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Hyper-V vs RHEV vs VMware vSphere 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 July 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Hyper-V is 14.1%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RHEV is 3.6%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere is 16.1%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Ananth Narayana Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost-effective and good for small workloads while addressing update-driven challenges is needed
I use Azure Monitor and other monitoring solutions to support clients in Accenture's managed services. We support multiple environments, primarily on cloud platforms like Azure and AWS, and also on-premises environments with operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Solaris, among others…
Sujeet-Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is scalable and affordable, but it lacks features, and it is not easy to manage
Management of RHEV is not as easy as VMware. Some features do not work. The product does not provide features similar to VMware’s VMotion. After creating the cluster, the VM is moved to another node if we move down. However, the VM does not move the parent node automatically. It has to be moved manually. VMware moves it automatically. RHEV moves it to the parent node only if we restart. Everything can be handled in VMware through the GUI. However, in RHEV, some things can be managed through UI, and others cannot. We have to troubleshoot and use CLI. A few features of the product do not work as well as those in VMware.
Neeraj Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines virtualization and has features like high availability and vMotion
The primary use case is for virtualization, including the implementation of vSphere, vCloud Foundation, vCloud Director, and cloud automation with vSphere My customers, particularly SMBs, mainly utilize High Availability (HA), DRS, and vMotion features. The vMotion feature is beneficial for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Hyper-V is a good product with some limitations, and we can suggest it to customers who mostly prefer Windows."
"The initial setup is simple. There's not much to do. We input one command or just one or two clicks on the UI. Initial setup in the Windows environment for any software is not that difficult."
"There are some products that you can mount over Hyper-V that provide the features that, in today's Hyper-V, are not present."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy to install."
"Hyper-V's technical support is good - they're responsive and sort cases based on criticality and category, so they get dealt with quickly and by the correct team."
"With each update, the security of this solution just gets better and better. It is very stable."
"This solution is much easier to manage than a bare metal machine. It is so easy to manage something through the virtual machine."
"Technical support from Microsoft is excellent, rated ten out of ten."
"It is easy to deal with when comes to application migration and its compatibility with the multiple component applications."
"There aren't any bugs on the solution."
"The price is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's much cheaper than, for example, VMware."
"The platform is scalable, allowing for the installation of multiple nodes."
"The solution has a good licensing module."
"I advise keeping an open mind. It's an excellent solution."
"Red Hat is the most stable system."
"The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The success of your setup depends on how well you plan."
"The solution can scale well."
"vSphere does offer quite a bit of security stuff built-in. It is nice to know that we can have the virtual machines encrypted, so that if somebody were to get a hold of any of those files, we don't have to worry about them actually being used."
"This product is useful for running multiple virtual machines from a single server so that people can utilize the hardware resources in their organization. Its ability for backups is also valuable. In case of a disaster, you can recover the entire server from the images. It is easy to use. In terms of features, whatever they are providing is more than sufficient for us. We are not exploiting this product up to a hundred percent."
"The most useful features are ESXi, DRS, Auto Deploy, and the Lifecycle Manager."
"Most valuable features of vSphere 6.7, for us, at the management level would be: VCHA is a nice redundancy feature that they added in v6.7. I like the quality of life improvements with the VMFS-6 for using auto UNMAP on the data stores. And we really appreciate the improvements to the Clarity UI where we can manage Update Manager (VUM) and our vSAN stack within the modern interface."
"We use it for our VDI infrastructure and managing virtual machines."
"It's easy to use."
"Technical support was helpful and knowledgeable."
 

Cons

"I think the setup for the Virtual Network Manager could be improved."
"There is a problem with high-availability if the load is too high."
"It needs additional administration and monitoring capabilities."
"I also use VMware which I find to be more scalable and stable overall."
"Security, computing balance, and taking snapshots could be improved. Features like DRS and memory ballooning could be added."
"It might make it easier to move VMs across Hotmail hosts. This application process make it a little bit easier."
"The biggest problem with Hyper-V is that the virtual machines are mostly running on top of the Windows Server, so we often need to reboot the machine and virtual machines when updating the host level. That's why we prefer VMware. It's much easier to patch the host. Also, Hyper-V has security vulnerabilities. It's easy to attack and compromise the host."
"It should be deployed with OS so there is no need to install OS separately, only select the OS and get it ready."
"There is not any proper documentation on the site to reference."
"Specifically, enhancements in managing virtual machine migrations, cloning, and the creation of different VMs could further optimize its functionality."
"The solution has a very small lifecycle."
"The biggest improvement would be more third-party direct support for things like backups and provisioning through third-party portals."
"RHEV can improve by keeping pace with new features and new enhancements. They should not be halted or delayed innovation because over the past quarter the enhancements have not been as fast as they have been previously."
"The UI should be more interactive with additional features."
"Red Hat by itself is not scalable. But you can have third party add-ons like Ceph to make it massively scalable."
"We should improve how we manage storage domains and make more comprehensive control available through the command line."
"The support for the latest version could be improved."
"I would like to see the configuration simplified."
"When it comes to cross-regional (e.g., someone in the US managing the China vSphere implementations), it can be a somewhat slow. I would recommend increasing the speed. While there has already been improvement there, I would like to see more."
"In addition, I think some of the backup features or the prediction features can be improved."
"An area for improvement is that when comparing VMware to Nutanix, Nutanix has higher availability, like clustering for virtual machines. That is a good idea and VMware could profit from something like that for higher availability installations."
"In addition, I think they should come up with a backup feature which is more product enrichment-based. It should be a full-fledged backup solution. It just is not there right now."
"Sometimes, we need valid certificates for VMware, however, we are unable to add the certificates."
"The improvement is more from a licensing perspective rather than from a feature functionality perspective. There could be more flexibility and fewer model options to make it easier to sell. Today, there are so many different options available, and sometimes, it is not really clear which one is the right version or the right model to propose."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would not say that it is a totally reasonably priced product as it is merged with our overall costs associated with Microsoft products. We bought some enterprise licenses for our company's data center for Windows Server 2019."
"Hyper-V is free when you buy Windows Server. You only have to pay for engaging in the management aspect in System Center."
"It comes with all the features and goodies inside the box, so you do not have to purchase anything else."
"Licensing cost depends on the edition you choose. There are two main options: Standard and Datacenter. With a Datacenter license, you can only create two virtual machines that are covered by the license itself. You can create more VMs, but they won't be licensed and could result in charges during an audit."
"There is a license required to use Hyper-V and there are bundle packages you can purchase making it cheaper than other solutions, such as VMware. Additionally, if there is a lot of guest OS that requires Windows, then Microsoft becomes cheaper."
"The price is quite fair. It is not too expensive."
"The pricing and licensing is fine."
"Since we have an agreement with Microsoft, the solution is not very expensive."
"Its price depends on the use cases."
"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"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."
"Price-wise, RHEV is okay, in my opinion."
"I would say the price is acceptable."
"I believe we pay on a yearly basis."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
"This is an open-source solution."
"Its price is slightly higher for India. It is a little bit expensive on a monthly basis when considering the value of the Indian rupee."
"There is an annual subscription to use this solution."
"When comparing the price of VMware solutions to other vendors, such as Nutanix, they are costly."
"There are a lot of management and soft skills that we end up being able to save on. For example, my engineers in Canada could watch over systems in China, California, and Phoenix. Thus, it gives us the flexibility of administration."
"Our ROI is time management savings."
"The capital investment is high, but it is efficient."
"I'm satisfied with the VMware vSphere price. They have a bundle that is priced well. However, any advantage feature is very costly."
"Start with the lowest and upgrade if, and only if, absolutely necessary."
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Comparison Review

it_user234735 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 10, 2015
Hyper-V 2012 R2 vs. VMware vSphere 5.5
I was won with Hyper-V 2012R2 recently and the table below based on customer RFP (edited). This articles all about technical, there is not related with TCO/ROI, licensing cost, “political”, etc. Another to noted is the Windows Server 2012 licenses is based on 2 socket CPU, meanwhile…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
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?
The RHEV management plane could be improved, particularly the management interface. Something more similar to a Googl...
What is IOMMU?
DEEPEN DHULLA did explain well IOMMU. IOMMU has to be activated at the bios level. It exists on Intel and AMD platfor...
Why KVM??? Help please!
We use VMware and KVM. We find that KVM is a lot simpler to use and it provides the virtualization we need for Linux...
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Large customer base from all industries, all over the world. Two major Hyper-V customers are Telefonica and EmpireCLS.
Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.
Abu Dhabi Ports Company, ACS, AIA New Zealand, Consona, Corporate Express, CS Energy, and Digiweb.
Find out what your peers are saying about Proxmox, VMware, Microsoft and others in Server Virtualization Software. Updated: July 2025.
862,624 professionals have used our research since 2012.