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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Scale Computing Platform

    Score9.3 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Scale Computing offers edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions for customers around the globe. Scale Computing HyperCore software promises to eliminate traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. The vendor says that, using patented HyperCore™ technology, the SC//HyperCore self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and…

    $249

    per year per core

    VMware ESXi

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/AA bare-metal hypervisor that installs directly onto a physical server. With direct access to and control of underlying resources, VMware ESXi partitions hardware to consolidate applications and cut costs.N/A
    Pricing
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $249
    per year per core
    Professional
    $312
    per year per core
    Professional Essentials
    $5,600
    one-time fee
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPricing shown in U.S. Dollar. Pricing for other regions available on request.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Considered Both Products
    Scale Computing
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    KVM: Scale HC3 Hypervisors builds on KVM, but extends it massively with their hassle-free setup, integration and support. Proxmox: Also builds on KVM, but needs much more manpower to keep it running. VMware ESXi: I'm a long-time ESXi expert and had to deal with all the hassles …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale provides similar features to VMware ESXi. The ease of use and price point were the main drivers for our infrastructure.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale is much less expensive than VMWare and much more user-friendly than Linux.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    As mentioned previously, not having to worry about the compatibility between your hardware, hypervisor, and VM OS is a great help. On the downside, there is less ability to get deep in the weeds with your own system. Much of the Scale HyperCore OS is locked down intentionally, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    The scale is as robust as VMware's but needs more vendor support, such as VEEAM, for backup. Scale overall costs caused us to move to the platform to reduce our overall costs from hardware and maintenance costs.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    These other alternatives are much more expensive and lack the ease of use that Scale Computing Platform provides.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    We used a mixture of VMWare and stand-alone servers prior to moving to the Scale Computing Platform. After the initial investment, this has lowered our cost to maintain our server environment.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Easier to use, better performance.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale was overall the better option for us due to the ability to get a very powerful system for a cheaper price than what it would have been to achieve the same with VMWare. Although, this has changed now that Scale has seemingly gone to a subscription model for it's software …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    I can't speak to large organizations however Scale seems like the perfect fit for small to medium size organizations. We could not justify the cost of VMWare with our needs, and the uncertain future of Hyper-V led us to pick Scale.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    At the end of the day, and in the environment we are in, Scale just fits the bill, both price-wise and functionality-wise. Upgrading our VM environment was always a week-long process, now, it is a twenty-minute process, implementing, converting VMs, and rolling everything over …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale Computing is much more simple to manage and set up, and use right out of the box than the competitors. One can be up and running out of the box within an hour.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    One stop show for both hardware and software. The Hypervisor is specifically designed to work with their Hypervisor.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    For an organization our size, Scale is the complete package at a lower cost. While it doesn't have anywhere near the amount of configurability of VMWare, the features we really needed are included. Staff required almost no training (compared to VMWare), and setup of the cluster …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Price was a huge factor. Of the products we looked at the Scale HC3 package was considerably cheaper, but had processing, storage and virtualization we needed. I spoke to other companies in our line of business that own the Scale servers and all were so happy they moved over to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale was the right fit, it was ready to go immediately! No complex setup needed.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    When it was time to refresh our old previous virtual environment, we looked at traditional server/storage, server/san, as well as other HCI competitors. We evaluated many solutions, but decided on Scale Computing for its simplicity to manage, use and setup, cost, but most of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    VMware has significantly more complexity.
    Nutanix no longer addressed the SMB market very well or edge-computing.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale Cluster Computing HC3 has much better GUI for non-professional users to manage and operate. Replication is fairly simple to implement and configure. The allocation of physical storage is much better than alternatives. The most important thing is that scale software …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    Scale Computing HC3 runs as well or better than our previous VMWare environment at a much less overall cost.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    The price to performance for Scale Computing HC3 is something that made the final decision for our organization easy. While Scale may lack some of the advanced features of VMware, as a shop that had used VMware for over 7 years, I can confidently say that in my time with the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    There is no nickel and diming for features.
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    The vendors that I mentioned offer solutions very close to Scale Computing however, we found out that their solutions had many pieces and a lot of overhead. The overall ability to consolidate different pieces such as Backup-replication, Storage, Virtualization Software, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Scale Computing Platform
    We have built out several test environments and have demoed all of these products and we were not able to build out or purchase an environment that performed as well or had the features as Scale HC3 for the same investment.
    Incentivized
    VMware by Broadcom
    Chose VMware ESXi
    I think VMware ESXi is a better solution than Hyper-V was at the time. Mainly because you don't need to run a Windows OS to run ESXi. I also think the integrations available with [VMware] ESXi are superior[.]
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    75 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    93 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    74 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    75 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    94 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    73 Answers
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    91 Answers
    Features
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Scale Computing Platform and VMware ESXi
    Feature
    Scale Computing Platform
    -
    Ratings
    VMware ESXi
    8.2
    128 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings8.0116 Ratings
    Management console00 Ratings9.0128 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings8.0112 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings8.0116 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.0117 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Small Businesses
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.5 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Score9 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.7
    (245 ratings)
    9.0
    (129 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.4
    (22 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    7.5
    (40 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (245 ratings)
    10.0
    (55 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.1
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Scale Computing PlatformVMware ESXi
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Scale Computing
    Scale is best suited to environments that do not have excessive external or proprietary peripherals. Integrating with tape drive backups or robot tape libraries can be problematic. The most effective use of Scale systems is for companies running multiple instances of the same operating system. The hypervisor's code/file-sharing nature does an excellent job managing new instances while keeping the increase in storage to a minimum.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    If you're looking for the industry standard in server virtualization, I would recommend ESXi. After decades of expertise in the field, VMware continues to provide a strong product, production-ready, with an easy-to-learn interface that allows for quick management along with less costly upfront onboarding and training. Grab the free personal-use license and install in your homelab to start!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Scale Computing
    • Simplicity - I do not have to create storage buckets or micromanage anything.
    • Efficiency - Lower power use since moving to a hyperconverged environment.
    • Scalability - Adding additional hardware is easy, and increasing things like the amount of RAM or number of cores is easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Resource management. The automatic load balancing works very well to ensure no host is taxed disproportionately compared to the others.
    • Templates and cloning. It is very easy to set up a template and spin up new servers based on a specific setup. This makes server management very streamlined.
    • VM management. The vSphere interface is very easy to use and navigate. Everything is responsive and it works when you need it to. The options are also robust while also being arranged in a straightforward manner.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Scale Computing
    • Dedicated Lights-Out Solution for low-end systems
    • Ability to replace smaller storage drives with larger ones, rather than requiring the addition of an entire node for storage increases
    • Different UI views for VMs: ability to minimize certain groups and have that persist through log-ins
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMware ESXi can improve on the UI that is installed on the bare metal machine. The menus can be hard to navigate when looking for simple configuration items.
    • VMware ESXi can improve on the stability of their overall hypervisor. There have been a few times we had to reinstall due to corruption of VMware ESXi.
    • I would like to see VMware ESXi do better at adding more standard free features in their consumer version of VMware ESXi. For example, having the ability to back up virtual machines is good practice and something that would be very nice if offered in their free version.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Scale Computing
    Since I have had no issues with downtime; easier management of my cluster and the ability to lower the number of devices in my Infrastructure, I will gladly renew my support contract with Scale Computing HC3 and upgrade my equipment with them when it comes time for it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    It is critical to our business, what started out as a way to do certain functions, it has now become core to ensuring our product is available to our customers and reducing our costs to operate and reduce our recovery time and provisioning servers. Their support is great and the costs to renew is reasonable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Scale Computing
    Everything you need to do is point-and-click easy. If you are the kind of admin who wants to edit every config file and endlessly customize your environment, then Scale may not be for you. On the other hand, if you just want it to work really well, and do what they told you it will do, then Scale is the ideal system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    The interface is fairly intuitive for most things, and the areas that are a little less obvious usually have fantastic documentation in the online knowledgebase. In 3-4 years of managing our ESXi hosts, I think that I have only opened 4-5 support cases for things that I could not figure out myself or find answers to on the website.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Scale Computing
    Never had an outage or an error. Once a hard drive failed, but Scale kept on working flawlessly without interruption.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Without the need to patch the servers with bug fixes and enhancements we whave not experienced any downtime with VMware issues. Even the bug fixes and updates do not cause of downtime as we just migrate the servers to the opposite node and update the one and then move servers back. Very simple and painless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Scale Computing
    Performance has been just as outstanding as reliability. I have never experienced delays in any aspect of usage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    We do not notice any difference between a physical and virtual server running the same workload. In fact we can scale quicker with the virtual server than we can with the physical.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Scale Computing
    They are very knowledgeable about their own products and hardware addressing my concerns or issues very quickly and on the first contact. Calls concerning VMware migrations and Acronis backup took a little more time for more complicated issues, but the Scale Computing Platform techs were diligent to stay on top of issues until they were resolved. Most of my issues have been with the initial setup/migration.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I can't say enough good about VMware's support team. To an individual they take ownership of the case, provide thorough answers, and follow up regularly. On one occasion, a problem we experienced with NSX Endpoint was escalated to development for a permanent resolution after a workaround was found. In my experience, most companies would have tried to find a way to close a case like that instead of taking it all the way. Most importantly, when production is down and every second counts, they VMware teams understand that urgency and treat your issue as if it were the only one they had to deal with. You can't ask for better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Scale Computing
    I did not do in-person training.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Scale Computing
    Because Scale is so simple, the training is just as quick and easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Scale Computing
    The implementation was very easy. We had Scale support on standby and they were ready and eager to help if needed. The process went so fast the employees in the organization did not even know it was done.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Jsut read and follow anything your storage provider may require to allow the integration of VMware with storage operations, outside of that VMware jsut works.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Scale Computing
    We previously used Microsoft Hyper V and VMWare and, before that, a room for single-purpose servers. My satisfaction with Scale is because it is a more straightforward product to install and use; it has incredible speed and reliability. In the past, getting support from Microsoft was labor intensive, and with VMWare, there was a language accent barrier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    As long as you're using Nutanix AOS on Nutanix hardware and are paying their software support fees, AOS is a valid competitor to VMware and can save money due to not needing a license and having their server management system built into the base host management system. If you aren't using Nutanix hardware, however, VMWare is in most cases the best way to go. I cannot comment on HyperV, but most IT people I know either use it because they have to (most) or they like it better (not many).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Scale Computing
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    it has been fair and easy to understand. I know VMware is looking at wanting to change from CPU to core pricing so we will see what that looks like when it happens.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Scale Computing
    HC3 is one of the best products I have purchased for our district. It is unbelievably reliable to the point that they shoot themselves in the foot on support contracts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    We started out with a two-server cluster and adding a third or fourth is very straightforward and simple with no issues. You just need to be aware of the size of your Vcenter Server to handle the workload, but still the resources needed is very minimal
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Scale Computing
    • With the high cost of the leading competitor the savings starts day one and saves every year after.
    • Scale can be administered by a tier one technician so cost of labor is reduced.
    • If there is a problem like a cyber attack, the savings kick in with the least amount of downtime.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMWare ESXi licensing is affordable for our business - and the licensing model is simplistic. Not like that of Microsoft with having to keep track of server licenses and CAL licenses for users.
    • VMWare ESXi also has hardware-monitoring built-in, so that further saves us money from having to be spent with another vendor.
    • As much as I hate the saying "a single pane of glass" does fit for this product. You can manage your servers, monitor hardware status, create and export backup snapshots, manage virtual NICs, connect to various storage devices. We're very happy with this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Scale Computing Platform Screenshots

    Screenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Management Dashboard - 
At-a-glance summary of the health of the fleet upon login.Screenshot of Cluster Details -
Details of a particular cluster, including health, fleet manager connectivity, nodes, and VMsScreenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Manager -
Manages an organization’s fleet of Clusters.Screenshot of Hypercore UI -
Simple Web Interface for Local Management of the Cluster and its Workloads