VMware vCenter vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

VMware and Progress Software are both solutions in the Server Monitoring category. VMware is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.6, while Progress Software is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.5. Additionally, 96% of VMware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

VMware vCenter

Read 33 VMware vCenter reviews

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31 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 23 WhatsUp Gold reviews

732 Views
577 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

VMware vCenter

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and VMware vCenter are established tools for network monitoring and virtualization management respectively. Users are generally happier with WhatsUp Gold's pricing and customer support, but VMware vCenter often stands out due to its comprehensive feature set, which users find worth the investment.

Features: WhatsUp Gold is valued for its simplicity, ease of configuration, and accessibility for small to medium enterprises. VMware vCenter is praised for advanced functionalities such as extensive monitoring capabilities, deep integrations, and a robust, feature-rich environment.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold users suggest enhancing reporting capabilities, adding more third-party integration options, and improving scalability. VMware vCenter users desire improvements in scalability, interface enhancements, and more intuitive configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold has a straightforward deployment process, allowing quick setup and ease of use. Customer service is frequently responsive and helpful. VMware vCenter's deployment is more complex, reflecting its advanced feature set but requires extensive planning. Users appreciate VMware’s depth of support resources available, although immediate customer service satisfaction can vary.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold tends to have a lower initial setup cost, making it attractive for smaller budgets and offering rapid ROI. VMware vCenter, while more costly upfront, is deemed a worthwhile investment due to its extensive features and strong long-term ROI track record, particularly in larger, more complex environments.

To learn more, read our detailed VMware vCenter vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

VMware vCenter vs. WhatsUp Gold

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

VMware vCenter

Ranking in Server Monitoring

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Server Monitoring

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (35th), Network Monitoring Software (36th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (34th)

Featured Reviews

Carlos Andres Campo

VMware/ Storage Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Apr 18, 2024

Offers highly valuable centralized features and has significantly simplified VM deployment and management processes

vCenter has significantly simplified VM deployment and management processes, making tasks easier and more efficient. Its centralized features are highly valued, especially when compared to other solutions like Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager, which lacks certain functionalities. The scalability feature of vCenter has supported our growth by providing flexibility and efficiency. As an expert, I have found it invaluable in resolving issues and managing growth, especially during transitions to cloud-based infrastructures like Azure, which have reduced the need for extensive on-premises resources. Our experience with vCenter backup and recovery functionalities involved integration issues with our existing tool. Currently, we use Commvault for backup, which is straightforward to configure but lacks full integration capabilities. I would recommend VMware vCenter to others because it is a stable and reliable product. However, new users should consider the costs associated with the subscription model. Overall, I would rate VMware vCenter as a ten out of ten.

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Tom Condo

Supervisor Information Services Operations at Seminole County Public Schools

Apr 1, 2024

If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue

When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's emphasis on high availability and DRS aligns with our priorities, making vCenter an integral component in our virtualized environment."

"It is easier to manage a larger number of nodes per cluster. Currently, if we are managing a minimum of 64 nodes in a single cluster, that capacity can be increased."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The most valuable feature of VMware vCenter is the centralized management that allows us to see resources from different data centers and VMware clusters in a single dashboard."

"We manage practically everything using the solution."

"The initial setup is straightforward even for complex environments with around 100 hosts."

"It is easy to create and manage virtual infrastructure."

"The user-friendliness and stability are the product’s most valuable features."

More VMware vCenter pros

"Auto scanning is most valuable. It looks for rogue devices on your network."

"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."

"WhatsUp Gold is very easy to deploy."

"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides. Additionally, WhatsUp Gold is a Windows-based solution which is a benefit."

"The user interface is good enough."

"The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is."

"It is stable."

"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"The licensing model of VMware vCenter can be improved"

"Sometimes, vCenter management can be difficult if you forget the password. You can't change or recover the password easily. We then have to reinstall vCenter, which means reconfiguring everything. That's a challenge we've encountered."

"There is a feature called Fault Tolerance (FT), which has been part of vCenter servers since the product's inception. However, it has a lot of complexity, and when my team tested it, we found it difficult to manage. It also has some bugs. Consequently, we decided not to offer any fault tolerance features to our customers."

"The monitoring features are limited."

"Areas for improvement with vCenter include changes in licensing models."

"The technical support team could respond faster."

"They could provide flexibility and cost-effectiveness for product licensing."

"The web interface is not convenient."

More VMware vCenter cons

"Pricing is too high relative to how many devices we use. The price list is not linear to number of devices."

"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user. All the monitoring is from inside out, we need something that also can give us from outside in."

"The pricing for this solution has gone up quite recently, which has led some of our customers to buy an alternative product."

"Adding on services increases the cost and on the version we have there is no option for ATM monitoring."

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

"Users want SMS available via Whatsapp Gold. They don't want to go through third party SMS servers. The solution should work to make this possible."

"I think there are a few bugs now. Although they give some resolution for this, we cannot share the network remotely because of our company policy."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model was a bit complex, but thanks to the vCenter product usage program, which VMware introduced, it's kind of easy for us to use a pay-as-you-go model."

"For the healthcare industry, the price is considerably higher than the education industry."

"The product is affordable for now."

"We utilize the basic licenses of the product."

"The solution is pretty expensive for small businesses because there are few lower-scale VMware vCenter solutions."

"The platform is expensive."

"The product's three-year license package is inexpensive."

"We have purchased monthly licenses for the platform. There are additional costs involved."

More VMware vCenter pricing and cost advice

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"This is a well priced solution."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about VMware vCenter?

The filtering capabilities also enhance scalability by optimizing resource allocation.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware vCenter?

The product is expensive. Earlier it costs around 50K dollars. They changed the license policy from perpetual to subscription.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware vCenter?

The process of creating VLANs or any similar tasks requires following a specific procedure, which must be executed accurately to ensure successful deployment. That's the main concern.

See all answers

What do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds.

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

I like the product as it is. The tool should focus on increasing its market share, as it is the only area of concern where improvements are needed. The tool's market share is only two percent, so i...

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

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SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 9% of the time

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PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 7% of the time

Prometheus vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

VMware vCenter

September 2024

Download VMware vCenter product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

September 2024

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

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VMware

Progress Software

Overview

VMware vCenter is essential for managing virtual machines, deploying systems for customers, and centralizing ESXi servers' management. It aids in monitoring hosts, handling backups, recovering data, and virtualizing compute resources.

Organizations leverage VMware vCenter to oversee virtual infrastructure, automate administrative tasks, and provide self-service portals. It simplifies the management of IT environments by offering features like host profiles, high availability, and cluster configuration. Other notable features include scalability, resource management, performance monitoring, cloning, snapshots, DRS, LACP, and lifecycle management. VMware vCenter ensures continuous system availability, benefiting sectors like healthcare through efficient server management and process automation. The platform's alerting mechanisms, backup and restore functionalities, and elastic resource allocation enhance operational efficiency.

What are the key features of VMware vCenter?

Host Profiles: Simplifies and standardizes host configurations.
High Availability: Ensures system uptime and reliability.
Centralized Management: Allows comprehensive control over multiple ESXi servers.
Scalability: Adapts to growing infrastructure needs.
Performance Monitoring: Assesses and optimizes virtual machine performance.
Cloning & Snapshots: Facilitates quick deployment and recovery.
DRS: Distributes resources efficiently across the cluster.
LACP: Enhances network performance and reliability.
Lifecycle Management: Manages software updates and hardware lifecycles effectively.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Operational Efficiency: Automates routine tasks and improves resource management.
System Availability: Minimizes downtime and ensures continuous operations.
Cost Management: Optimizes resource usage and reduces operational costs.
Scalability: Grows with the company's infrastructure needs.
Enhanced Performance: Monitors and optimizes virtual machine performance.

Healthcare organizations use VMware vCenter to ensure uninterrupted access to critical applications and patient data. It helps manage large volumes of virtual servers, providing necessary performance and reliability. This platform's automation and monitoring capabilities are crucial for maintaining efficient IT operations and supporting healthcare needs.

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Sample Customers

1. Amazon 2. Apple 3. ATT 4. Bank of America 5. Cisco Systems 6. CocaCola 7. Dell 8. ebay 9. Facebook 10. Google 11. HP 12. IBM 13. Intel 14. JPMorgan Chase 15. LinkedIn 16. Microsoft 17. Netflix 18. Oracle 19. PayPal 20. SAP 21. Siemens 22. Tesla 23. Toyota 24. Twitter 25. Visa 26. Walmart 27. WeWork 28. World Bank

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

VMware vCenter vs. WhatsUp Gold

October 2024

Free Report: VMware vCenter vs. WhatsUp Gold

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