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Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

VMware Workstation excels in providing virtualization technology, allowing for simultaneous operation of multiple operating systems with no performance hit.
Its ease of setup and deployment is highly praised, requiring only a few minutes for initial configuration.
The snapshot and backup capabilities are invaluable, offering the ability to revert to previous versions without data loss.
Technical support is noted as being excellent, enhancing user experience with timely assistance.
It is recognized for its robust feature set, supporting third-party integrations and offering flexibility that surpasses other hypervisors.

CONS

VMware Workstation has issues with virtual network adapters and networking capabilities, which can lead to stability problems when used for development purposes.
There is a disparity in feature sets between the Windows-based client and the Linux-based client, with the Windows client being more advanced.
Scalability is limited, and VMware Workstation could benefit from improved compatibility with various platforms and CPUs.
Automatic software updates would enhance the overall experience, as the current process for upgrading can be cumbersome and resource-intensive.
Support for macOS virtualization is absent and would be a valuable addition to VMware Workstation features.
 

VMware Workstation Pros review quotes

PatrickCiPaaS - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager at SnapLogic
Jul 17, 2012
By using a VMware player, I've significantly improved my desktop processing productivity.
it_user1227 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 20, 2012
VMware player is a very good alternative for those who want a stable and free virtualization platform that can be easily run in various Operating System platforms like Windows, Linux, Macintosh etc.
MP
Senior Site Infrastructure Engineer at Kurungsiku
Aug 7, 2012
Simple free virtualization solution that you can depend on.
Learn what your peers think about VMware Workstation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
886,011 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user5931 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer at a university with 51-200 employees
Apr 20, 2013
VMware workstation is expensive but with its excellent features and performance for a desktop, the cost is nothing.
it_user215970 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead with 51-200 employees
Sep 16, 2015
It has given us the flexibility to recreate live server scenarios including the supporting networks and AD domain controllers; these are then used to test upgrades or migrations with no impact on the live servers or network.
it_user72771 - PeerSpot reviewer
Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital
Dec 17, 2016
In general, it's saved us time and money.
it_user265281 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager / Senior Network Engineer at Warnock, Tanner & Associates
May 15, 2018
I have found this product excellent for test/dev environments. This is 90% of what I use this product for.
reviewer139530 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems and Security Administrator at a hospitality company with 51-200 employees
Aug 23, 2016
It paid for itself multiple times, especially when we had to pull in older Windows 2003 servers for disk manipulation.
it_user450447 - PeerSpot reviewer
Web Administrator at a sports company with 51-200 employees
May 25, 2016
VM management - ability to very easily create and manage multiple VMs of various platforms, with portability and ease of saving and copying entire VMs from machine to machine.
reviewer1478514 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Administrator at a government with 1-10 employees
Mar 26, 2021
I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use.
 

VMware Workstation Cons review quotes

PatrickCiPaaS - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager at SnapLogic
Jul 17, 2012
The initial setup is quite easy, but can be daunting to someone unfamiliar with desktop computing environments.
it_user1227 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 20, 2012
VMware Player has a very high memory footprint and requires a lot of memory for running multiple operating systems under a single host system.
MP
Senior Site Infrastructure Engineer at Kurungsiku
Aug 7, 2012
Compared to Virtualbox, VMware Player is slightly heavier on resource usage than Virtualbox.
Learn what your peers think about VMware Workstation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
886,011 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user5931 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer at a university with 51-200 employees
Apr 20, 2013
VMware Workstations is for desktop use only and is pricey.
it_user215970 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead with 51-200 employees
Sep 16, 2015
In v6, it was a 32bit environment with a maximum memory of 4Gb RAM. Therefore, this required a high level of swap out of RAM to disk in order to provide sufficient memory space to run VMs, this occasionally caused system crashes.
it_user72771 - PeerSpot reviewer
Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital
Dec 17, 2016
To avoid problems you really do need to be on the most recent version, especially if you want to use W10 images.
it_user265281 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager / Senior Network Engineer at Warnock, Tanner & Associates
May 15, 2018
I have had issues with the virtual network adapters in the past that has taken some time to troubleshoot.
reviewer139530 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems and Security Administrator at a hospitality company with 51-200 employees
Aug 23, 2016
Customer Service: I think support is an issue for VMware - they only offer support for this product once you purchase more than 10 licenses. This is a show-stopper for smaller organizations like us.
it_user450447 - PeerSpot reviewer
Web Administrator at a sports company with 51-200 employees
May 25, 2016
It's been a struggle at times to keep drive shares and video drivers working across updates.
reviewer1478514 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Administrator at a government with 1-10 employees
Mar 26, 2021
The price should be reduced.