Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

RHEV vs VMware vSphere comparison

Red Hat and Broadcom are both solutions in the Server Virtualization Software category. Red Hat is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0, while Broadcom is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. Red Hat holds a 2.9% mindshare in SVS, compared to Broadcom’s 16.8% mindshare. Additionally, 79% of Red Hat users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.
RHEV
Read 36 RHEV reviews
  • 3,774 Views
  • 3,774 Comparison Views
79% willing to recommend
VMware vSphere
Read 457 VMware vSphere reviews
  • 23,624 Views
  • 20,553 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
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.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
September 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 871,408 peers since 2012

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
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
457
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of RHEV is 2.9%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere is 16.8%, down from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware vSphere16.8%
RHEV2.9%
Other80.3%
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

"Technically, the main reason why I'm using Red Hat is because of its stability."
"It is very stable."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is the popularity of the OS."
"The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization is its pricing."
"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."
"The platform is scalable, allowing for the installation of multiple nodes."
"It is easy to deal with when comes to application migration and its compatibility with the multiple component applications."
"I advise keeping an open mind. It's an excellent solution."
More RHEV pros
"It stands out as a comprehensive and advantageous solution, providing a full package that effectively caters to our needs for managing our private cloud."
"VMware vSphere has helped us create our infrastructures and provide services for our customers."
"You see more responsiveness, especially now with having the HTML5 client. It feels like a much snappier product."
"One of the most valuable features that vSphere has is its HA and DRS protection, where it can simply make sure that all the machines are always where they need to be and how they need to be taken care of. We have a lot of servers and services for emergency services for police, fire, and the like. We have the ability to use DRS as Anti-Affinity Rules to make sure that those redundant server pairs always stay away from each other. But then, if anything would happen to one of them, we have HA to be able to come up and bring it right up and going again."
"Having a virtualized infrastructure and being able to bring up Windows, Linux, and VMware within a virtualized environment brings more technology into the classroom. Without it, we couldn't do what we do."
"The installation process is very straightforward."
"The UI is very intuitive, you don't have to spend hours before you figure it out. All in all, compared to other environments, like Hyper-V, we find vSphere a lot more user-friendly and intuitive to use."
"We are able to create virtual machines and move them from one host to another, controlling the resources."
More VMware vSphere pros
 

Cons

"This solution could be more secure."
"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."
"When we do a direct comparison, then obviously VMware does better in terms of having Fault Tolerance and doing active disaster recovery and these kind of things. This is something that can be improved within Red Hat."
"Customers are not aware of this solution, they can improve by providing more awareness and solution availability."
"My teammates and I often complain that VMware is well-documented and has a large community since it is the de facto standard. I would love to see better documentation and ease of use."
"The solution could use network virtualization."
"With RHEV, the cyberattacks should be fewer. I want RHEV to be better protected."
"It lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles."
More RHEV cons
"The improvement is more from a licensing perspective rather than from a feature functionality perspective. There could be more flexibility and fewer model options to make it easier to sell. Today, there are so many different options available, and sometimes, it is not really clear which one is the right version or the right model to propose."
"Customer support takes a long time to respond."
"The documentation could be improved. It does not help me to show the client the value of going with VMware vSphere rather than an open source or cheaper solution."
"vSphere itself is great when you don't need to make updates, but any time you have to touch it, unfortunately it's always the little bit of a fight to get it to do what you want."
"They need to further develop graphics virtualization."
"I would like to start to using NSX in the next release."
"Customers face challenges due to increased costs after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom. The cost changed from perpetual to subscription, and there is a need for alternative solutions."
"They can lower the price of its license."
More VMware vSphere cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."
"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."
"We are using the free version of Red Hat."
"This is an open-source solution."
"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."
"Price-wise, RHEV is okay, in my opinion."
"I would say the price is acceptable."
"I believe we pay on a yearly basis."
More RHEV pricing and cost advice
"The solution's licensing is costlier than other hypervisors."
"VMware does provide organizations with discounts. The customer service license fee we got discounts on from the supplier in order for us to get the best out of the license fees. That's our experience. We possibly paid less than our partner company. The partner is only local and not global like our firm."
"The pricing is competitive."
"The pricing is a little bit on the expensive side, and the licensing is on a yearly basis."
"In today's market, agility is the new currency. Without virtualization, and vSphere in particular, we wouldn't have the level of agility in the business that we have today."
"vSphere is an expensive solution."
"We pay for our license."
"Our customers typically use permanent licenses, not subscription-based. However, there are subscript-based licenses."
More VMware vSphere pricing and cost advice
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Virtualization Software solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
871,408 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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
10%
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 Business174
Midsize Enterprise137
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
Proxmox vs ESXi/vSphere: What is your experience?
For me the biggest impact is the cost of licensing in the case of VMware despite its overall intuitiveness and ease of handling and management. However, KVM-based Open Source solutions are becoming...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Proxmox VE vs RHEV Logo
Proxmox VE vs RHEV
Compared 31% of the time
Hyper-V vs RHEV Logo
Hyper-V vs RHEV
Compared 12% of the time
KVM vs RHEV Logo
KVM vs RHEV
Compared 10% of the time
Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs RHEV Logo
Nutanix AHV Virtualization vs RHEV
Compared 6% of the time
Oracle VM vs RHEV Logo
Oracle VM vs RHEV
Compared 5% of the time
More RHEV Competitors
Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere Logo
Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere
Compared 37% of the time
Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere Logo
Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere
Compared 12% of the time
Oracle VM vs VMware vSphere Logo
Oracle VM vs VMware vSphere
Compared 12% of the time
KVM vs VMware vSphere Logo
KVM vs VMware vSphere
Compared 7% of the time
IBM PowerVM vs VMware vSphere Logo
IBM PowerVM vs VMware vSphere
Compared 3% of the time
More VMware vSphere Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
RHEV
October 2025
RHEV reportDownload RHEV product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSphere
September 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.

Broadcom
 

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
Free Report: RHEV vs. VMware vSphere
Find out what your peers are saying about RHEV vs. VMware vSphere and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
871,408 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our RHEV vs. VMware vSphere report.
See our list of best Server Virtualization Software vendors.

We monitor all Server Virtualization Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.