Proxmox VE and VMware ESXi compete in the virtualization and containerization category, with VMware ESXi often having the upper hand due to its high availability and robust integration capabilities, despite requiring more investment.
Features: Proxmox VE provides a streamlined installation adaptable to various hardware, allowing virtualization and containerization with live migration, snapshotting, and support for multiple storage options, while being open-source with broad community support. VMware ESXi delivers high availability and extensive integration capabilities and reliability, though it generally requires specific hardware configurations.
Room for Improvement: Proxmox VE could improve MS Windows performance, USB handling, macOS support, simplify certain GUI elements, and enhance documentation clarity. VMware ESXi's main issues revolve around pricing and licensing complexities following the Broadcom acquisition and could benefit from improving technical support and easing cloud integration.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Proxmox VE is noted for straightforward deployment on diverse hardware environments and extensive community support, though official support is paid, which may limit some users. VMware ESXi offers reliable deployment across hybrid and cloud environments but has mixed reviews on technical support, affected by recent changes in pricing and service structures.
Pricing and ROI: Proxmox VE is highly cost-effective as open-source software with optional paid support, promising quick ROI suited for budget-sensitive operations. VMware ESXi, despite offering a rich feature set, is seen as expensive due to complex pricing models, negatively affecting ROI, particularly after changes post-Broadcom acquisition.
The management burden decreased from a 20-person team to just five or six people providing 24/7 support.
VMware ESXi has reduced cost and energy in the long term because we have virtualized our infrastructure.
I rate the technical support from VMware as nine or ten out of ten.
In the last three or four years, we did not require any support from VMware engineers, indicating its high reliability.
Customer service and support are good; they are reachable, and at times remote support suffices.
The solution is scalable, allowing us to scale up or down regardless of infrastructure size.
vCenter Server can manage up to 1,000 ESXi servers within a single UI interface, allowing extensive deployment and management capabilities.
My customers are highly satisfied with its scalability.
ESXi is stable, and our business operations depend on it year after year.
Stability rates a perfect 10.
VMware ESXi's stability is very stable.
Providing a mobile application for remote access to ESXi servers would be beneficial.
It's not cost-effective for small users and creates a gap for alternatives, while favoring larger clients.
The cost of VMware ESXi is very high, especially after the acquisition by Broadcom, which led to price increases.
The product is very cost-effective, though not fixed, as pricing tends to fluctuate over time.
The solution is moderately priced, not exactly cheap yet not overly expensive either.
The pricing is expensive, with the cost for customers ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 yearly.
Its capability to move virtual machines to physical machines is very efficient for our live environment.
As a level one or bare metal hypervisor, its unmatched scalability depends on underlying hardware, capable of managing large numbers of physical servers with one management platform.
vMotion is a daily used technology that allows us to have machines distributed across different sites while maintaining redundancy between the sites.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Proxmox VE | 10.3% |
| VMware ESXi | 2.5% |
| Other | 87.2% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 44 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 11 |
| Large Enterprise | 11 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 12 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 17 |
Proxmox VE offers seamless virtualization with no CPU or memory restrictions, intuitive interface, and high scalability. Users benefit from open-source flexibility, stability, and cost-efficiency, making it a favored choice for diverse deployment environments from on-premises to cloud setups.
Proxmox VE provides a robust platform for full and container-based virtualization, allowing for integration with numerous systems and excellent performance capabilities. Despite needing improvement in Windows and OSX support, USB virtualization, and documentation, it excels in live migration, backup, and high availability features. Its active community supports continuous improvements, and its open-source nature offers unparalleled resource management flexibility. Ideal for production and testing environments, Proxmox VE serves a wide range of virtualization tasks, including application hosting and running databases in both cloud and on-premise setups. Users can appreciate the cost-effectiveness of Proxmox VE along with the benefits of open-source development and scalable solutions.
What are the key features of Proxmox VE?In industries like IT services, education, and research, Proxmox VE is employed for virtualization in both on-premises and cloud setups. Organizations efficiently deploy virtual machines for testing, training, and hosting applications, benefiting from high availability and robust resource management. Its versatility supports deployment of development environments and running cloud applications.
VMware ESXi serves as a hypervisor enabling virtualization by transforming physical servers into virtual infrastructures, supporting efficient server management, development, and production environments.
Organizations utilize VMware ESXi for its high availability and ability to host diverse workloads effectively. Known for stability and maturity, it efficiently handles server, networking, and storage demands, with integral features like vMotion and memory compression. ESXi integrates well with data center operations, allowing seamless resource allocation and virtual machine migration. Despite impressive capabilities, users encounter challenges with setup complexity, licensing costs, and technical support delays, leading some to explore different solutions.
What are the main features of VMware ESXi?
What benefits and ROI do organizations see with VMware ESXi?
Industries deploying VMware ESXi benefit in sectors requiring robust IT infrastructure, including finance, healthcare, and education. Its capability to support high availability and diverse workloads proves essential for critical applications, enhancing productivity and agility in dynamic environments.
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