IBM PowerVM vs Spot comparison

IBM and Spot are both solutions in the Server Virtualization Software category. IBM is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5, while Spot is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.0. IBM holds a 1.3% mindshare in SVS, compared to Spot’s 0.0% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Spot users who would recommend it.

IBM PowerVM

Read 37 IBM PowerVM reviews

1,688 Views
1,383 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Spot

Read 2 Spot reviews

31 Views
13 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM PowerVM

Spot

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 8, 2025

IBM PowerVM and Spot compete in cloud infrastructure management. Spot appears more advanced in features with its focus on dynamic cloud cost optimization, while IBM PowerVM excels in support and stability.

Features: IBM PowerVM includes robust virtualization capabilities, high security standards, and support for enterprise applications. Spot offers predictive analytics, automated workload management, and effective cost optimization with a strong emphasis on cost efficiency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM PowerVM provides an extensive deployment supported by dedicated technical assistance, ensuring a steady implementation path. Spot features a cloud-based deployment model with automated optimization recommendations, allowing quicker implementations, although with less direct support contact.

Pricing and ROI: IBM PowerVM requires a significant initial setup cost with long-term stability and performance ROI. Spot's flexible pricing model is aligned with cloud cost savings, offering rapid ROI through cost optimization, surpassing IBM PowerVM's gradual ROI focus.

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

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM vs. Spot

June 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

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Spot

Ranking in Server Virtualization Software

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Management (32nd), Cloud Operations Analytics (3rd), Cloud Analytics (5th), Compute Service (11th), Containers as a Service (CaaS) (7th), Cloud Cost Management (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of IBM PowerVM is 1.3%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spot is 0.0%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Virtualization Software

Featured Reviews

Desianto Abdillah

System Administrator at Japfa Comfeed Indonesia

A practical virtualization environment with a Live Partition Mobility feature that help us handle virtual adapters effectively

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 even during maintenance, significantly minimizing any potential disruptions.

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Manpreet_Singh

Senior Principal Infrastructure Engineer at Mphasis

Used to manage Kubernetes infrastructure, but it doesn't have support from OCI

Spot Ocean is deployed on the cloud in our organization. I would recommend the solution to other users. You need to have an experience with Kubernetes, or else this product is of no use. It is not difficult to learn to use Spot Ocean. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

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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

"IBM technical support is always good and quick."

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

"The tool's performance is top-notch."

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

"The case fileserver on the web server is the most valuable feature."

"Active Memory Sharing dynamically reallocates memory of running partitions based on changing workload demands. The memory for the pool is carved out from Physical memory and is made logical memory. The said memory is not available to be assigned to partitions as dedicated memory. A min, max and desired as well as weight is assigned to the memory of each lpar to help hypervisor make a decision in case a condition where priority is to be given to a certain lapr to use the memory form shared pool."

"A valuable feature of PowerVM is a feature that is used for higher availability plus stream for posting, which is very useful. There's a flash copy feature which we are using. PowerVM itself, I know, helps us to control and manage our Oracle licensing compliance, since it is our hardware partitioning. This is very important. If you use VMware, there will be a licensing issue. This PowerVM is a hardware partitioner, which is very important for license compliance. We are happy with this solution."

"The feature that I like most is the versatility."

More IBM PowerVM pros

"The solution helps us to manage and scale automatically whenever there is a limit to the increase in the application workflow."

"The solution offers both block access and file access, making it a nice solution for customers."

Cons

"The licensing could be better."

"In terms of the technology used in the product, I feel that there are some areas where improvements are required. The tool should offer better clustering options."

"The solution should be advanced to fit with the container constantly."

"The hardware licensing model could be improved because the licensing model is a bit different from the standard hardware procured."

"If it could actually virtualize the entire platform it might be better. If you're having more than one virtualization technology, maybe there's a way to actually have less - one technology to run the data center and maybe one special virtualization for power. If it integrated with other platforms more effectively it might be better."

"The solution is quite pricey."

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

"PowerVM should integrate some capabilities of VMware vCenter to improve its management features."

More IBM PowerVM cons

"There are no particular areas for improvement I can identify."

"The solution doesn't have support from OCI, and it should start working to onboard OCI."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

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

"The tool is competitively priced, especially right now."

"The solution is expensive."

"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 license cost is bundled with IBM Power Systems as it is limited to RISC-based IBM systems only."

"IBM PowerVM's pricing is cheap."

More IBM PowerVM pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Spot Ocean?

The solution helps us to manage and scale automatically whenever there is a limit to the increase in the application workflow.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Spot Ocean?

There are no particular areas for improvement I can identify.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Spot Ocean?

Spot by NetApp is primarily used for backup and also for Fiservware.

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSphere vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 61% of the time

KVM vs IBM PowerVM

Compared 10% 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

ProsperOps vs Spot

Compared 19% of the time

Flexera Cloud Cost Management vs Spot

Compared 15% of the time

Apache Spark vs Spot

Compared 15% of the time

IBM Turbonomic vs Spot

Compared 13% of the time

Cloudability vs Spot

Compared 11% of the time

More Spot Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM

June 2025

Download IBM PowerVM product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Analytics

May 2025

Download Spot product report

Also Known As

PowerVM

Spot Ocean, Spot Elastigroup, Spot Eco

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

Spot provides dynamic workload management for cloud environments, offering cost optimization and enhanced performance. It stands out with its unique approach to managing resources efficiently.

Spot is designed to enhance cloud resource utilization and cost-effectiveness through intelligent workload management. With real-time analysis, Spot determines and deploys the most efficient resources, ensuring optimal performance for applications. Businesses benefit from reduced cloud expenses and increased operational efficiency, making it an essential tool for managing cloud infrastructure effectively.

What are the key features of Spot?

Automated Scaling: Automatically adjusts cloud resources based on demand and usage patterns.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight to ensure optimal performance and operational efficiency.
Cost Optimization: Reduces expenses by utilizing spot instances and leveraging cost-effective cloud resources.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with existing cloud services and infrastructures.

What benefits should users look for in Spot?

Cost Reduction: Users can expect to see a significant decrease in cloud expenses.
Improved Efficiency: Enhancements in operational processes and workload management.
Resource Optimization: Better allocation and usage of cloud resources.
Scalability: Capability to handle increasing amounts of work effectively.

In finance, Spot ensures cost-effective cloud computing for trading platforms, while in e-commerce, it dynamically manages back-end processes. In the entertainment industry, Spot optimizes media streaming by deploying resources when user demand spikes. Each industry leverages Spot to maximize performance and minimize operational costs, demonstrating its versatility and reliability across sectors.

Spot

Sample Customers

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

Freshworks, Zalando, Red Spark, News, Trax, ETAS, Demandbase, BeesWa, Duolingo, intel, IBM, N26, Wix, EyeEm, moovit, SAMSUNG, News UK, ticketmaster

Buyer's Guide

IBM PowerVM vs. Spot

June 2025

Free Report: IBM PowerVM vs. Spot

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

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