# VMware Cloud Foundation Reviews **Vendor:** Broadcom **Category:** [Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 621 ## About VMware Cloud Foundation VMware Cloud Foundation VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is the industry’s first private cloud platform to deliver public cloud scale and agility with on-premises security, resilience and performance, while lowering total cost of ownership. VCF accelerates customers’ digital innovation with faster infrastructure modernization, a unified cloud experience, along with stronger cyber resilience and platform security. VMware Cloud Foundation delivers a consistent private cloud experience across ANY Environment - whether it’s a customer managed data center, edge location or any cloud endpoint. VCF supports both traditional as well as modern workloads such as containers, AI/ML workloads and brings modern applications faster to the market with self-service IaaS consumption experience for the application teams. VMware Cloud Foundation integrates leading products including vSphere (compute), vSAN (storage), NSX (networking), VCF Operations and VCF Automation into a single solution, while providing access to high-value advanced services for Application and Network Security, App Platforms, Ransomware Recovery and Private AI. Core VMware Cloud Foundation Components • VMware Cloud Foundation Infrastructure Stack: Incorporates VMware’s industry-leading solutions – virtualization and compute through vSphere for compute, storage through vSAN, and networking by NSX. • VCF Operations Fleet Management: Automate the installation, operations, and lifecycle management of the VCF stack, streamlining deployment, configuration, and updating processes. • VCF Automation Orchestration: Deliver comprehensive operations, automation, and analysis, across the full stack infrastructure platform. • VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service: Built-in Kubernetes runtime that enables enterprises to run modern applications and traditional workloads on a single platform. How VMware Cloud Foundation Works • Workload Compute Platform: At its core, VMware Cloud Foundation leverages vSphere to create and manage virtual machines and containers, providing a flexible, secure, and scalable compute platform. • Storage Optimization: By integrating vSAN into the platform, VMware Cloud Foundation offers integrated, secure, scalable storage solutions that enhance resource efficiency and reduce operational complexity. • Network Integration: Leverages NSX to provide a secure, software-defined networking layer capable of handling the dynamic needs of modern cloud- based applications using virtual private clouds (VPCs) to isolate apps and users. • Automated Provisioning and Management: VMware Cloud Foundation Automation orchestrates key operational tasks in a cloud operating model, reducing the time and complexity associated with deploying, managing, and maintaining private cloud environments. How VMware Cloud Foundation helps you solve your toughest challenges • Infrastructure Modernization: VMware Cloud Foundation plays a crucial role in transforming traditional IT infrastructures into a more agile and scalable private cloud environment. This transformation is key to enabling organizations to deploy core Private Cloud use cases that deliver strategic outcomes that lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), improved efficiency and accelerated innovation. • Application Modernization: Update and transform legacy software to meet modern business, technology and infrastructure needs. Replace outdated, monolithic applications with modern technologies like containers, microservices, APIs, AI/ML and DevOps Automation - improving scalability, performance, security and user experience. • Security Modernization: VMware Cloud Foundation provides a consistent, secure platform with the ability to extend the security architecture even further with intrusion detection and recovery, addressing key challenges such as ransomware threats, disaster scenarios, and the need for advanced security architectures. ## VMware Cloud Foundation Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of VMware Cloud Foundation, streamlining management tasks and enhancing operational efficiency. (104 reviews) - Users appreciate the **integration of networking** within VMware Cloud Foundation, streamlining management and enhancing consistency across platforms. (43 reviews) - Users appreciate the **integration of compute, storage, networking, and management** in VMware Cloud Foundation for simplified management. (35 reviews) - Users value the **strong security features** of VMware Cloud Foundation, which enhance protection and simplify management. (34 reviews) - Users appreciate the **easy integrations** of VMware Cloud Foundation, facilitating faster deployments and a unified management experience. (30 reviews) - Management Efficiency (28 reviews) - Easy Setup (25 reviews) - Users value the **wide range of features** in VMware Cloud Foundation, appreciating its user-friendly and well-integrated interface. (24 reviews) - Scalability (18 reviews) - Infrastructure Resources (17 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **licensing and support costs to be high** , making VMware Cloud Foundation less accessible for smaller environments. (60 reviews) - Users often face a **difficult setup** process with VMware Cloud Foundation, impacting adoption and operational efficiency. (46 reviews) - Users find the **complexity** of VMware Cloud Foundation challenging, impacting setup, management, and overall experience. (34 reviews) - Users face a **steep learning curve** with VMware Cloud Foundation, making initial setup and troubleshooting challenging. (16 reviews) - Users highlight **high licensing costs** and complexity as significant limitations for small businesses using VMware Cloud Foundation. (15 reviews) - Users find the **complex management** of VMware Cloud Foundation to be challenging without adequate support and experience. (13 reviews) - Difficult Learning (13 reviews) - Poor Documentation (13 reviews) - Users often face **upgrade issues** with VMware Cloud Foundation, resulting in lengthy processes and potential operational disruptions. (13 reviews) - Not User-Friendly (11 reviews) ## VMware Cloud Foundation Reviews ### 1. High Costs and Complex Setup **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anthony M. | Software Specialist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 27, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** VMware Cloud Foundation has been extremely helpful for consolidating virtualization, storage, and networking into a single platform that is easier to manage and scale. The integration between vSphere, vSAN, and NSX streamlines deployment and reduces administrative overhead. I also appreciate the stability, strong performance, and centralized management capabilities, especially for hybrid cloud environments. It has improved operational efficiency for our infrastructure team and made resource provisioning much faster and more consistent across environments. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** One downside of VMware Cloud Foundation is the overall licensing and infrastructure cost, which can be difficult for smaller organizations to justify. Initial deployment and configuration can also be fairly complex and may require experienced administrators to fully utilize all features. Troubleshooting across integrated components like NSX and vSAN can sometimes be time consuming, especially during upgrades or compatibility issues. While the platform is powerful, there is definitely a learning curve for teams that are new to the VMware ecosyste.”m **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has helped me solve challenges with managing separate infrastructure platforms and maintaining consistency across all environments. The platform has made it much easier to support hybrid cloud initiatives. ### 2. A Fully Integrated Private Cloud Platform That Simplifies Hybrid Operations **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mahmoud A. | Web Developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** What I like best about VMware Cloud Foundation is its ability to provide a fully integrated private cloud platform that combines compute, storage, networking, and management into a single solution. It simplifies infrastructure deployment and operations, improves scalability, and offers strong compatibility with existing VMware environments, making it easier to manage hybrid cloud workloads efficiently. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** One of the main drawbacks of VMware Cloud Foundation is its high licensing and infrastructure cost, especially for smaller environments. In addition, troubleshooting across multiple integrated components sometimes becomes challenging due to the platform’s layered architecture. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware Cloud Foundation helps solve infrastructure complexity by providing a unified platform for compute, storage, networking, and cloud management. It simplifies deployment, automation, and lifecycle management of virtualized environments, which reduces operational overhead and minimizes manual configuration tasks. This benefits us by improving system stability, accelerating infrastructure provisioning, enhancing scalability, and allowing the team to focus more on operations and service delivery instead of managing separate infrastructure components. ### 3. VCF: Strong Foundation for Modern Infrastructure **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Maksym R. | Senior VMware Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 02, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** Working with VCF feels like stepping into a well-orchestrated system where everything clicks. It brings clarity to complexity, turning what could be overwhelming infrastructure into something elegant and manageable. It’s not just about technology, it’s about confidence - the confidence to scale, adapt, and grow without hesitation. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The platform can feel quite complicated at the beginning, particularly due to the number of integrated components. That said, this complexity reflects its depth and becomes easier to manage with experience. Performance is quite impressive. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** VCF helps solve the challenge of managing fragmented infrastructure by providing a fully integrated platform for compute, storage, networking, and operations. This benefits me by reducing operational complexity, improving consistency across environments, and allowing faster deployment of workloads. As a result, I can focus more on delivering value rather than managing infrastructure components. ### 4. VMware Cloud Foundation: Easier, Step-by-Step Deployment **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abdurhaman A. | Sr Pre-sales Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 23, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** VMware Cloud Foundation is now easier to deploy fully in small steps. The previous one has a lot of steps to deploy, so now there is no need to install every future step separately, which makes it the best. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** honstely tak i have no dislke about VMWare Cloud Foundation. However, for the customer living in africa the price is too high. It seems it bundles the future in one. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solves too many thing the first is using the VMware Cloud Foundation. Now we can make containerization with out no need buying other third parties. tools. The other is that the current life cycle manager is best for managing ### 5. VCF Standardizes Our Infrastructure with Effortless Lifecycle Automation **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:** February 23, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** Across all locations, VCF standardizes the infrastructure stack. Prior to VCF, different sites had varying configurations (different versions of vSphere, unique networking layouts), making troubleshooting complex; first step was identifying what made that site different. With VCF, all compute/storage/network components are deployed similarly every time. Lifecycle automation via SDDC Manager eliminates our manual efforts for patching. Previously, patching was completed over the weekends and executed one host at-a-time. We can now apply updates to workloads, and the system performs the updates. Being able to run VMs and containers on the same platform provides developers access to both without implementing separate Kubernetes clusters with Tanzu-enabled services. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The licensing modifications that have occurred since Broadcom's acquisition have been considerably difficult. The amount we paid previously is no longer what we pay now, and the subscription model just appears to increase in price each year. Several reviews found on Gartner's site show similar results -- the cost of licenses has risen substantially. There is also an increased learning curve associated with how you utilize the lifecycle tooling and NSX. When team members have not been involved in prior upgrades and are new to the team, they will likely have difficulties with the automation segment of those upgrades because they will not have gone through the upgrading process; therefore, they'll need time to adjust to using the automation capabilities that are part of the upgrades. Because you must have certified hardware to run the lifecycle tooling/automation software, having certified hardware may inhibit your ability to use existing servers as resources for the new lifecycle tooling and automation systems because of the hardware compatibility requirements. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** Configuring our systems is a problem that the solution addresses. Prior to using this solution development would be tested against one configuration and production against another, therefore just because "it works in development" does not mean it will necessarily work in "production." With the same underlying platform across our environments, now applications behave consistently when moving from one environment to another. Automating the lifecycle management of servers reduces the amount of manual labor required to patch multiple servers over several weekends, and therefore each team's operational support is significantly lower. People can spend less time on maintaining their systems than they can on working on projects. For compliance purposes, having centralized visibility allows an organization to quickly see how all of their systems are configured in relation to a particular policy or standard. Seeing all of your infrastructure, security and compliance status on one screen helps you to identify issues before they become an issue to be audited. ### 6. Comprehensive Cloud Management with Cost Challenges **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Walid F. | Software Quality Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 19, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** I find VMware Cloud Foundation effective because it automates the entire lifecycle and unifies compute, storage, and networking into one platform, providing a consistent experience across private and public clouds while enabling built-in security through micro-segmentation. It delivers value by replacing manual tasks with automation, ensuring the infrastructure is always updated, secure, and cloud-ready from a single management point. This saves time, reduces human error, and makes moving to the cloud seamless. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The main drawbacks of VMware Cloud Foundation are the high costs due to mandatory bundling, technical complexity requiring specialized skills, and rigid hardware requirements that limit flexibility. The initial setup isn't easy; even though the SDDC manager automates deployment, the prerequisite phase is intense, demanding perfect network configuration and strictly certified hardware. Suggestions for improvement include lowering entry costs for smaller sites, simplifying the UI to reduce the need for specialized training, and relaxing hardware constraints to accommodate older servers. Better customer support and modular licensing would also help. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware Cloud Foundation solves infrastructure, operational, and security challenges by automating lifecycle tasks and unifying platforms. It provides a consistent cloud experience and built-in security through automation and consolidation, saving time and reducing errors, making the transition to cloud seamless. ### 7. Great for enterprise environments, but comes with complexity **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rushikesh G. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 13, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** What I like most is how VMware Cloud Foundation brings compute, storage, and networking into a single integrated stack. It simplifies infrastructure management using SDDC Manager and provides a consistent environment across on-prem and cloud. The automation of lifecycle management and patching saves a lot of operational effort, especially in large-scale environments. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The initial deployment and setup can be complex and require experienced resources. Licensing costs are also on the higher side, which may not suit smaller organizations. Troubleshooting across multiple integrated components like NSX and vSAN can sometimes be challenging. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** VMware Cloud Foundation helps solve the challenge of managing fragmented infrastructure by bringing compute, storage, and networking into a unified platform. In our environment, it reduces manual effort around provisioning, patching, and lifecycle management through SDDC Manager. It also helps standardize environments across data centers, improving consistency and reducing configuration drift. This has made scaling infrastructure and maintaining reliability much easier. ### 8. All-in-One Bundle with Powerful Features including NSX and Kubernetes Services **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** nathnael m. | System Administrator, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** i like the number of features i get just by using it...its a bundle of many servcies all together..it includes all the products i used to work with including vsan, esxi, vsphere and vcenter. and now i get many features including kubernetes services and aria operations. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** I haven’t found any downsides to it so far. We purchased a 3-year license, and we’re already nearing the end of our first year. Up to this point, we still haven’t run into any issues or noticed any drawbacks. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** Now everything is bundled into one, including NSX. I’m also able to deploy and use the Kubernetes service on my current vSphere setup, so we’re using vSphere with Tanzu. ### 9. VCF Delivers a Full Public Cloud Experience in Your On-Prem Datacenter **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dario D. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 09, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** VCF feels like the future of the modern data center. With VCF, every VMware customer can experience the full suite of VMware products that were previously available mainly to those who actively sought them out. It’s hard to deny that the suite works best when used together, and that it can deliver much of the public cloud experience in an on-site data center. With each release, the products seem to lose complexity while gaining useful features. It’s becoming easier to implement, and supportability continues to improve as more and more people share their experiences through blogs and write-ups. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The road to VCF is a journey. With VCF 9, many things have changed compared to its predecessor, version 5.x, and not all of those changes feel fully completed in the 9.0.x releases. We’re hoping for plenty of improvements in the next iteration, 9.1. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** VCF addresses the growing requirements of on-premise enterprise IT. With the range of products combined within VCF, we can cover the full spectrum of needs across our customers’ businesses. Thanks to built-in security and hardened components out of the box, we gain momentum by standing up a secured infrastructure from day one. Because of the breadth of features VCF offers, we can support automated deployments, drive standardization, and implement straightforward concepts for our on-premise datacenters. ### 10. SDDC Manager’s Single Pane of Glass Makes VCF Lifecycle Management Easy **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mehedi Hasan N. | System Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 05, 2026 **What do you like best about VMware Cloud Foundation?** For me, SDDC Manager is the biggest win. Having a “single pane of glass” for lifecycle management (LCM) is a huge help. Before VCF, patching ESXi and vCenter was difficult, and NSX on its own was a nightmare to keep aligned with all the compatibility matrices. The automated bundle downloads and the built-in pre-checks make maintenance windows a lot less stressful and more predictable. I also like how well NSX works with other systems now, and it makes micro-segmentation much easier to set up compared with a traditional hardware-defined network. **What do you dislike about VMware Cloud Foundation?** The hardest part of learning NSX-T is still ahead of you. If you have a lot of experience with traditional networking, you will need to unlearn a lot. Also, LCM is great, but when an automated upgrade fails, it can be a pain to go through the SDDC Manager logs to find out what's wrong. You also need to be very strict with your hardware compatibility (HCL); VCF won't let you get away with cutting corners on the physical kit. **What problems is VMware Cloud Foundation solving and how is that benefiting you?** Speed to Market: We can now stand up new workload domains in hours instead of days or even weeks. Operational Consistency: We no longer have “snowflake” clusters because VCF enforces a standardized architecture. With every cluster running the same hardened configuration, our security audits go much more smoothly and consistently. Resource Efficiency: Using vSAN as part of the VCF stack has allowed us to retire some of our older, more expensive SAN hardware, saving both rack space and money on cooling. ## VMware Cloud Foundation Discussions - [What are the software suite available in the vRealize suite?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-software-suite-available-in-the-vrealize-suite) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is VMware vCenter Server used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-vmware-vcenter-server-used-for) - 1 comment - [What is vRealize Automation used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-vrealize-automation-used-for) - 1 comment - [What is VMware vSAN used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-vmware-vsan-used-for) - 1 comment - [What is VMware NSX Data Center used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-vmware-nsx-data-center-used-for) - 1 comment - [View VMware Cloud Foundation pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-cloud-foundation/reviews/vmware-cloud-foundation-review-3737466?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-01+16%3A38%3A22+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=5c63c865-7864-47d4-8e4a-098155bec031&secure%5Btoken%5D=cb14a16aacec5c64fdba19569bf5d45344d424c55db24a250491972ffb2b6207&format=llm_user) ## VMware Cloud Foundation Integrations - [Agentforce 360 Platform (formerly Salesforce Platform)](https://www.g2.com/products/agentforce-360-platform-formerly-salesforce-platform/reviews) - [Aria](https://www.g2.com/products/aria-aria/reviews) - [AWX - Ansible Open Source GUI project (Amazon Linux)](https://www.g2.com/products/awx-ansible-open-source-gui-project-amazon-linux/reviews) - [Azure Functions](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-functions/reviews) - [Azure Pipelines](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-pipelines/reviews) - [Azure Virtual Machines](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-virtual-machines/reviews) - [Cloud Automation Framework](https://www.g2.com/products/cloud-automation-framework/reviews) - [Grafana Labs](https://www.g2.com/products/grafana-labs/reviews) - [HubSpot Data Hub](https://www.g2.com/products/hubspot-data-hub/reviews) - [Jenkins](https://www.g2.com/products/jenkins/reviews) - [Kubernetes](https://www.g2.com/products/kubernetes/reviews) - [Microsoft 365](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft365/reviews) - [MuleSoft Automation](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-automation/reviews) - [Prometheus](https://www.g2.com/products/prometheus/reviews) - [Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/red-hat-ansible-automation-platform/reviews) - [Salesforce Heroku](https://www.g2.com/products/salesforce-heroku/reviews) - [SIMATIC WinCC](https://www.g2.com/products/simatic-wincc/reviews) - [Splunk Enterprise](https://www.g2.com/products/splunk-enterprise/reviews) - [Splunk Enterprise Security](https://www.g2.com/products/splunk-enterprise-security/reviews) - [Tableau](https://www.g2.com/products/tableau/reviews) - [Tanzu](https://www.g2.com/products/tanzu/reviews) - [Veeam Data Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/veeam-data-platform/reviews) - [VEEAM Recovery Orchester](https://www.g2.com/products/veeam-recovery-orchester/reviews) - [VMware Cloud Director](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-cloud-director/reviews) - [VMware ESXi](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-esxi/reviews) - [VMware NSX](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-nsx/reviews) - [VMware Orchestration](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-orchestration/reviews) - [VMware vSphere](https://www.g2.com/products/vmware-vsphere/reviews) ## VMware Cloud Foundation Features **Infrastructure Provision** - Public Cloud - Private Cloud - Hybrid Cloud - Bare Metal - High-Performance Computing (HPC) - Virtual Machines (VMs) - Edge Computing - Virtual Networks **Management** - Pay by Usage - Usage Tracking - Performance Tracking **Functionality** - Resource Auto-Scaling ## Top VMware Cloud Foundation Alternatives - [Amazon EC2](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-ec2/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (1,138 reviews) - [Google Compute Engine](https://www.g2.com/products/google-compute-engine/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (875 reviews) - [Azure Virtual Machines](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-virtual-machines/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (377 reviews)