AI capabilities would be beneficial, along with improvements in monitoring and cost management. Reducing costs slightly would also be desirable.

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?

VMware Cloud Foundation is quite expensive when compared to its competitors, but it does save time, which in turn saves money. I see over thirty percent savings.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Cloud Foundation?

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS Outposts vs Azure Stack

Compared 33% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs Azure Stack

Compared 14% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Azure Stack

Compared 4% of the time

VMware Cloud on AWS vs Azure Stack

Compared 2% of the time

VMware Software Defined Data Center vs Azure Stack

Compared 1% of the time

More Azure Stack Competitors

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 13% of the time

AWS Outposts vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 13% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 3% of the time

Google Anthos vs VMware Cloud Foundation

Compared 3% of the time

More VMware Cloud Foundation Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack

April 2025

Download Azure Stack product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Cloud Foundation

March 2025

Download VMware Cloud Foundation product report

Overview

Information not available

Microsoft

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.

VMware

Sample Customers

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

ricoh, dell technologies, sky

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

April 2025

Free Report: Azure Stack vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

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