IBM PowerVM vs RHEV comparison

IBM and Red Hat are both solutions in the Server Virtualization Software category. IBM is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5, while Red Hat is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8. IBM holds a 1.3% mindshare in SVS, compared to Red Hat’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

IBM PowerVM

Read 37 IBM PowerVM reviews

1,651 Views
1,568 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

RHEV

Read 36 RHEV reviews

4,043 Views
4,043 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

IBM PowerVM

RHEV

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 6, 2024

IBM PowerVM and RHEV are competitors in the virtualization solutions market. IBM PowerVM holds the advantage due to its stability and performance in high-demand environments.

Features: IBM PowerVM offers robust security and stability with high availability through LPAR, shared processor pools, and active memory sharing. It efficiently manages hardware resources and integrates seamlessly with Oracle databases. RHEV provides open-source flexibility with ease of use, cloud management, and integration capabilities. It supports a wide range of environments and offers cost-effective virtualization features.

Room for Improvement: IBM PowerVM could improve with lower pricing, better OS compatibility, and enhanced cloud service integration. A more user-friendly GUI for VIOS and transparent pricing are suggested. RHEV needs an improved interface, detailed documentation, and faster updates. Enhancing third-party integration and management features would also benefit users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM PowerVM is primarily deployed on-premises, with users praising its reliable and prompt customer service, which is crucial for critical applications. RHEV offers deployment flexibility across various cloud environments but has average service in some areas compared to IBM.

Pricing and ROI: IBM PowerVM is more expensive but justifies the cost with comprehensive features, offering substantial ROI for Oracle deployments due to targeted core licensing. RHEV, as an open-source option, presents a more affordable alternative with subscription-based pricing, though it requires traditional enterprise feature enhancements to better compete with pricier solutions like VMware.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV

July 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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM PowerVM

Ranking in Server Virtualization Software

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

RHEV

Ranking in Server Virtualization Software

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of IBM PowerVM is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RHEV is 3.4%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Virtualization Software

Featured Reviews

Atif Najam

Chief Information Officer and Program Lead at Gatron Industries Ltd

Offers mobility and you can seamlessly move a VM between different PowerVM instances

PowerVM is likely one of the most stable hypervisors available, albeit highly specialized. However, it is solely command-line based. When someone manages virtualization as a whole, they typically expect a graphical user interface (GUI) for configurations. This is the case for Hyper-V, XenServer, and VMware. But with PowerVM, you need to understand and memorize commands to operate the hypervisor. I believe PowerVM should have a GUI; that would be a significant improvement.

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Sujeet-Kumar

Project Manager Cloud Infrastructure at Path Infotech ltd

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.

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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

"The stability is the most valuable aspect of this solution. IBM is the most powerful and stable platform."

"The practicality of IBM PowerVM is a crucial feature, especially with the help of HMC (Hardware Management Console). The Live Partition Mobility help us handle virtual adapters effectively when we need to upgrade firmware or the system, and LPM helps us transfer workloads with minimal downtime. This feature ensures that our systems remain online during maintenance, significantly minimizing potential disruptions."

"PowerVM is perhaps the only virtualization platform that offers 99.999% availability."

"The support is easily reachable."

"What I like about this solution, is that it is easy to configure."

"I rate IBM PowerVM a ten out of ten for its capabilities in the cloud environment."

"The most valuable features in this solution are you do not get degradation in the performance like you could get in other solutions. There is a physical adapter that is better than a virtual one and you can assign adapters to a VM."

"It's scalable. Whenever we buy another product other than hardware, it's easily integrated into the virtualization software that we download."

More IBM PowerVM pros

"RHEV’s cost is much less compared to VMware."

"We find the ease of use of this solution to be invaluable. It is user-friendly and integrates well with other software."

"I advise keeping an open mind. It's an excellent solution."

"What they provide is way beyond the essential requirements of customers."

"When you purchase RHEV, you are essentially buying a subscription license. This license can be integrated with various client types, including these integrations with the subscription."

"Stability and speed are the most valuable aspects."

"It is very stable."

"It's a scalable solution."

More RHEV pros

Cons

"Technical support could be improved."

"I don't know whether this has been trialed already, but IBM should give us an alert when we reach seven or eight failovers so that we can automatically switch it to manual mode. That would be great because if we cross the 10-day licensing limit, we have to pay a hefty license cost to Oracle. If IBM could view that feature, it would be helpful in license compliance."

"It is solely command-line based."

"From a product perspective, I would like to see faster certification of open-source products on IBM Power Systems. While the product has robust features and functionalities, the availability and certification of certain open-source products could be improved to avoid potential challenges."

"SRM for site recovery is a feature that should be included."

"To make it a ten, I would like for them to add automation and configuration tools in order to help use the manager."

"The pricing of the solution is on the higher side."

"I would like for IBM to be more focuses on the cloud."

More IBM PowerVM cons

"We would like the dashboard feature of this solution to be improved, as it is not very detailed at present."

"We'd like it if it would be possible on Red Hat Virtualization to possibly connect two or three VMs to the same disk."

"Customers are not aware of this solution, they can improve by providing more awareness and solution availability."

"It lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles."

"The Administration of the Oracle database and the SAP ERP needs improvement."

"The biggest improvement would be more third-party direct support for things like backups and provisioning through third-party portals."

"When we do a direct comparison, then obviously VMware does better in terms of having Fault Tolerance and doing active disaster recovery and these kind of things. This is something that can be improved within Red Hat."

"There is not any proper documentation on the site to reference."

More RHEV cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM PowerVM's pricing is cheap."

"The cost is on the higher side. Typically, we invest in the machine and support for two, three, or five years."

"The pricing for PowerVM is on the higher. Regarding the license, it can be on a monthly or annual basis, depending on the deal. Customers may choose to pay annually, one-time, or monthly based on their agreement with the sales team. As for additional costs, customers need to pay for support if they opt for it. If not, they only pay for the hardware cost as per the agreement."

"We have to purchase the product's licenses."

"Even if the product is expensive, it works well in the long term. The tool is more or less expensive, and I would presently describe it as an optimally priced product."

"IBM PowerVM costs more than other products but the customer does not need to pay additional money for the licenses. In VMware, you need to license everything. With IBM PowerVM it is unlimited and all-inclusive in the price you pay."

"The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

More IBM PowerVM pricing and cost advice

"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."

"This product has a variety of licensing options available. However, the level of licensing, and therefore the cost of licensing, is dependent on the number of servers being utilized."

"I believe we pay on a yearly basis."

"Its price depends on the use cases."

"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."

"This is an open-source solution."

"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."

More RHEV pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

Thang Le Toan (Victory Lee)

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM PowerVM?

Managing other operating systems is also straightforward with IBM PowerVM.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM PowerVM?

IBM’s licensing model offers flexibility in subscription terms, now allowing one- to five-year options. They have introduced a subscription-based model for some systems, creating a more cost-effect...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM PowerVM?

From a product perspective, I would like to see faster certification of open-source products on IBM Power Systems ( /products/ibm-power-systems-reviews ). While the product has robust features and ...

See all answers

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 success of your setup depends on how well you plan.

See all answers

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, it's negligible.

See all answers

What needs improvement with RHEV?

The RHEV management plane could be improved, particularly the management interface. Something more similar to a Google, Amazon, or Azure interface might attract people to use its management interfa...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSphere vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 57% of the time

KVM vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 11% of the time

Hyper-V vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 9% of the time

Proxmox VE vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 8% of the time

Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM PowerVM Competitors

VMware vSphere vs RHEV

Compared 39% of the time

Proxmox VE vs RHEV

Compared 27% of the time

Hyper-V vs RHEV

Compared 11% of the time

KVM vs RHEV

Compared 10% of the time

Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs RHEV

Compared 7% of the time

More RHEV Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

RHEV

August 2025

Download RHEV product report

Also Known As

PowerVM

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

Overview

Power is server virtualization without limits. Businesses are turning to PowerVM server virtualization to consolidate multiple workloads onto fewer systems, increasing server utilization and reducing cost. PowerVM provides a secure and scalable server virtualization environment for AIX, IBM i and Linux applications built upon the advanced RAS features and leading performance of the Power Systems platform.

IBM

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, or RHEV, is a leading open standard enterprise virtualization management solution. This solution supports virtualization of servers and desktops using the same infrastructure and a single easy-to-use interface.

Because RHEV is based on open standards, it is vendor-independent and a lot more cost effective and flexible than proprietary solutions.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Sto, Soitec, SNO, Bundesrechenzentrum GmbH, Al Mansour Holding, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Huhtamaki, ELK Group, IT-Informatik, Arkansas Tech University, Pneuhage

Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV

July 2025

Free Report: IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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