--- title: VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Reviews meta_title: 'VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 20 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.8 review_count: 20 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-13' parent_category: name: Containerization url: https://www.g2.com/categories/containerization --- # VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Reviews **Vendor:** Broadcom **Category:** [Container Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/container-management) **Average Rating:** 3.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 20 ## About VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) is the CNCF-certified Kubernetes runtime built directly into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), to run all apps. VKS is among the first platforms certified under the new CNCF Kubernetes AI Conformance Program. VKS enables platform engineers to easily deploy, manage and scale Kubernetes clusters while leveraging a comprehensive set of cloud services included in VCF, as well as all CNCF-conformant third party services. By eliminating the complexity and hidden costs of siloed environments, VKS enables enterprises to deploy modern applications and AI workloads with the rigorous security, automated management, and massive scale of a true private cloud. It transforms standard infrastructure into a business-ready platform, allowing organizations to roll out a vast ecosystem of third-party apps with total confidence. VKS benefits from a robust ecosystem of partner validated products as the essential engine for customer experience and their sustained success. ## VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Reviews ### 1. VKS Makes Deploying a CNCF-Conformant K8S Platform Easy **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael Z. | Pre-Sale System Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 05, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** VKS is now much easier to deploy than Tanzu. Is it included in the VCF and VVF license? It provides the IT department with all the tools needed to create a K8S platform with ease. It’s a good approach for IT departments that want to get started with K8S. It’s also CNCF conformant, which helps with portability from other platforms. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** It requires some understanding and hands-on experience with VMware networking—NSX and the AVI load balancer—to set up ingress and egress communication properly. Also, the general namespace convention here is not the same as a standard K8S namespace. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VKS will solve the problem of easily providing Kubernetes infrastructure to IT departments that, until now, have been working only with VMs and don’t yet have experience with K8s infrastructure. ### 2. Kubernetes and VMware Together Made Cluster Management Much Easier **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nijat I. | Full-stack Developer, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 09, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** The part that was helpful for me personally was the fact that it gave me a feeling that Kubernetes was somehow connected with other components. Before dealing with it, Kubernetes was always something detached from other aspects that needed to be addressed in another way. In this case, I could use Kubernetes and at the same time work in the environment which I was used to seeing on the VMware side. What I liked most of all was the fact that cluster management became much easier without switching back and forth platforms. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** I found that the learning curve was more difficult to navigate than expected, not because of my unfamiliarity with Kubernetes per se, but rather because of my unfamiliarity with the additional mental layer of integrating Kubernetes knowledge with VMware technology. At times, I recall finding myself struggling to diagnose a problem and deciding whether the fault lied in Kubernetes’ configuration or networking or even the underlying virtualization layer. That could definitely get taxing during high-pressure moments. Another challenge that stood out for me was that there seemed to be some parts of the process that weren’t very intuitive at all. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** However, before utilizing it, virtualized infrastructure management and Kubernetes management used to feel disjointed, with different teams and tools being responsible for managing various aspects of the system. This led to inefficiencies whenever there were changes or issues requiring collaboration between the two. VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service allowed me to manage my container workloads in an approach that was more consistent with the current infrastructure management process, rather than designing and deploying everything independently of the existing infrastructure. ### 3. Dedicated VM Space for Automated Audits **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paul S. | SEO Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I like best is that it lets me carve out my own dedicated space on the VM to run automated Screaming Frog crawls, without needing a separate server or having to compete for resources with other workloads. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I like least is the learning curve. VKS blends vSphere and Kubernetes concepts in ways that can be confusing, even for more experienced people. It also feels like overkill for smaller workloads; for something like periodic scheduled crawls, the overhead of Kubernetes and the extra configuration can outweigh the benefits compared with just running on a single VM. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VKS solves the problem of needing dedicated infrastructure for automated SEO crawling, without having to provision a separate physical server or compete with other workloads for resources. By carving out my own space on the VM, I can run scheduled Screaming Frog crawls reliably and consistently. That gives me a stable, self-contained environment for large-scale technical SEO audits, and it lets me do this without disrupting other systems. ### 4. Kubernetes on VMware vSphere: Powerful Enterprise Control with Added Operational Complexity **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 07, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I like most about Kubernetes on VMware vSphere, especially for someone like me with datacenter, virtualization, networking, and infrastructure experience and development, is that it connects two worlds that are usually separated: traditional enterprise infrastructure and modern application delivery. It lets developers deploy container-based applications faster, but without bypassing the controls that matter in a real datacenter: networking, storage policies, access control, monitoring, resource limits, SSO, lifecycle management, and governance. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I would probably like least about Kubernetes on VMware vSphere is the amount of extra abstraction and troubleshooting layers it adds on top of systems you already understand well. Its a long learning curve for this tool to be used. With Docker, Linux, VMware, and servers, you can usually trace a problem directly: container, OS, VM, host, network, storage, logs. With vSphere Kubernetes, the issue may be hidden across Kubernetes objects, namespaces, pods, services, ingress, CNI networking, load balancers, NSX/Avi, storage classes, Supervisor, vCenter, certificates, RBAC, or the underlying ESXi hosts. For someone like me, the frustrating part would not be the concept itself, but the feeling that a simple problem becomes a multi-layer investigation. A service not responding may not be “the app is down”; it could be a bad selector, failed pod, wrong service type, missing endpoint, ingress rule, load balancer pool, DNS issue, certificate issue, network policy, storage mount, RBAC, or vSphere-side resource problem. So I think what you would dislike most is that Kubernetes on vSphere is powerful, but sometimes feels over-engineered compared with managing a VM, a Linux server, or a Docker container directly. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware vSphere’s container orchestration platform (kubernet) helps bridge the gap between developers who need a fast way to run modern applications and infrastructure teams who still need to maintain control over security, networking, storage, permissions, and overall resource usage. From a developer’s perspective, it offers a consistent platform for deploying applications packaged as containers, without having to wait for someone to manually provision servers, install software, configure storage, or expose the application to the network. For virtual infrastructure administrators, it keeps these modern application workloads within the familiar vSphere/VCF environment, leveraging the same clusters, policies, permissions, monitoring, and lifecycle tools they already manage day to day. Put simply, it enables developers to move faster while allowing infrastructure teams to preserve governance and stability, so the organization can run both traditional virtual machines and newer container-based applications on the same VMware platform. ### 5. Avoid VMWare Period **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniel K. | Service Desk Senior Technical Analyst, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I like most about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services is how tightly it integrates with the vSphere/VCF platform. It lets you deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters with self-service lifecycle management, while still keeping enterprise controls, security, and operations centralized in one place. It performs adequately compared to similar software. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** What I dislike most about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services is the overall complexity. It can feel heavier than a more lightweight Kubernetes stack because you’re managing VMware, vSphere, and Tanzu-related components together, rather than working within one simpler platform. Another drawback is ecosystem dependence: many parts are VMware-centric, which can limit flexibility when you want to use third-party tooling. It’s also very expensive compared to other similar software. Their support is terrible, and the AI is garbage. Interface is still the classic vsphere - making the UI normalized. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** It’s essential to integrate with vendor applications and software. VKS helps reduce platform sprawl and enables your teams to move faster without giving up control. ### 6. Deployment Was Too Difficult—Confusing Guides and Setup Issues **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** I wouldn't know because I never got it to deploy properly. I tested a deployment for hours and never got it to work. Must have been some small networking connectivity issue which was preventing the master API VM's from deploying. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** That it is not easy to deploy, I spent hours trying to deploy this and I never got it up properly. I wish there was a better how to guide, I followed multiple videos and guides but they were very confusing. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** I would have loved to use this as a replacement for docker to host internal applications and ensure uptime/availability was there. Since we did not get this running we need to figure out how to get this going. ### 7. Facilitate Server Management with Intuition **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** ALONSO S. | empleado de empresa de TI, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** I like the unification of virtual machines and containers offered by VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS). It helps me a lot with server management from the same console, which allows me to make my work more efficient. Additionally, I appreciate its ease of use and that it is intuitive, reducing the learning curve for its use. I also enjoy the Cloud Native Storage section, as it helps me integrate it directly with VMware and offers full visibility from vCenter. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** its licensing mode and costs **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) helps me a lot with server management from the same console, making my work more efficient. Its ease of use and intuition reduce the learning curve. ### 8. Powerful vSphere Kubernetes, but pricing shocks and Day-2 operations need improvement **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) stands out by embedding container management directly into vCenter and providing a familiar UI/UX. This allows administrators to provision Kubernetes clusters much like traditional virtual machines, without a steep learning curve. The overall experience is further strengthened by deep integrations across the broader VMware ecosystem—such as NSX for secure networking and Tanzu for centralized governance—which helps simplify day-to-day operations in complex environments. Because these tools are natively coupled at the hypervisor level, VKS delivers strong performance, supporting dynamic resource allocation, zero-downtime migrations, and fast execution for both legacy applications and modern, latency-sensitive container workloads. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** While VKS does a good job unifying infrastructure, its Pricing / ROI has become a significant drawback after recent licensing changes. Forced moves to expensive, bundled, core-based subscription models can sharply inflate costs, especially when teams end up paying for features they may not even use. Support / Onboarding can also be more difficult than expected. Initial deployment is fairly straightforward for infrastructure teams, but Day-2 operations—such as version upgrades, certificate management, and more complex troubleshooting—often require deep Kubernetes expertise that traditional administrators may not have. Finally, VKS is weak on built-in AI / Intelligence. It lacks native AIOps for proactive cluster optimization or smarter remediation, which can push organizations to buy additional, costly suites—like Aria Operations—just to get basic predictive analytics and workload visualization. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) reduces the operational friction between legacy virtualization and container orchestration by embedding Kubernetes directly into the hypervisor layer. This approach effectively eliminates infrastructure silos, cuts down heavy Day-2 lifecycle overhead, and avoids complex, manual network and storage configurations. With cluster provisioning automated through the Cluster API and native integration with vSAN and NSX, VKS turns what would otherwise be brittle platform maintenance into automated, self-healing operations. The biggest payoff is operational velocity: you no longer need to act as a hands-on Kubernetes mechanic, and can instead manage container environments smoothly as declarative code within a unified infrastructure-as-code workflow. ### 9. Simplifies KPI Tracking and Speeds Up Application Deployment **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jessica L. | Quality coordinator, Information Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** manages KPI's and simplified all platforms for me to be able to organize and deploy applications at a faster speed. my team loves it as well for keeping track of data **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** The support isn’t available at all times when I have questions or need clarification on certain tools. However, I usually manage to figure things out by doing my own research. Overall, the IT admins seem to have knowledge of the AI tool. **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** it brings safety and compliance to our platforms and services, peace of mind and organization of all data sources we have in place. being able to manage all clusters is a life saver ### 10. Streamlined VM & Container Management, Worth the Cost **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Trevor Y. | Tech services lead, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** I like that VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) provides a simple to use experience with very familiar tools to use. It's easy to integrate with the rest of the VMware ecosystem, which means we can use our familiar VMware tools to provision and manage clusters without having to learn and maintain a new infrastructure. **What do you dislike about VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS)?** it can be quite expensive with the cost of licensing. and can be a bit complex **What problems is VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) hosts our VMs and containers in one location, using familiar tools without learning new infrastructure. It's easy to integrate with the VMware ecosystem, providing a simple experience. - [View VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere-kubernetes-services-vks/reviews/vmware-vsphere-kubernetes-services-vks-review-13088727?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-13+14%3A14%3A01+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=5fff9555-b4f7-464d-8988-8c5cfa2f035e&secure%5Btoken%5D=ca30b8ccb04df1ff25533e8ba5dc01a0c0f8670b7454bec33f170435ab19e31d&format=llm_user) ## VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Integrations - [Docker](https://www.g2.com/products/docker-inc-docker/reviews) - [Docker on Ubuntu 20](https://www.g2.com/products/docker-on-ubuntu-20/reviews) - [Grafana Labs](https://www.g2.com/products/grafana-labs/reviews) - [Jenkins](https://www.g2.com/products/jenkins/reviews) - [Prometheus](https://www.g2.com/products/prometheus/reviews) - [Ubuntu](https://www.g2.com/products/ubuntu/reviews) - [VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-cloud-foundation-vcf/reviews) - [VMware ESXi](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-esxi/reviews) - [VMware vSphere](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/reviews) ## VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Features **Alerts management** - Multi-mode alerts - Opimization alerts - Incident alerts **Fleet & Lifecycle Management - Enterprise Kubernetes Management** - Automated Cluster Provisioning & Onboarding - Multi-Cluster Fleet Management - Cluster Templates & Blueprints **Management** - Access Control - Network Isolation - File Isolation **Monitoring** - Resource utilization - Real-time monitoring - Performance baseline - API monitoring **Day-2 Operations & Reliability - Enterprise Kubernetes Management** - Auto-Remediation for Nodes & Clusters - Resource & Cost Visibility - Backup & Restore for Cluster Resources **Automation** - Resolution automation - Automation **Organization** - Packaging - Container Networking - Orchestration **Identity & Access Management - Enterprise Kubernetes Management** - Policy-Based Access Controls - Enterprise SSO Integration - Multi-Tenancy & Team Isolation - Centralized RBAC Across Clusters **Development** - Developer Toolkit - Architecture - Datacenter - Virtualization **Analysis** - Search - Reporting - Visualization - Track trends **Governance, Policy & Compliance - Enterprise Kubernetes Management** - Compliance Reporting & History - Standards Guardrails for Cluster Config - Audit Logging & Forensics **Issue Resolution** - Root cause identification - Resolution guidance - Proactive identification **App Delivery & Platform Integrations - Enterprise Kubernetes Management** - CI/CD Toolchain Integrations - GitOps-Based Config & Deployment ## Top VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) Alternatives - [DigitalOcean](https://www.g2.com/products/digitalocean/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (738 reviews) - [Akamai Cloud Computing](https://www.g2.com/products/akamai-cloud-computing/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (387 reviews) - [Dynatrace](https://www.g2.com/products/dynatrace/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,232 reviews)