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Red Hat OpenShift vs VMware vSphere Foundation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.8
Red Hat OpenShift improves productivity, offers cost savings, enhances system stability, and provides 15% ROI, especially in privacy-focused sectors.
Sentiment score
6.2
VMware vSphere Foundation boosts scalability, manageability, and cost-efficiency, enhancing server consolidation and supporting on-prem and cloud architectures.
With OpenShift combined with IBM Cloud App integration, I can spin an integration server in a second as compared to traditional methods, which could take days or weeks.
Moving to OpenShift resulted in increased system stability and reduced downtime, which contributed to operational efficiency.
It is always advisable to get the bare minimum that you need, and then add more when necessary.
In an environment where the infrastructure has to be up for monitoring and controlling physical infrastructure like water plants, it has absolutely returned on its investment.
There is flexibility and interoperability with multi-mode architectures that accommodate both on-prem and cloud realities.
Server consolidation is one return on investment where we can use one server for multiple workloads.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Red Hat OpenShift support is mixed, praised for expertise but criticized for slow responses and varying experiences based on subscription.
Sentiment score
6.3
VMware vSphere Foundation receives mixed reviews; some praise support, while others note service and pricing issues post-Broadcom management.
Red Hat's technical support is responsive and effective.
I have been pretty happy in the past with getting support from Red Hat.
Red Hat's technical support is good, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.
There is nonstop support available around the world, which allows issues to be resolved continuously without interruption, regardless of whether the problem occurs in the USA, India, or another location.
Now, with Broadcom's management, I would rate it a three out of ten.
Most of the time, VMware operates smoothly without requiring support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Red Hat OpenShift offers efficient scalability with automated features, easy deployment, and adaptability, despite cost and infrastructure considerations.
Sentiment score
7.9
VMware vSphere Foundation is praised for scalability and integrations, though opinions vary on its scalability ratings.
The on-demand provisioning of pods and auto-scaling, whether horizontal or vertical, is the best part.
OpenShift's horizontal pod scaling is more effective and efficient than that used in Kubernetes, making it a superior choice for scalability.
Red Hat OpenShift scales excellently, with a rating of ten out of ten.
The return on investment is high because we can maximize the use of one server for multiple workloads.
It's straightforward to procure additional licenses, install them on the host and add them to the same cluster.
You can simply add more hosts to your VMware stack seamlessly, scaling up vertically or horizontally.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Red Hat OpenShift is praised for stability, reliability, and features like Blue-Green deployment, with minor issues quickly resolved.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware vSphere Foundation is stable with strong performance monitoring, though frequent updates are needed for security and improvement.
It provides better performance yet requires more resources compared to vanilla Kubernetes.
I've had my cluster running for over four years.
It performs well under load, providing the desired output.
Stability is optimal.
Frequent updates are required due to constant security challenges and attacks.
It is a standard tool and is considered very stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Red Hat OpenShift needs better documentation, improved usability, and enhancements in security, integration, technical support, and installation processes.
VMware vSphere needs better accessibility, pricing clarity, regional support, and integration to address user dissatisfaction and improve appeal.
Learning OpenShift requires complex infrastructure, needing vCenter integration, more advanced answers, active directory, and more expensive hardware.
Red Hat OpenShift's biggest disadvantage is they do not provide any private cloud setup where we can host on our site using their services.
We should aim to include VMware-like capabilities to be competitive, especially considering cost factors.
I highly recommend that continuous support for perpetual licenses be provided.
VMware needs to improve cost efficiency, especially in Pakistan, as customers often seek more affordable solutions.
Recently, VMware shifted its licensing models, and they should streamline it.
 

Setup Cost

Red Hat OpenShift pricing is high but potentially cost-effective for large enterprises, offering comprehensive support and enterprise capabilities.
VMware vSphere Foundation is costly, with pricing and support challenges post-Broadcom merger, prompting users to seek affordable alternatives.
Initially, licensing was per CPU, with a memory cap, but the price has doubled, making it difficult to justify for clients with smaller compute needs.
Red Hat can improve on the pricing part by making it more flexible and possibly on the lower side.
The cost of OpenShift is very high, particularly with the OpenShift Plus package, which includes many products and services.
It's expensive, however, the stability it offers is optimal.
In Brazil, we are increasingly using open-source alternatives like Proxmox due to their lower prices in comparison.
During one project, the price doubled or even tripled before implementation, causing issues with clients.
 

Valuable Features

Red Hat OpenShift is valued for its security, scalability, automation, multi-cloud flexibility, and efficient management interface.
VMware vSphere Foundation enhances IT efficiency with scalable, reliable virtualization, offering intuitive management and seamless integration for enterprise infrastructure.
Because it was centrally managed in our company, many metrics that we had to write code for were available out of the box, including utilization, CPU utilization, memory, and similar metrics.
The concept of containers and scaling on demand is a feature I appreciate the most about Red Hat OpenShift.
A valuable feature of Red Hat OpenShift is its ability to handle increased loads by automatically adding nodes.
vSphere Foundation is valuable due to its scalability, reliability, and ease of management.
VMware provides the tools needed to move environments between private and public clouds seamlessly.
The virtual stack of vCenter, its distributed resources system, high availability engines, and the ability to move VM workloads from one host to another are outstanding.
 

Categories and Ranking

Red Hat OpenShift
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (3rd), Container Management (12th), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (7th), Agile and DevOps Services (1st)
VMware vSphere Foundation
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Red Hat OpenShift is 1.9%. The mindshare of VMware vSphere Foundation is 0.2%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Pratul Shukla - PeerSpot reviewer
Adopting a flexible and efficient approach with noticeable improvements in operational costs and continued challenges in job management
Currently, one of the biggest challenges we face is with services and jobs. For spawning batches, although it has crons, it is not easy to integrate with enterprise systems such as Autosys. The entire company uses Autosys, but we are not able to integrate it effectively. We need intermediate servers to run OC utility commands and initiate the cron job. We have to do a lot of modifications to ensure our batches work properly. With physical or virtual servers, even in AWS, we are able to write and manage multiple jobs. Managing batches in Red Hat OpenShift has been a significant challenge. Integrating third parties is a challenge with Red Hat OpenShift. For example, with Elasticsearch, onboarding itself was difficult, running file beats and dealing with routing issues. It is not straightforward, especially since we have some components in AWS as. AWS has many capabilities that come out of the box and are easier to work with compared to Red Hat OpenShift. Red Hat OpenShift's biggest disadvantage is they do not provide any private cloud setup where we can host on our site using their services. The main reason we went with Red Hat OpenShift was because it is a private cloud, and we have regulatory requirements that prevent us from using public cloud.
ErmiasGirma - PeerSpot reviewer
Virtualization enhances management and utilization in enterprise environments
In the past, we faced challenges with VMware's transition to Broadcom, which caused a lot of frustration. Issues like not being able to upgrade to version eight without support and the end-of-life of perpetual licenses were concerning. Pricing fluctuation and increased licensing costs were also significant challenges. I highly recommend that continuous support for perpetual licenses be provided.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does OpenShift compare with Amazon AWS?
Open Shift makes managing infrastructure easy because of self-healing and automatic scaling. There is also a wonderful dashboard mechanism to alert us in case the application is over-committing or ...
Which would you recommend - Pivotal Cloud Foundry or OpenShift?
Pivotal Cloud Foundry is a cloud-native application platform to simplify app delivery. It is efficient and effective. The best feature is how easy it is to handle external services such as database...
What do you like most about OpenShift?
OpenShift facilitates DevOps practices and improves CI/CD workflows in terms of stability compared to Jenkins.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware vSphere Foundation?
I don't know the exact pricing for the VMware vSphere Foundation, but I think the last license model to upgrade is three or four times more expensive.
What needs improvement with VMware vSphere Foundation?
The impact of VMware vSphere Foundation performance monitoring capabilities is somewhat limited; therefore, you have to look at the additional components built around it. They can always use some i...
What is your primary use case for VMware vSphere Foundation?
My team runs VMware Aria Operations, but I have limited experience. I'm most familiar with the VMware vSphere Foundation solutions, specifically the virtual, the enterprise, and the vCenter compone...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UPS, Cathay Pacific, Hilton
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat OpenShift vs. VMware vSphere Foundation and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.