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RHEV vs VMware vSphere comparison

Red Hat and VMware are both solutions in the Server Virtualization Software category. Red Hat is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8, while VMware is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Red Hat holds a 3.1% mindshare in SVS, compared to VMware’s 16.5% mindshare. Additionally, 79% of Red Hat users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of VMware users who would recommend it.
RHEV
Read 36 RHEV reviews
  • 3,934 Views
  • 3,895 Comparison Views
79% willing to recommend
VMware vSphere
Read 456 VMware vSphere reviews
  • 25,045 Views
  • 21,789 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

RHEV and VMware vSphere are two leading platforms in the virtualization category. While RHEV demonstrates an advantage in pricing and support, VMware vSphere stands out with its extensive feature set, appealing to enterprises that need comprehensive virtualization solutions.

Features: RHEV integrates well with open-source environments, offers simple resource management, and includes SELinux for enhanced security. VMware vSphere is recognized for its high scalability, the vMotion feature for seamless movement of virtual machines, and advanced memory management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: RHEV could benefit from enhanced third-party software integration, a more intuitive user interface, and broader community support. VMware vSphere might improve by reducing its complexity for beginners, streamlining its licensing costs, and providing more flexibility in storage options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: RHEV is known for a straightforward deployment process and accessible support, benefiting from its compatibility with open-source systems. VMware vSphere, while complex to deploy, offers robust support resources helping organizations during the setup and ongoing management phases.

Pricing and ROI: RHEV is cost-effective with lower setup costs, making it attractive to budget-conscious businesses. VMware vSphere involves higher initial expenses but often justifies the cost within enterprise environments needing detailed virtualization support alongside a robust ROI.

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Buyer's Guide
RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
September 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

RHEV
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware vSphere
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
456
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of RHEV is 3.1%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere is 16.5%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware vSphere16.5%
RHEV3.1%
Other80.4%
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Sujeet-Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is scalable and affordable, but it lacks features, and it is not easy to manage
Management of RHEV is not as easy as VMware. Some features do not work. The product does not provide features similar to VMware’s VMotion. After creating the cluster, the VM is moved to another node if we move down. However, the VM does not move the parent node automatically. It has to be moved manually. VMware moves it automatically. RHEV moves it to the parent node only if we restart. Everything can be handled in VMware through the GUI. However, in RHEV, some things can be managed through UI, and others cannot. We have to troubleshoot and use CLI. A few features of the product do not work as well as those in VMware.
Read full review
Neeraj Mehra - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines virtualization and has features like high availability and vMotion
The primary use case is for virtualization, including the implementation of vSphere, vCloud Foundation, vCloud Director, and cloud automation with vSphere My customers, particularly SMBs, mainly utilize High Availability (HA), DRS, and vMotion features. The vMotion feature is beneficial for…
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"RHEV’s cost is much less compared to VMware."
"It's a scalable solution."
"The solution is overall very good with all the facilities. It is user friendly, easy to configure, has documentation, and support is available."
"What they provide is way beyond the essential requirements of customers."
"I can control and manage everything. I know everything that's cooking inside. This is the best part for me."
"Customers are moving to open source and Red Hat is the leader in this particular space. I think customers feel more confident running Red Hat Virtualization than VMware."
"It is a scalable solution."
"There aren't any bugs on the solution."
More RHEV pros
"The most valuable feature is vSAN, as it reduces the cost of SAN storage and maintenance."
"The solution can scale well."
"The scalability has been good."
"The speed of the solution is excellent."
"It's easy to use."
"The stability of the solution is excellent."
"It's easy to use, and it is flexible."
"We use it for our VDI infrastructure and managing virtual machines."
More VMware vSphere pros
 

Cons

"RHEV can improve by keeping pace with new features and new enhancements. They should not be halted or delayed innovation because over the past quarter the enhancements have not been as fast as they have been previously."
"It lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles."
"We hope that Red Hat can produce a paradigm edition. We are looking for paradigm computing and paradigm storage. Its scalability can be improved. It is not easy to scale, and we hope that Red Hat can provide a more scalable system. They should also provide local service and support. Our customers are looking for a good software vendor to provide professional services."
"We should improve how we manage storage domains and make more comprehensive control available through the command line."
"Specifically, enhancements in managing virtual machine migrations, cloning, and the creation of different VMs could further optimize its functionality."
"While everything needs improvement in some way, I have no specifics."
"The documentation is not as good as it should be."
"I would love to see better documentation and ease of use."
More RHEV cons
"I do not find it to be simple and efficient to manage. The tools, the interface to manage it, are a pain. In the latest version, they moved us to web-only, the Web Client and it's terrible. It's slow. It crashes. It's annoying. I used the Web Client in the older version and was happy. I would go back to the regular thick client but I don't have that option anymore, so I am always fighting it."
"I recommend that VMware vSphere continue to release more features."
"It would be nice if it had auto-scaling, no need to select CPU or select database size. Let it auto-scale, let it use the features that VMware has, instead of having to preselect."
"The solution could benefit by expanding the CPUs and memory from different physical nodes."
"Its performance is an issue in version 6.5, but with the inclusion of HTML files in vSphere version 6.7, the experience is seamless. In version 6.7, VMware has included the HTML file protocol for the web browser or web console, which has changed the console's response and improved the performance. We are using the trial version of vRealize Operations. It would be nice if some of those capabilities could be included in future versions of vSphere, not as a part of vRealize Operations, but in vSphere itself. It can provide some kind of forecast about your resource consumption based on the actual workload and modeling or testing scenarios. It can give you some advice or tips for the future growth of your infrastructure."
"There are no scalability options available in VMware vSphere."
"VMware vSphere needs to increase the datastore volume."
"Archiving, exporting, and backing up need to be improved for this solution, because they're slower than expected."
More VMware vSphere cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"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."
"Its price depends on the use cases."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
"The price of RHEV is high. It is an open-source solution, the price should be less. The price should not be on par with a solution, such as VMware. It's not more or equal to VMware, it's less, but the difference should be more substantial."
"The solution does not require licencing but a subscription is necessary, which is very affordable."
"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."
"RHEV offers pricing based on a per-physical-machine licensing model."
More RHEV pricing and cost advice
"It is expensive. Other solutions on the market are free. We had to plan with VMware how many hosts that we needed in order to determine the price."
"The pricing is reasonable and you are able to purchases licencing for certain time frame intervals, monthly, yearly etc."
"The price could improve for the enterprise versions."
"You get what you pay for."
"VMware is consistently expensive and their pricing arrogance is what will drive us and other customers away."
"I think it's a fair price. We are using it on the production side, and everything is good from our experience. That's why I would say that the cost isn't too high. However, it would always be nice if it was cheaper."
"If you go with a standard license, it's very affordable."
"We are on a perpetual license for VMware vSphere and the price can be expensive compared to other solutions, such as Hyper-V. They should lower their price."
More VMware vSphere pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

VL
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…
Read full review
 

Answers from the Community

SB
Feb 7, 2024
Feb 7, 2024
What are the differences between RHEV and VMware vSphere?
Hi Sridhar, This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you: FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels o...
See 2 answers
Anne Cubarrubia - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 21, 2023
Here is a comparison of the two hypervisors, RHEV (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization) and VMware vSphere: RHEV Pros: Open source Highly scalable Cost-effective Cons: Not as mature as VMware vSphere Not as widely supported as VMware vSphere VMware vSphere Pros: Mature and widely supported Wide range of features Easy to use and manage Cons: Not open source Can be expensive Some prefer RHEV because it is open-source and cost-effective. However, VMware vSphere may be the better option if you need a hypervisor with a wide range of features and support. As to which solution consumes fewer resources, RHEV is a lighter-weight hypervisor than VMware vSphere, so it consumes fewer resources. However, you must remember that each hypervisor's resource consumption depends on the configuration and workload.
Read full answer
RG
Feb 7, 2024
Hi Sridhar,    This is Rajkumar Gera, VP IT  in one of the Telecom. Below are some of the points, may help you:  FEATURE RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION VMWARE VSPHERE Key differentiators Open source solution Proprietary solution Purchased via one subscription Multiple levels of functionality sold in editions with different price points Bare-metal performance for virtualized applications Application high availability (Enterprise Plus version only) Prioritized high availability so critical workloads are restarted first Desktop and server virtualization One infrastructure for managing desktops and servers Add-on products for desktop virtualization: VMware Player, VMware Horizon View, VMware Horizon DaaS, and VMware Horizon Mirage Remote access to virtual desktops through SPICE Full support for multimedia applications Management server Included in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization subscription Requires purchase and license of VMware vCenter and database support Virtual machine density 40 cores: 4,682@288 40 cores: 3,824@234 160 cores: 14,061@864 160 cores: result not available Self-service portal Allows users to provision and manage VMs and templates with a browser Requires the purchase of VMware vCloud Automation Center Integration with OpenStack technology Supports the open Neutron pluggable networking API Supports VMware’s NSX networking plug-in Supports the OpenStack image service for a unified image repository between virtual and cloud platforms Does not support the OpenStack image service
Read full answer
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business172
Midsize Enterprise138
Large Enterprise256
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RHEV?
The initial setup is fairly straightforward and well-documented. The process is very similar to its competitors. The success of your setup depends on how well you plan.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
What needs improvement with RHEV?
The RHEV management plane could be improved, particularly the management interface. Something more similar to a Google, Amazon, or Azure interface might attract people to use its management interfa...
See all answers
What is IOMMU?
DEEPEN DHULLA did explain well IOMMU. IOMMU has to be activated at the bios level. It exists on Intel and AMD platforms. It is used a lot inside virtualization platforms like VMware VSphere. It pr...
See all answers
Why KVM??? Help please!
We use VMware and KVM. We find that KVM is a lot simpler to use and it provides the virtualization we need for Linux and Windows. For us, VMware does not offer any advantage. Moreover, KVM is free.
See all answers
What is the biggest difference between Nutanix Acropolis and VMware vSphere?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interface that allows you to talk directly to your VM from the present software. We fou...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 32% of the time
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Compared 13% of the time
Oracle VM vs VMware vSphere Logo
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Compared 13% of the time
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Compared 7% of the time
IBM PowerVM vs VMware vSphere Logo
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Compared 4% of the time
More VMware vSphere Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
RHEV
August 2025
RHEV reportDownload RHEV product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
August 2025
VMware vSphere reportDownload VMware vSphere product report
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
No data available
 

Overview

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, or RHEV, is a leading open standard enterprise virtualization management solution. This solution supports virtualization of servers and desktops using the same infrastructure and a single easy-to-use interface.

Because RHEV is based on open standards, it is vendor-independent and a lot more cost effective and flexible than proprietary solutions.


Red Hat

VMware vSphere is a versatile virtualization platform known for its ease of use, flexibility, and high availability. It supports seamless migration, optimal resource allocation, and centralized management, making it highly suitable for diverse infrastructure needs.

VMware vSphere is widely adopted for its virtualization capabilities that enhance hardware efficiency and ensure minimal downtime through features like High Availability and Distributed Resource Scheduler. Despite criticisms about high licensing costs and limited fault tolerance, it remains a preferred choice due to its stability, scalability, and robust integration options. Users appreciate its efficiency in managing virtual machines and hosting enterprise applications, although challenges with web client performance and hardware compatibility are noted. Organizations often look for better integration with cloud services and enhanced automation and scalability.

What are the core features of VMware vSphere?
  • vMotion: Enables seamless migration of virtual machines without downtime.
  • Distributed Resource Scheduler: Optimizes resource allocation across hosts.
  • High Availability: Minimizes downtime by automatically restarting virtual machines.
  • Centralized Management: Facilitates easy management of virtualized environments.
  • Advanced Security: Provides robust security measures and compliance features.
What benefits and ROI can businesses look for?
  • Reduced Operational Costs: Efficiently utilizes hardware, saving on expenses.
  • Scalability: Easily scales to meet growing business demands.
  • Business Continuity: Ensures high availability and disaster recovery.
  • Integration Flexibility: Supports integration with various technologies.

VMware vSphere is implemented across sectors like healthcare, finance, and education for server virtualization, data center management, and private cloud creation. Its use in facilitating business-critical operations ensures high availability and efficient resource use, supporting both development and production environments.

VMware
 

Sample Customers

Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.
Abu Dhabi Ports Company, ACS, AIA New Zealand, Consona, Corporate Express, CS Energy, and Digiweb.
Buyer's Guide
RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
September 2025
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