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IBM PowerVM vs RHEV comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 6, 2024

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
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
RHEV
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of IBM PowerVM is 1.8%, up from 1.3% 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 (%)
IBM PowerVM1.8%
RHEV2.4%
Other95.8%
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2014950 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Virtualization has simplified partitioning and currently supports secure multi-tenant workloads
The ease of use of IBM PowerVM provides key benefits such as the installation being very easy, and the VIOS is really, really stable. IBM PowerVM is performing very well in supporting complex workloads. It's simple regarding the initial setup for IBM PowerVM. We always create two VIOS servers in IBM PowerVM to be compliant for security and to be compliant also for redundancy.
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

"IBM PowerVM's most valuable feature is stability."
"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."
"I rate IBM PowerVM a ten out of ten for its capabilities in the cloud environment."
"Managing other operating systems is also straightforward with IBM PowerVM."
"It is a stable solution with reliable performance."
"PowerVM is perhaps the only virtualization platform that offers 99.999% availability."
"PowerVM excels in efficiently managing all systems and environments, including development, UI, and production."
"We always recommend PowerVM to our customers; it is better than most solutions."
"The solution is easy for us to deal with when comes to application migration and has good compatibility with multiple components."
"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."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"RHEV’s cost is much less compared to VMware."
"The most valuable features of RHEV are all the tools, such as virtualization, management of cloud platforms, and integration of container environments. The solution has good compatibility between virtualization, content management, and cloud management. Having the full set of these tools is the advantage of it."
"Technical support for RHEV is very fast and good."
"Red Hat is the most stable system; it's better than other OS solutions."
"They are so advanced today and so mature in what they do that they could easily give any top-notch industry leaders a run for their money."
 

Cons

"It is solely command-line based."
"Automatic LPM is an area that is currently not available in IBM PowerVM, and it is a feature I want to see in the product's future releases."
"The pricing of the solution is on the higher side."
"I would like for IBM to be more focused on the cloud."
"The program has very limited solutions for the virtualization of containers."
"The interface is not user-friendly in places, so it could use some improvement."
"To make it a ten, I would like for them to add automation and configuration tools in order to help use the manager."
"I would like for IBM to be more focuses on the cloud."
"RHEV is not improving because it has been discontinued. It has been discontinued for years."
"RHEV can improve by keeping pace with new features and new enhancements."
"RHEV is not improving because it has been discontinued. It has been discontinued for years."
"I found it a bit more difficult to manage than version seven, which was much easier."
"Customers are not aware of this solution, they can improve by providing more awareness and solution availability."
"The biggest improvement would be more third-party direct support for things like backups and provisioning through third-party portals."
"We have found the technical support for this solution to be very slow in responding to our requests for assistance."
"The GUI interface needs improvement. Not 90%, but 50% or 60% of the work is done from the command line and so on, so the GUI needs work because people are looking for an easier way to manage the environment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"The cost is on the higher side. Typically, we invest in the machine and support for two, three, or five years."
"The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive."
"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."
"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."
"The tool is competitively priced, especially right now."
"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."
"The license cost is bundled with IBM Power Systems as it is limited to RISC-based IBM systems only."
"Its price depends on the use cases."
"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."
"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."
"RHEV offers pricing based on a per-physical-machine licensing model."
"The solution does not require licencing but a subscription is necessary, which is very affordable."
"We have to pay extra for vulnerability and fault tolerance."
"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
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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
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What needs improvement with IBM PowerVM?
Maybe an automatic installation of patches would be great to see as an additional functionality in IBM PowerVM. I don't see any point to improve IBM PowerVM. For me, it's okay, and I don't have any...
What is your primary use case for IBM PowerVM?
For storage, we mainly work with FlashSystem FS5200 and with IBM Power Systems with IBM i. We are using PowerVM for the creation of partitions on the Power Systems. I'm using the VIOS in PowerVM, a...
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.
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 into RHEV, but the job market is difficult and no one is hiring. RHEV is designe...
What is your primary use case for RHEV?
I have done some consulting where I used RHEV, taking on side jobs to run virtual machines in the financial industry for a startup. The last time I used RHEV was in my home lab, but that has been d...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

PowerVM
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
 

Overview

 

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.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM PowerVM vs. RHEV and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.