No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Hyper-V vs Proxmox VE vs RHEV comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Hyper-V is 19.4%, up from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proxmox VE is 11.5%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RHEV is 2.4%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Hyper-V19.4%
Proxmox VE11.5%
RHEV2.4%
Other66.7%
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Tomas Basus - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Professional at NIPOS
Virtualization has reduced licensing costs and improved integration but still needs better performance insight
Integrations bring the biggest benefit to us. We use half of our virtual machines that are Microsoft, so it works better hosted in Hyper-V compared to VMware. Clustering and failover capabilities in the product help with our availability. It helped because we switched to Hyper-V because it was lower cost than paying for high availability in VMware. We need Microsoft licenses for virtual machines, so it costs less than buying two solutions for that. We have data center editions, so it did not cost us additional money compared to paying for high availability from VMware. I think it helped a little, but not so different compared to VMware regarding security and bandwidth optimization.
Juan Barandiaran - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at BCloud Services SAC
Effortless management with robust support enhances performance and cost savings
My primary use case for Proxmox VE focuses on replacing VMware solutions and migrating to a Centric Solution for medium-sized companies. This product serves as a hypervisor in environments where performance is crucial Proxmox VE has provided performance improvements, particularly with its…
Mike Neuliep - PeerSpot reviewer
Linux Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Has supported virtualization projects in side jobs but has required workarounds due to lack of maintenance
In my opinion, the best features of RHEV are that it is a real hypervisor and it is free, so it performs better than VMware. I have used the live migration feature in the past with RHEV. There is a free clone of it that is based on the open source. Live migration is a nifty feature if your app is not highly available and you need to do maintenance on a machine. You can migrate the VM off of it, do your maintenance, and move it back when you are done. RHEV has a high availability architecture with a built-in monitoring feature where you could see machines other than the one you are operating on. I tend to implement high availability not so much in RHEV, but by using standard application high availability strategies. Red Hat has another product specifically for high availability.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"With the Windows data center, I can have an infinite number of virtual machines."
"It's good for what it does. If you have a small or medium-scale acclimatization, it's an excellent solution."
"The initial setup was straightforward; it was easy to install, and it took an hour to get the on-premises system running."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"I think the cluster environment is a good feature of Hyper-V because, if something happens, then it will automatically move to some other mode."
"It allows for quick deployment of servers and workloads."
"Hyper-V is a good product with some limitations, and we can suggest it to customers who mostly prefer Windows."
"My understanding is it's easy to set up."
"The solution has made it so that I can operate things without having to spend thousands and thousands of dollars."
"I'll tell them it's a cheap option, it's a stable option, it's an affordable option, it's a stable solution, and it just works off the fly like that."
"Proxmox is free, very stable, and doesn't require more resources for memory RAM."
"Proxmox allows us to achieve affordable performance while keeping high levels of data protection and flexibility."
"It is an excellent and complete solution."
"It is easy to deploy."
"It's a solid, stable and powerful open source virtualisation product that has allowed us to bring virtualisation to smaller SMBs at an affordable price."
"The affordability of the solution is the product's most valuable aspect."
"We are very satisfied with it."
"I advise keeping an open mind. It's an excellent solution."
"The solution is a great all-round product, and the virtualization is especially good."
"There aren't any bugs on the solution."
"Technically, the main reason why I'm using Red Hat is because of its stability."
"In my opinion, the best features of RHEV are that it is a real hypervisor and it is free, so it performs better than VMware."
"This solution is very stable. Much more so than similar products."
"RHEV’s cost is much less compared to VMware."
 

Cons

"It needs additional administration and monitoring capabilities."
"They should include a few more hardware components for integration with servers."
"To manage Windows Hyper-V Server 2012, you need an additional server 2012 server."
"The only issues we have had recently are with Windows updates that are built into the Windows server with Hyper-V."
"I didn't give it a 10 out of 10 because sometimes remotely managing it isn't as simple as it could be."
"Sometimes there's a bit of slowness in the VMs."
"The only negative thing I heard was that the baseline price is very, very attractive relative to VMware, however, the vCenter counterpart, the thing that brings it all together, is quite pricey."
"Hyper-V systems need a lot of admin effort because security updates and monthly updates require rebooting after the update."
"The facility of deployment is an area that needs to improve. The support is an area in need of improvement."
"Its performance and support can be improved. Currently, there is a cost for support."
"We are using servers individually, and we are looking for a reliable application that allows us to hop between servers with high availability."
"Some of the more advanced features and options required for setup still need to use the console and hand edit config files."
"An area that could be improved is the replication of virtual machines from site to site for disaster recovery."
"A feature which should be added is the ability to encrypt the main installation."
"We have only command lines for a management application to remove sites. The solution needs a proper GUI."
"Proxmox VE can improve the management of virtual discs. For example, if my virtual disc is 200 GB and I want to decrease it is not easy. I have to do a lot of things to decrease the size of existing virtual machines. If the Proxmox VE team can make it easy for customers to instantly increase or decrease the virtual machine hard disc, it will be very helpful for me. However, the containers I can do it easily."
"The biggest improvement would be more third-party direct support for things like backups and provisioning through third-party portals."
"There is not any proper documentation on the site to reference."
"If you wanted to go to the desktop computer side of things, it lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles."
"The initial setup is not simple or straightforward. It's very complex."
"We'd like it if it would be possible on Red Hat Virtualization to possibly connect two or three VMs to the same disk."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly."
"This solution could be more secure."
"Scalability depends on the applications. Red Hat by itself is not scalable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is quite fair. It is not too expensive."
"Since we have an agreement with Microsoft, the solution is not very expensive."
"Hyper-V is cost-effective and is a one-time purchase. Microsoft has multiple licensing options available, such as a subscription model and an outside purchase model that customers can choose as per their requirements."
"Licensing needs to be a lot easier to manage with Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware is easier."
"We chose this solution because of the pricing and the simplicity of the product."
"The tool's pricing is cheap."
"We did not have to pay extra money for the Failover Clustering feature."
"Hyper-V is part of Windows Server, so there are no extra costs for the product."
"It's very cheap."
"The way the licensing of Proxmox is structured, you can use it for free. It is an open-source solution, and you can use it for free, but if you do need support, then you have to pay for the support. So, you can use it in a way that you don't have to pay anything, which is a plus point for me. For people or users who have huge and more intense use cases, the advice or the recommendation is to always pay for support. In case something goes wrong, you can fall back on the team that will attend to your request. For me, at the moment, the cost is zero."
"The only thing you pay for is support and it is between $2,500 and $3,000 a year. It depends on the support plan you choose. Support is optional."
"Proxmox is free."
"Since Proxmox is open-source, it's freely available."
"There is no subscription required for Proxmox VE."
"I cannot subscribe to Proxmox VE's support because it is expensive."
"The cost is excellent."
"I would say the price is acceptable."
"Price-wise, RHEV is okay, in my opinion."
"We have to pay extra for vulnerability and fault tolerance."
"RHEV offers pricing based on a per-physical-machine licensing model."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
"It's a budget product as far as I'm concerned. It's way cheaper than any of its competitors. The only thing cheaper than Red Hat is that the people who take the Red Hat code clone it and then self-support it."
"The price of RHEV is high. It is an open-source solution, the price should be less. The price should not be on par with a solution, such as VMware. It's not more or equal to VMware, it's less, but the difference should be more substantial."
"This is an open-source solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Virtualization Software solutions are best for your needs.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VL
CIO at Robusta Technology & Training
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
8%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business70
Midsize Enterprise37
Large Enterprise46
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

How does KVM compare with Hyper-V?
KVM is better. But let's just look at the software instead of judging. Hyper-V was a free solution from Microsoft to ...
How does Proxmox VE compare with Hyper-V?
One of the best things about Proxmox VE is that it is open-source and very inexpensive. You get all of the same featu...
What do you like most about Hyper-V?
The initial setup is not difficult at all. It is very easy.
Proxmox vs ESXi/vSphere: What is your experience?
For me the biggest impact is the cost of licensing in the case of VMware despite its overall intuitiveness and ease o...
Proxmox VE or KVM?
I use Proxmox VE and have been very happy with it. In my opinion, it is a complete and stable solution with excellent...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proxmox VE?
The pricing is very comfortable, particularly with the basic support plans, as enterprise-level support is often unne...
What do you like most about RHEV?
The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for RHEV?
It's the open source. There's not much cost. It's very minimal comparably. Compared to what I am paying for VMware, i...
What needs improvement with RHEV?
RHEV is not improving because it has been discontinued. It has been discontinued for years. I would love to get back ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Large customer base from all industries, all over the world. Two major Hyper-V customers are Telefonica and EmpireCLS.
Municipality of Trento, SwitchMIA, inDenova, Valmeita City Council, Alpha IT AS, Grupo Inversor Veracruzano S.A.P.I. de C.V. (GRIVER), Laut und Schoen, IT-Services - Hamburg e.K., KMI Learning, Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., Serwise AG
Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.
Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom, Microsoft, Proxmox and others in Server Virtualization Software. Updated: March 2026.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.