RHEV vs VMware vSphere Foundation 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 #7 with an average rating of 8.5. Red Hat holds a 2.4% mindshare in SVS, compared to Broadcom’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Red Hat users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

RHEV

Read 37 RHEV reviews

4,061 Views
4,020 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

VMware vSphere Foundation

Read 16 VMware vSphere Foundation reviews

1,454 Views
1,454 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

RHEV

VMware vSphere Foundation

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

RHEV and VMware vSphere Foundation are competing products in the virtualization space. VMware vSphere Foundation has the upper hand due to its superior features and comprehensive capabilities, providing greater value despite higher costs.

Features: RHEV offers an open-source model for flexibility and integration with Linux environments. It includes features such as high availability, live VM migration, and extensive resource allocation options. VMware vSphere Foundation provides advanced resource management, virtualization management, and performance optimization, along with high availability and sophisticated management tools like vCenter and vRealize Operations Manager.

Room for Improvement: RHEV could enhance its enterprise functionalities and documentation to match proprietary competitors. There is room for advancing high availability features and supporting proprietary environments. VMware vSphere Foundation could improve user-friendliness to ease the learning curve and deliver more cost-effective solutions for budget-conscious customers. More flexible pricing options and streamlined deployment processes would also benefit users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: RHEV offers straightforward deployment suitable for Linux-focused organizations, with robust support for open-source systems. VMware vSphere Foundation provides a more sophisticated deployment process, supported by extensive documentation and premium customer service, ideal for enterprises requiring high-level assistance and thorough guidance.

Pricing and ROI: RHEV's pricing appeals to those prioritizing cost-efficiency, especially in open-source ecosystems, delivering a strong ROI. VMware vSphere Foundation's higher initial setup costs are offset by long-term ROI through extensive functionality and system efficiency, providing significant value for enterprises investing in robust infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation

August 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 909,725 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

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMware vSphere Foundation

Ranking in Server Virtualization Software

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of RHEV is 2.4%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSphere Foundation is 1.2%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Virtualization Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
VMware vSphere Foundation	1.2%
RHEV	2.4%
Other	96.4%

Server Virtualization Software

Featured Reviews

Mike Neuliep

Linux Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Has supported virtualization projects in side jobs but has required workarounds due to lack of maintenance

In my opinion, the best features of RHEV are that it is a real hypervisor and it is free, so it performs better than VMware. I have used the live migration feature in the past with RHEV. There is a free clone of it that is based on the open source. Live migration is a nifty feature if your app is not highly available and you need to do maintenance on a machine. You can migrate the VM off of it, do your maintenance, and move it back when you are done. RHEV has a high availability architecture with a built-in monitoring feature where you could see machines other than the one you are operating on. I tend to implement high availability not so much in RHEV, but by using standard application high availability strategies. Red Hat has another product specifically for high availability.

Read full review

Youssef-Hmani

IT Infrastruture Consultant at Devoteam Management Consulting

Proactive monitoring has improved infrastructure visibility and simplifies long term management

I remember when I was working as a consultant and implemented Site Recovery Manager from VMware. It was working fine and is a very good solution. Although I used it five or six years in the past, it is very beneficial for customers as a function to build disaster recovery.

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

"The solution is a great all-round product, and the virtualization is especially good."

"What they provide is way beyond the essential requirements of customers."

"RHEV’s cost is much less compared to VMware."

"The support for this solution is very good."

"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches, it doesn't crash or freeze, and it's reliable with good performance."

"It is very stable."

"Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization can help to optimize their space utilization and optimize their costs."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the support portal."

More RHEV pros

"The most beneficial features of VMware vSphere Foundation for IT infrastructure are its licensing, scalability features, and user-friendliness."

"I would rate VMware vSphere Foundation ten out of ten for its ease of use and functionality."

"The product includes disaster recovery features; the disaster recovery capability is quite good and the security features help to protect critical applications in general."

"vSphere Foundation is valuable due to its scalability, reliability, and ease of management, allowing multiple VMs in one server, making it cost-effective, with high availability and convenient management that provide significant benefits for my customers."

"One valuable feature of vSphere is the possibility to distribute file systems in a hyperconvergent foundation."

"The features are easy to manage, and the user experience is excellent."

"What is most valuable about VMware vSphere Foundation is the reliability of the platform."

"Setting up the VMware vSphere Foundation is easy."

More VMware vSphere Foundation pros

Cons

"We'd like it if it would be possible on Red Hat Virtualization to possibly connect two or three VMs to the same disk."

"I would love to see better documentation and ease of use."

"I have found that the stability is related to the upgrade cycle. I find the cycle a little bit annoying; if the system is constantly upgrading then it is very painful in terms of the operation."

"We would like the dashboard feature of this solution to be improved, as it is not very detailed at present."

"The UI should be more interactive with additional features."

"I found it a bit more difficult to manage than version seven, which was much easier."

"The support is tricky in a few places. We're facing some challenges within Malaysia where we don't really have the system integrators available who can provide extended support. When we need personnel on-site, we can't get them."

"The Administration of the Oracle database and the SAP ERP needs improvement."

More RHEV cons

"I have concerns regarding VMware's strategy, particularly about how it manages multiple cloud environments since clients and my company need to navigate multiple clouds."

"In the last year, the main issue was pricing. With the Broadcom acquisition of VMware, there were delays and confusion in Brazil and some LATAM countries involving quoting and purchasing."

"You can have the best product in the world, but if it’s not accessible to customers, it doesn’t matter. That’s my main concern."

"I find that VMware vSphere is not very user-friendly at first, as there is a significant learning curve involved with installation."

"vSphere Foundation is considered very expensive, especially when compared to competitive Chinese products."

"VMware needs to improve cost efficiency, especially in Pakistan, as customers often seek more affordable solutions."

"Some customers in Latin America and Mexico, including myself, face challenges due to the lack of language support from engineers."

"One area of concern is Oracle's lack of support for VMware in terms of core licensing. It is not legally compliant to use an Oracle database on VMware, which does not support Oracle core-based licensing. Therefore, I decided to decommission VMware due to these licensing issues."

More VMware vSphere Foundation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free version of Red Hat."

"We buy a license for commercial use, and we also use the free editions."

"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."

"Its price depends on the use cases."

"I would say the price is acceptable."

"This is an open-source solution."

"RHEV offers pricing based on a per-physical-machine licensing model."

More RHEV pricing and cost advice

"It is expensive."

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

909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

Thang Le Toan (Victory Lee)

CIO at Robusta Technology & Training

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

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

17%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

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?

RHEV is not improving because it has been discontinued. It has been discontinued for years. I would love to get back into RHEV, but the job market is difficult and no one is hiring. RHEV is designe...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for RHEV?

I have done some consulting where I used RHEV, taking on side jobs to run virtual machines in the financial industry for a startup. The last time I used RHEV was in my home lab, but that has been d...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware vSphere Foundation?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware vSphere Foundation?

I am not specifically in a partnership with VMware, but I am using many tools from VMware. For example, vRealize Operations is a very good tool to manage and monitor infrastructure. I believe it is...

See all answers

Comparisons

Hyper-V vs RHEV

Compared 20% of the time

VMware vSphere vs RHEV

Compared 15% of the time

Proxmox VE vs RHEV

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle VM vs RHEV

Compared 11% of the time

KVM vs RHEV

Compared 7% of the time

More RHEV Competitors

VMware vSphere vs VMware vSphere Foundation

Compared 25% of the time

NVIDIA virtual GPU (vGPU) vs VMware vSphere Foundation

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs VMware vSphere Foundation

Compared 15% of the time

VMware ESXi vs VMware vSphere Foundation

Compared 10% of the time

Proxmox VE vs VMware vSphere Foundation

Compared 10% of the time

More VMware vSphere Foundation Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

RHEV

August 2026

Download RHEV product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware vSphere Foundation

July 2026

Download VMware vSphere Foundation product report

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

No data available

Overview

RHEV offers a cost-effective virtualization platform with support for up to 160 cores and 2 TB of RAM per host, emphasizing open-source accessibility and integration with applications like OpenStack.

RHEV stands out with features such as high performance, stability, ease of migration, and robust security. Its integration capabilities with diverse applications and the self-service Power user portal enhance its appeal for IT environments. While the platform's affordability compared to VMware is noted, areas for improvement include the GUI, user-friendliness, network virtualization, and the need for enhanced pricing and support in regions lacking system integrators. RHEV's ability to facilitate seamless migration from legacy systems to virtual environments is widely adopted in sectors such as government, banking, and IT services.

What are the key features of RHEV?

Open-Source Accessibility: Offers flexibility and customization options.
High Performance: Supports up to 160 cores and 2 TB of RAM per host.
Seamless Integration: Integrates well with applications like OpenStack.
Live VM Migration: Enables continuous operations without downtime.
Power User Portal: Provides self-service capabilities for users.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Cost Optimization: Provides a cost-effective alternative to VMware.
Scalable Computing: Allows flexible resource allocation and scaling.
Migration Efficiency: Facilitates moving from legacy systems smoothly.
Robust Security: Enhances data protection and privacy management.

RHEV is widely used in high-computing tasks like AI and big data analytics within data centers, supporting cloud solutions, AI, and ERP systems. It's implemented in privacy clouds for industries such as government, banking, and IT services to migrate workloads from physical to virtual environments and optimize operational costs.

Red Hat

VMware vSphere Foundation is designed for businesses seeking virtualization management capabilities. It offers essential features to optimize IT operations and improve server utilization, providing a solid infrastructure for managing virtual environments.

VMware vSphere Foundation supports efficient resource management in virtual environments, delivering a robust platform for businesses to streamline their IT processes. It enhances system reliability and offers scalable options for growing business needs. By leveraging virtualization, it reduces hardware dependency while ensuring consistent system performance.

What are the key features of VMware vSphere Foundation?

VMware vCenter Server: Centralized platform for managing VMs and hosts.
High Availability: Ensures minimal downtime for critical applications.
Data Recovery: Provides backup and restore options for enhanced data protection.
Resource Manager: Allocates resources efficiently between VMs to maximize performance.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Cost Reduction: Decreases hardware expenses by maximizing server usage.
Improved Scalability: Facilitates easy expansion of IT infrastructure.
Enhanced Reliability: Offers consistent uptime and minimized outages.
Efficiency Gains: Streamlines operations, reducing manual IT management tasks.

VMware vSphere Foundation is implemented effectively across industries like healthcare, finance, and retail. It supports crucial workloads, allowing these sectors to maintain operational efficiency while handling sensitive data. Its flexibility and robust capabilities make it suitable for diverse operational demands.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Qualcomm and Bonham's Auction House.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation

August 2026

Free Report: RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation

Find out what your peers are saying about RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our RHEV vs. VMware vSphere Foundation 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.