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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    KVM

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AKernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a virtualization solution developed by small Israeli software company Qumranet and supported by Red Hat since that company's acquisition in 2008.N/A

    VMware vCenter

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AVMware vCenter is an advanced server management software that provides a centralized platform for controlling vSphere environments for visibility across hybrid clouds. VMware vCenter is no longer sold as a standalone product and is now available as a part of VMware Cloud Foundation.

    $6,044

    per year

    Pricing
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Basic
    6,044
    per year
    Production
    6,244
    per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Considered Both Products
    Red Hat
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    17 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    18 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    18 Answers
    Features
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and VMware vCenter
    Feature
    Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
    9.2
    6 Ratings
    13% above category average
    VMware vCenter
    -
    Ratings
    Virtual machine automated provisioning7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management console10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration10.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Small Businesses
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    cPanel
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.3
    (55 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.8
    (7 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    KVMVMware vCenter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Red Hat
    KVM is the best solution in the case you need to test and turn up any virtual environment with limited vCPU/RAM resources. The obvious area of its use is a network environment when we want to avoid being tied to one type of hardware/vendor and being able to swap from one instance to another with no downtimes. The use of a vSwitch (that supports VLAN tagging) is a significant bonus for network engineers that some other hypervisors do not provide.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    The VMware vCenter server is very useful in maintaining the CPU/RAM/datastore resources are balanced when there are multiple ESX/ESXi host servers. It is clear what resources are being used, and it is easy to migrate VMs to different ESX/ESXi hosts. Being able to remotely connect to the VM servers in vCenter when you cannot have other remote connections helps in maintenance and troubleshooting.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Red Hat
    • KVM is really good at providing fast and reliable virtualization for Linux guests
    • Since KVM is a kernel module, every VM is a Linux process which can be managed by Linux system tools
    • KVM integrates very well with the management framework libvirt, which is why KVM can be integrated in automation tools as well
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VSAN storage management and redundancy - high performance IO with built in fault tolerance across the cluster, not reliant on a single hardware item
    • VM fault tolerance. The ability to relocate a running VM and restart VMs from failed or isolated nodes
    • Resource management and alerting. Tracking load across physical systems and allowing us to rebalance for better utilisation
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Red Hat
    • KVM itself doesn't ship with a management interface
    • KVM itself is a bit complicated to handle
    • KVM needs Qemu to virtualize Windows guests
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Currently, the HTML 5-based vSphere Client lets you manage the essential functions of vSphere from any browser, however, it would be nice if they would port all management functions over to the HTML 5-based Client.
    • Performing updates and upgrades to the infrastructure is a bit challenging for someone that may not be as intimate with vSphere. I think the updates/upgrades should be more integrated into the UI and provide the ability to push to the hosts, etc...
    • It would also be nice to have a more robust snapshot management tool to prevent snapshot overgrowth. It would be nice to be able to set a lifespan for the snapshot(s)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    We are very dependent on this software, it has become a much needed tool to perform the daily tasks that are required to maintain the virtual server environment. VMware has become very pricey over the years, so we are looking for alternatives for cost savings strategy, but nothing has been found to be on par to what we are currently using
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Red Hat
    It does the job and stays out of the way. The specifics of usability relies on the implementation, but with things like Icarus and libvirt, things are standardizing nicely.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I work with vCenter for 10+ years and i love it. I can find my way around and can help building and expanding the platform. It is easy to use and there are a lot good communities for the extra support when needed. Even the Homelab community is of great value.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware support has always been fantastic and they have been invaluable in solving tougher issues that have been run into. Most of the time, any oddities encountered are fixed by available updates. This can be deduced by support quickly with logs within vCenter. We have not run into something yet that support was unable to help with. They either have a solution already, or they are able to find one quickly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    Since moving away from the Windows Server hosting the vCenter application and instead using a virtual appliance, it has become much easier to implement and deploy the new versions. We can easily create a snapshot or clone of the vCenter vApp to ensure any problems encountered during the upgrade can be mitigated with a fall back to the old version to prevent unscheduled downtime.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Red Hat
    It is a very reliable solution that can be used for x86 architecture virtualization with low overhead. It is a free and open source software. Easy to use withOpenStack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Citrix Xen Server.... Great Hypervisor but very limited in terms of functionality
    MS Hyper-V... [VMware vCenter Server] is better for almost everything and appliance form makes a clear winner for security and ease of deployment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Red Hat
    • Fast provisioning of new servers.
    • Huge drop of the cost of servers compared to bare metal.
    • Easy upgrades of resources, sometimes now even requiring a server restart.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • The positive impact of vcenter is definitely felt in larger organisations in terms of being able to manage multiple servers all in one environment
    • It will decrease the amount of time your server engineers will have to spend in the server room or datacenter.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots