Google Compute Engine vs VMware Workstation Pro | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8 out of 10

Based on 122 reviews and ratings

Score 9 out of 10

Based on 56 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime

Dynamic scaling

Elastic load balancing

Pre-configured templates

Monitoring tools

Pre-defined machine images

Operating system support

Security controls

Automation

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

Virtual machine automated provisioning

Management console

Live virtual machine backup

Live virtual machine migration

Hypervisor-level security

Pros

A simple web-based interface that is a breeze to train new engineers to use. Our experienced engineers never have trouble finding or doing anything on GCE.
Sustained use and Committed use discounts mean we get top-tier VMs for an incredibly competitive price.
Wonderful identity and access management that gives us peace-of-mind when granting access to machines to contractors and other 3rd parties.
Fast VMs, lastest in hardware, and enough RAM to power even the hungriest of our services.

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Senior Software Architect

Beneath The InkComputer Software, 1-10 employees

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Not HTML based - Web applications are not always the best method to access VM's
Isolation - VM's can be pulled off production networks for testing in a safe environment
Operability - The interface mirrors the HTML format giving the user all of the features necessary to modify, access and manage VM's

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Systems Administrator

Central Texas CollegeEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

The L7 load balancer can be difficult to get set up. It's limited in its functionality, especially with the container engine.
It's hard to find certain objects on the web console. Often times the things I need to get to are buried in advanced menus.
Google's decision to only support MySQL on their relational DB service means that I have to manage Postgres instances in Compute on my own, managing everything from storage to backups.

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David Long, SPA

Director of Development

Cage DataComputer Software, 1-10 employees

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At the moment, it's incompatible with Microsoft's HyperVM, which is used in Docker and the Linux Subsystem on Windows 2 (WSL 2).
VMware shared files sometimes stop working and need to be reset.
3D support is limited to Windows and only certain scenarios.

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Principal Software Architect

NortonLifeLockComputer Software, 1001-5000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Google Compute Engine 9.0

Based on 1 answer

Overall services are good to go. Received good feedback from users. Have regional server locations. It has free extra service included.

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Sazzad Hossain Sharkar

Chief Operating Officer (C.O.O.)

Akhaura Info FoundationEducation Management, 11-50 employees

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VMware Workstation Pro 9.0

Based on 1 answer

It's a solid product, and if they make it compatible with HyperVM (WSL, Docker, etc.) it would be great

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Principal Software Architect

NortonLifeLockComputer Software, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

Google Compute Engine 9.1

Based on 9 answers

Having interacted with several cloud services, GCE stands out to me as more usable than most. The naming and locating of features is a little more intuitive than most I've interacted with, and hinting is also quite helpful. Getting staff up to speed has proven to be overall less painful than others.

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Business IT, Web Development, eCommerce and Digital Marketing

Island City MediaRetail, 11-50 employees

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VMware Workstation Pro 9.0

Based on 1 answer

There are some settings that can only be done by editing the VMX file. However, that is easily done, and you can find examples on the internet easily.

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Principal Software Architect

NortonLifeLockComputer Software, 1001-5000 employees

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Support Rating

Google Compute Engine 8.8

Based on 21 answers

The documentation needs to be better for intermediate users - There are first steps that one can easily follow, but after that, the documentation is often spotty or not in a form where one can follow the steps and accomplish the task. Also, the documentation and the product often go out of sync, where the commands from the documentation do not work with the current version of the product.
Google support was great and their presence on site was very helpful in dealing with various issues.

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Verified User

Director in Information Technology

Internet Company, 10,001+ employees

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VMware Workstation Pro 6.6

Based on 6 answers

I haven't had to call VMware Workstation support. The majority of the time, whenever I have a problem, I can perform an online search and find the answers I need. Online forums and users with similar situations are generally sufficient to answer any questions I have had, though, from previous experience at another company, their support is outstanding and responsive to circumstances. However, that is generally for a paid support contract and should be expected when you are paying for that support.

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Tyler Twitchell

Senior System Engineer

NetDocumentsComputer Software, 201-500 employees

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Alternatives Considered

App Engine is somewhat similar, but we use it together with Compute Engine. App Engine is good for serving end requests to users -- it can scale automatically to any number of requests, but has it's own limitations. Compute Engine does not have any limitations. but you have to manage it by yourself and scale it manually as needed. I tried using Amazon's EC2 before the Compute Engine was released, but at that time their UI wasn't friendly, in the end Compute Engine provider much better integration with App Engine since their VMs can be really close to each other to reduce network delay. Google Cloud's UI is really good, you don't always want to manage your stuff using API.

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Dmitry Sadovnychyi

Software Engineer

LawInsider.comLegal Services, 1-10 employees

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I like using VMWare as it is really easy to configure, very much user friendly. I also like to use the additional features it have for migration like import export in different formats, clone of the virtual machine. I really like using VMware Workstation user console and ESXI at my college

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Ramandeep Singh

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Lewis UniversityHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

Positive impact on the OpEx with reduction in CapEx resulting from reducing the time to move a workload from on-prem to the cloud
Incased RoI by reducing need for on-prem compute
Improved agility by providing the option to take on new AI workloads for test and dev without the need for upfront investment in

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Manager

Skive itAirlines/Aviation, 51-200 employees

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When updating multiple VM's, this is a much quicker option vs trying to either RDP to them or console using Vcenter
We are required to run a VM locally for certain tasks, and this has been the most effective way to use it
The ability to manage a VM without having to worry about the console freezing up helps with management

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Verified User

Employee in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

Google Compute Engine

VMware Workstation Pro

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