Nutanix Central vs OpenNebula comparison

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Nutanix Central

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 10, 2025

OpenNebula and Nutanix Central are cloud management platforms competing in the infrastructure solutions category. OpenNebula has an upper hand in pricing and customer support, while Nutanix Central offers a wider range of features and performance considered worth the investment.

Features: OpenNebula offers open-source flexibility, hybrid cloud capabilities, and simple management tools. Nutanix Central is known for its robust architecture, seamless integration, and advanced data management functionalities.

Room for Improvement: OpenNebula could improve in offering more advanced integration features, enhancing scalability possibilities, and expanding its template offerings. Nutanix Central could look at improving its pricing model, offering more customizable options, and expanding the user interface simplicity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OpenNebula provides a straightforward, flexible deployment approach, making it suitable for open-source environment enthusiasts. Nutanix Central offers a streamlined deployment process and strong customer support, helping businesses that need comprehensive assistance.

Pricing and ROI: OpenNebula stands out with its cost-effectiveness, offering low setup costs and quick ROI, appealing to budget-conscious companies. Nutanix Central, while more expensive, is seen as providing significant ROI through its advanced features and enhanced performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula Report (Updated: September 2025).

Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula

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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

Nutanix Central

Ranking in Cloud Management

17th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtualization Management Tools (6th), Data Center Infrastructure Management (7th), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (8th)

OpenNebula

Ranking in Cloud Management

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

reviewer2703777

S30290139 Infrastructure Administrator II at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees

Helps us get ahead of potential problems, and their support has been phenomenal

I don't think there's much improvement needed in Nutanix Central. Maybe there are different tools I haven't discovered yet that may bring everyone on the same page. I am still in the process of researching them and providing feedback to Nutanix. For what we use it for, it runs efficiently. What I think is missing in Nutanix Central to make it the best product ever is compatibility with our backups. One of the biggest challenges we have with Nutanix currently is that our Rubrik backups do not work with the Nutanix API. That would be great to resolve, as it would reduce the time spent resolving the issue.

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FOURES Jean-Philippe

Products Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Reliable, simple to manage, and offers great technical support

The support of VXLAN fits with our network management. Thanks to this we can propose mixed solutions using virtual resources on OpenNebula and bare metal servers hosted in our facilities linked to each other on the sale network. This use case is very useful when some applications need bare metal power (Kubernetes workers, huge databases, AI models computations, et cetera). The cluster management is very useful for splitting our different clusters (mutual vs dedicated). We can manage deployments and capacity planning without pain. The API is also really simple and it helped us to develop the Terraform provider to manage OpenNebula like any other cloud infrastructure.

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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

"We have multiple Prism Centrals - two currently, with more coming in, especially with NC2 and the public cloud. We can log into one portal, one panel, and see metrics, VMs, and perform administration tasks, all from one site."

"I find the categories in Nutanix Central most valuable because they allow us to group things easily, so we don't have to deal with complications, and that's how we use our DR."

"It provided a significant increase in speed and ease of use."

"The features of Nutanix Central that I value most are primarily the hardware portion because it tells us everything available regarding BIOS upgrades and any updates that become compatible, including LCM upgrades. I enjoy troubleshooting and dealing with urgent issues."

"The ability to look in one place in Nutanix Central is what I prefer the most. We can see storage but also capacity, and it gives my boss a place to look, so he doesn't ask me questions."

"The ease of use is valuable because we can manage two different clusters or several clusters with it. I appreciate the one umbrella management feel. We can run updates and get different types of analytics."

"One of the best features is that it provides a unified control plane, which offers single-pane-of-glass visibility for us."

"I would give the customer service a perfect score."

More Nutanix Central pros

"The service feature appeals most to us, thus it is the most valuable."

"With a single click, we could set things up and initiate them."

"For the entire data center, as a private cloud, I believe that user management, expert management, and the virtual data center is completely magic for the users."

"The live migration feature has been great and is something we use very often."

"It is quite easy to deploy."

"The ability to use it almost like a public cloud for an organization is a big asset, as it will create a value proposition and can control costs in a great way."

"It makes maintenance very easy and stress-free for our teams."

"The most valuable feature of OpenNebula is that it scales very well."

More OpenNebula pros

Cons

"One area of improvement could be from the AI side, as the industry shifts and grows."

"There is a sense that they want to close tickets faster than always getting the resolution right."

"The update process in terms of using LCM or using Central is sometimes confusing, but I think they are working towards unifying that."

"The permissions should be set for the highest level, more akin to cluster admin and Prism admin. There have been occasions where I needed to log into Prism Central directly to complete work due to permissions issues from Nutanix Central. They are very close to a one-for-one equivalence. While their website states it is not meant to replace Prism Element or Prism Central, I would prefer to see it reach the level where I can perform all Prism Central tasks from one location to multiple Prism Centrals."

"The API needs work. It's not specifically Central, but just the API as a whole."

"There has been confusion regarding the initial setup of Nutanix Central."

"One of the things I'd want to see in Nutanix Central is more utility. It would be nice to go in and say, "This VM doesn't need to be in this data center, and we'd prefer to put it in this one," and have the ability to initiate the migration, even if we have to make changes to networks."

More Nutanix Central cons

"There are no payment gateways in OpenNebula."

"As with all enterprise software licensing, the pricing is not intuitive and must be negotiated; grandfathered contracts are better than anything offered today."

"They should add more features like object storage."

"Backup features are only available in the enterprise edition. The community version lacks a good solution for making backups."

"The web interface could be better. It's not very difficult to use, but there's room for enhancement."

"The storage feature that they have is a bit confusing."

"They have been saying for the past two and a half years that they would develop a feature to hot-add RAM and CPU, but it does not work."

"The protocol for clusterization is rough and doesn't work well."

More OpenNebula cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We had the benefit of already being under Ultimate and Pro for the majority of our licensing models. We do not incur additional costs for using Nutanix Central. Similar to Security Central, this is one of those tools we are adopting, integrating, and promoting because we already have access to it."

"Our experience was fine. We have no complaints."

"My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is limited as I don't manage that part. However, I know it has been within budget and hasn't impacted our financial planning."

"We tie in with cost governance in Nutanix Central, which helps us identify other products and determine whether we need to increase our licensing or reduce it."

"VRA is very expensive but OpenNebula is free."

"The licensing for OpenNebula used to be free, but now it's no longer free. A customer contacted me asking to move to another provider because of the changes in the licensing terms for OpenNebula. I have no information on how much the OpenNebula license is because the customer pays for it, and I only do the integration."

"OpenNebula gives good value for money."

"OpenNebuoa has recently come up with a new subscription model that is economical and a lot of new customers are choosing this as it is an easy subscription model."

"The solution is open source so is free."

"We use the Community Edition, rather than the Enterprise Edition."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Wholesaler/Distributor

Computer Software Company

18%

University

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Central?

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing is limited as I don't manage that part. However, I know it has been within budget and hasn't impacted our financial planning.

What needs improvement with Nutanix Central?

One area of improvement could be from the AI side, as the industry shifts and grows. If we could get workflow mechanisms built into Nutanix Central, we could define workflows to solve known issues ...

What is your primary use case for Nutanix Central?

We use Nutanix Central for our hybrid cloud management because we have our on-premises Nutanix clusters and AWS cloud resources.

What do you like most about OpenNebula?

The live migration feature has been great and is something we use very often.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenNebula?

OpenNebula gives good value for money.

What needs improvement with OpenNebula?

The web interface could be better. It's not very difficult to use, but there's room for enhancement. Another area for improvement is the integration with hardware to manage the lower layer of the n...

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Product Reports

Nutanix Central

Download Nutanix Central product report

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Overview

Nutanix Central offers a comprehensive platform for IT management, providing seamless integration and enhanced control across multi-cloud environments. It supports enterprises in scaling their digital operations efficiently and securely.

Designed for enterprise-grade deployment, Nutanix Central simplifies management tasks across different workloads with its intuitive interface. By integrating hybrid and multi-cloud operations, it allows management from a central point, making administration straightforward. This single platform is optimized for performance, helping companies reduce complexity while maintaining top-notch security protocols. With scalability at its core, Nutanix Central adapts to the changing demands of businesses, offering a reliable infrastructure for various applications.

What are the most important features?

Unified Management: Centralizes control of IT environments from a single dashboard.
Multi-cloud Integration: Supports seamless operation across public and private clouds.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs without compromising performance.
Security: Ensures data protection with robust security measures.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational expenses by optimizing resource use.
Enhanced Productivity: Streamlines IT management activities.
Business Agility: Enables swift response to market changes.
Reduced Complexity: Simplifies infrastructure management processes.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail leverage Nutanix Central for its capability to manage distributed IT environments efficiently. In healthcare, it supports compliance and patient data security, while retail benefits from its ability to enhance customer experiences through agile IT operations. The financial sector relies on its robust security features to safeguard sensitive information, ensuring business continuity and regulatory adherence.

Nutanix

OpenNebula provides the most simple but feature-rich and flexible solution for the comprehensive management of virtualized data centers to enable private, public and hybrid IaaS clouds. OpenNebula interoperability makes cloud an evolution by leveraging existing IT assets, protecting your investments, and avoiding vendor lock-in.

OpenNebula is a turnkey enterprise-ready solution that includes all the features needed to provide an on-premises (private) cloud offering, and to offer public cloud services.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Akamai, BBC, Fermilab, Terradue, Surf Sara, Produban, Netways, ESA, China Mobile, BlackBerry, Deloitte, Fuze, Telefonica, Trivago, Nokia, Encore Tech, Beeks.

Nutanix Central vs. OpenNebula