--- title: VMware vSphere Reviews meta\_title: 'VMware vSphere Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 769 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how VMware vSphere works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.5 review\_count: 769 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-11' parent\_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # VMware vSphere Reviews & Product Details Visit Website VMware vSphere with VCF 9.1 is the enterprise workload engine that modernizes compute infrastructure with a future-ready, scalable infrastructure and simplified management that enables organizations to extract maximum value from their current server investments and hardware footprint, rather than requiring a total refresh. vSphere provides a powerful foundation for modern, AI and traditional workloads, while enabling intrinsic security out-of-the-box. * * * Product Website VMware vSphere Seller [Broadcom](https://www.g2.com/sellers/broadcom-ab3091cd-4724-46a8-ac89-219d6bc8e166) Discussions [VMware vSphere Community](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/discuss) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Harshad Kolte Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Time to Implement 2 months [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/pricing) ## VMware vSphere Integrations (5) What do users say about integrations? Verified by VMware vSphere [ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") Acronis Cyber Protect ](https://www.g2.com/products/acronis-acronis-cyber-protect/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") Veeam Data Platform ](https://www.g2.com/products/veeam-data-platform/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") VMware NSX ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-nsx/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") VMware vSAN ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsan/reviews)[ ![Product Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Product Avatar Image") Zabbix ](https://www.g2.com/products/zabbix/reviews) Show More ![Love C.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Love C.") LC Love C. Associate Data Engineer Information Technology and Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 8/6/2026 "Streamlines Server Management, but Pricing is Steep" 4.5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I really like VMware vSphere's vMotion feature, which lets me move live virtual machines between hosts with zero downtime, still feels a bit magical even after using it for years. The resource management and how it balances load automatically across hosts is also very handy. The dashboard and monitoring options give me a clear picture of what is going on without needing separate tools. The snapshot feature is a lifesaver before doing any risky patching or update, allowing me to revert back if something breaks. Integration with other VMware tools is smooth, and the whole high availability setup means our systems restart on another host automatically if one server goes down, saving a lot of late-night calls. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? Pricing and licensing is the biggest pain point honestly, after the Broadcom changes the cost went up a lot and the bundling of licenses is confusing for smaller teams like ours. The web client can also feel a bit slow or laggy sometimes, especially when managing a lot of hosts at once. Learning curve for new team members is steep too, takes a while to get comfortable. I would really like to see more flexible licensing options for smaller businesses instead of the big bundles. Also the web interface could be made a bit lighter and faster. Better documentation for troubleshooting common errors would help new admins a lot too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? I use VMware vSphere for server consolidation and resource allocation, reducing hardware needs and improving utilization. It allows seamless VM migrations during maintenance with no downtime, and its resource management balances loads effectively. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Joni L.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Joni L.") JL Joni L. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/1/2026 "Reliable High-Availability with Some Setup Challenges" 4.5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I use VMware vSphere to run products on virtual machines and Docker-clusters, and I'm impressed by its high-availability and redundancy features. It balances workloads well and runs smoothly on the hardware and hypervisors I have, making everything accessible with a good overview. The ability to scale and meet performance issues is also a plus. Once set up, its ease of use and stability have been a relief; my vSphere instances always run great. The automated high-availability and redundancy have saved me many times during hardware failures. I appreciate being able to sleep better at night, knowing that if one physical ESXi host goes down, vSphere handles the high-availability by moving workloads to a working host proactively. There's storage redundancy too, which is reassuring. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? I found VMware vSphere initially a bit difficult to set up, especially compared to Hyper-V and failover clusters. It can easily get complex before it's even up and running, and there might be many frustrating moments before you're up to speed. It also comes with requirements on hardware, which is something to keep in mind before committing. The newer licensing models make it quite an expensive solution, especially for small and medium businesses, which might be the biggest hurdle. It would be nice if there were more tiers to their licensing for smaller customers. Also, the setup can be tricky depending on your background if you're new to it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? VMware vSphere provides high-availability and redundancy, efficiently balancing workloads and allowing scalability. It ensures my workloads run smoothly even if an ESXi host fails. It's stable and easy to use once set up, offering peace of mind with proactive management and storage redundancy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Leisure, Travel & Tourism](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Leisure, Travel & Tourism") GL Verified User in Leisure, Travel & Tourism Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 8/11/2026 "Dependable Virtualization with Room for Improvement" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I really appreciate how VMware vSphere makes virtualization management so reliable and easy. The features like vMotion and DRS stand out to me because they allow VM movements without downtime and automatically balance workloads across hosts. The integration with vCenter is a big plus, all managed from one dashboard, which saves me a lot of time. The stability and efficiency of the platform are what I value the most. Using vCenter to manage everything in a single place is very efficient, and with tools like vSAN and NSX, my environment is more complete and easier to manage. The setup was also straightforward with a guided process for configuring clusters and resources. I use vSphere daily for managing virtual machines, which helps optimize hardware usage and ensures high availability for critical applications. VM consolidation helps reduce hardware costs, and the resource balancing makes performance management much easier. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? I find the licensing costs high, which makes it tough for my smaller environment to expand quickly. Upgrading VMware vSphere can be tricky; it requires careful planning and slows down the adoption of new features. Compatibility checks between vCenter, ESXi, and plugins add complexity and can be time-consuming. Sometimes, the interface feels a bit complex for new users, and certain advanced features need extra configuration before they work smoothly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? I use VMware vSphere to consolidate workloads, cutting hardware costs and improving uptime with HA and vMotion. It simplifies resource balancing and performance management, making my virtualization environment more reliable, though the interface can be complex and upgrades require planning. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in E-Learning](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in E-Learning") UE Verified User in E-Learning Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/21/2026 "Centralized, Reliable Virtualization with Strong Performance and Scalability" 4.5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? What I like best about VMware vSphere is its ease of managing virtualized infrastructure from a single, centralized platform. It offers excellent performance, high availability, live migration with vMotion, and efficient resource management. The interface is intuitive, deployment is straightforward, and it integrates seamlessly with other VMware products such as vSAN. Its scalability, reliability, and automation capabilities make it an excellent choice for both small and large enterprise environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? While VMware vSphere is a robust virtualization platform, its licensing and subscription costs can be expensive. Some advanced features have a steep learning curve, and troubleshooting complex issues may require specialized expertise. Upgrades and compatibility between different VMware products can occasionally be challenging. Despite these limitations, vSphere remains a reliable, scalable, and feature-rich solution for managing enterprise virtual environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? VMware vSphere solves the challenge of efficiently managing physical servers by consolidating multiple workloads onto virtual machines. It improves resource utilization, simplifies infrastructure management, and reduces hardware and operational costs. Features such as high availability, vMotion, and centralized administration minimize downtime and improve business continuity. This has benefited us by increasing operational efficiency, simplifying server management, and providing a scalable, reliable platform that supports business growth. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Yannick K.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Yannick K.") YK Yannick K. Infrastructure Engineer Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4/29/2026 "Simplifies Virtualization, Minor Upgrade Downtime" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I like how simple VMware vSphere is to use, especially in the user interface. It offers a great interface for people to use, and it allows engineers to be a lot more hands-on compared to old KVM solutions. The initial setup was very easy, with support from some PSO teams and our own experience helping. We've used VMware vSphere for quite a while now. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? I think VMware vSphere's licensing system could be improved. There are a lot of bugs in the older versions, and you have to upgrade to the latest version for everything, which causes a lot of downtime during the upgrade procedures. If there's a way to improve the downtime aspect, that would be great. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? I use VMware vSphere for our platform virtualization, which solves the problem of relying on cloud resources. It allows us to scale with our own private infrastructure, saving on the significant costs that cloud solutions generate nowadays. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite AS amit s. I am working as Cloud operation admin for Nutanix, VMware and other public clouds. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/13/2026 "VMware vSphere: A Comprehensive Enterprise Virtualization Review" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I have over 13 years of hands-on experience working with VMware vSphere technologies, including vCenter, ESXi, and vRealize Operations (vROps), and this review reflects real-world production use. VMware vSphere is an enterprise-class server virtualization platform that provides a strong foundation for software-defined data centers (SDDC). It remains one of the most mature and feature-rich virtualization solutions available. vSphere is well suited for organizations that require high performance, scalability, strong availability, and advanced automation. Its stability and broad feature set make it a solid choice for running mission-critical workloads. Overall, the platform supports efficient workload consolidation, high availability, and advanced resource management across both on-premises and hybrid cloud environments. VMware provides very efficient service support for their customers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? vSphere licensing and support costs can be expensive, especially for small and medium-sized organizations. Many of the more advanced features are tied to higher-tier licenses, which can make it harder to justify the overall spend. Because of its extensive feature set, vSphere also tends to require skilled administrators. Initial deployment, tuning, and ongoing troubleshooting can be complex for teams without prior VMware experience, and the learning curve may be steep at the beginning. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? VMware vSphere solves a wide range of problems that IT teams and enterprises face when managing server infrastructure, workloads, and data centers. Features like vMotion, High Availability (HA), and Fault Tolerance (FT) ensure workloads can move seamlessly between hosts, maintain uptime, and continue running even if hardware fails. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") UI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 8/7/2026 "Reliable, Scalable VM Management with Powerful Configuration Options" 4.5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I find it useful in all my day to day task, be it managing VMs, cloning, taking snapshots. Really the vast variety of configuration option we get in here, quite reliable, and scalable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? Overall its good, when talking about depth, but as usual sometimes that kind depth becomes a nightmare, mostly while troubleshooting complex issues. I constantly have to jump across multiple components to read logs. Its supports many third party integration, but of course that need good planning to implement to ensure compatibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? For us its solving the infra chaos, we get a whole platform where we can run whatever infra we want, be it VMs, containerized app, etc. It helps a lot in maintenance too, faster deployments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite HS HARIOM S. Storage admin Information Technology and Services Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 1/22/2026 "Rock-Solid VMware vSphere: Stable, Scalable, and Built for Critical Workloads" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? What I like best about VMware vSphere is its stability and maturity. It’s rock-solid for running critical workloads, and features like vMotion, High Availability (HA), and DRS make managing virtual machines smooth and reliable. On top of that, it scales really well and has a huge ecosystem, so it fits everything from small setups to large enterprise environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? What I dislike most about VMware vSphere is the cost and licensing complexity, especially after recent pricing changes—it can get expensive fast. It also has a steeper learning curve for new admins, and upgrades or version compatibility can sometimes feel more complicated than necessary. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? VMware vSphere solves the problem of inefficient, hard-to-manage physical servers by virtualizing compute resources into a single, manageable platform. It simplifies server consolidation, workload isolation, high availability, and disaster recovery, which reduces downtime and hardware sprawl. The benefit to me is greater reliability and flexibility—I can deploy, move, and scale workloads quickly, keep systems running during failures, and manage infrastructure more efficiently with less manual effort. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic Review from User Profile ![Yitagessu H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Yitagessu H.") YH Yitagessu H. Senior Hardware Engineer Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 10/19/2024 "Cost-Effective Server Virtualization with Central Management" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? I find VMware vSphere cost-effective and appreciate its central management capabilities. I like the resource management it offers, which helps in managing server virtualization efficiently. The feature I value the most is vSAN, as it effectively utilizes storage resources by virtualizing all local storage contributing to the vSAN environment. Even though the initial setup may not be very easy, it has good features that are easy to understand. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? I think it is better to use a small bandwidth for backup and replication. It may not be very easy, but it has a good feature to understand easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? VMware vSphere offers central management and is cost-effective for resource management, helping me use storage resources effectively with vSAN. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 3/24/2026 Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Jose S.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Jose S.") JS Jose S. IT Sysadmin Mid Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 1/16/2026 "Stable, Full-Featured Virtualization with Strong Management and HA/DRS" 5/5 What do you like best about VMware vSphere? - VMWare Hosts Management - Full Virtualization Solution - Replication Features - Networking Features - DRS - FT - HA Features - Stable Solution - Everything needed for Virtualization - Easy to Use. You do not need Virtualization background to get use to it - Everyday Solution - You do not need certifications or something to implement - Integration Features with other Platforms via API, agent, etc Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about VMware vSphere? - Licensing Model And pricing after Broadcome Adquisition Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is VMware vSphere solving and how is that benefiting you? - Virtualization of VMs - HA Setup - 2 VMware ESXi Cluster - Replication - Acronis integration for Backups and Replication - Zabbix Integration via API Its easy to use so any person can administrate it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ## Questions about VMware vSphere? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about VMware vSphere ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/discussions/new) GU Guest User • Last activity almost 2 years ago What is ESXi used for? 1 Upvote 1 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-esxi-used-for) GU Guest User • Last activity 4 months ago Is ESXi software free? 1 Upvote 4 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-esxi-software-free) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/discuss) ## Pricing Insights Averages based on real user reviews. ### Time to Implement 2 months ### Return on Investment 13 months ### Average Discount 13% ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/pricing) ## How much does VMware vSphere cost? Data powered by [BetterCloud](https://www.bettercloud.com). Estimated Price ### $$k - $$k Per Year Based on data from 26 purchases. Get Price Estimate VMware vSphere Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_00ed9359853dde05cd4c34e2bc47ec95/proxmox-ve.png "Product Avatar Image") Proxmox VE 4.6/5(37) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/proxmox-ve-vs-vmware-vsphere) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_f176b4154a751d10150daa67a57b7dc5/azure-virtual-machines.jpg "Product Avatar Image") Azure Virtual Machines 4.4/5(393) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/azure-virtual-machines-vs-vmware-vsphere) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_7fbe4aba5c3b2a2d5c6a9229c045efa8/xenserver.png "Product Avatar Image") XenServer 4.2/5(49) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/vmware-vsphere-vs-xenserver) ##### ##### VMware vSphere Features Functionality OS Integration Resource Saving Performance Management Performance Scalability Portability Data Recovery Agentic AI - Server Virtualization Autonomous Task Execution Multi-step Planning Cross-system Integration [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/features) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Azure Virtual Machines](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Azure Virtual Machines") Azure Virtual Machines 4.4/5(393) ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-virtual-machines/reviews) [ ![Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)") Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) 4.5/5(333) ](https://www.g2.com/products/nutanix-cloud-infrastructure-nci/reviews) [ ![SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite") SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite 4.7/5(329) ](https://www.g2.com/products/sc-hypercore-virtualization-suite/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/competitors/alternatives) ##### Categories on G2 [Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas)[Server Virtualization](https://www.g2.com/categories/server-virtualization)[Container Orchestration](https://www.g2.com/categories/container-orchestration) [Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas)[Server Virtualization](https://www.g2.com/categories/server-virtualization)[Container Orchestration](https://www.g2.com/categories/container-orchestration)[Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/hyperconverged-infrastructure-hci-solutions) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);) ##### Explore More [Top tools for building cross-platform business apps](https://www.g2.com/discussions/top-tools-for-building-cross-platform-business-apps)[Recommendations for best event management platforms](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-best-event-management-platform-recommendations)[What are some of the premium social media platforms for business use?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-some-of-the-premium-social-media-platforms-for-business-use) [Which products combine graph and document database capabilities for a team that needs both relationship traversal and flexible schema storage in one system?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-products-combine-graph-and-document-database-capabilities-for-a-team-that-needs-both-relationship-traversal-and-flexible-schema-storage-in-one-system)[Which records management systems automate document redaction while maintaining complete audit trails?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-records-management-systems-automate-document-redaction-while-maintaining-complete-audit-trails)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)