TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

VMware ESXi vs. VMware Workstation Pro vs. VMware vSOM (discontinued)

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    VMware ESXi

    Score7.4 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

    VMware Workstation Pro

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AVMware Workstation Pro is virtualization software which allows running multiple x86-based operating systems on one PC. Users can run Windows, Linux and BSD virtual machines on a Windows or Linux desktop.N/A

    VMware vSOM (discontinued)

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AVSOM from VMware was a solution that delivered vSphere server virtualization, and also added capacity management and performance monitoring features. It is discontinued as of February 2019. Users were migrated to VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus and VMware vRealize Operations Standard.N/A
    Pricing
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Considered Multiple Products
    VMware by Broadcom
    Chose VMware ESXi
    At the time we did our comparison we found that VMware scaled much better than Hyper-V, lighter weight, and much more reliable. My recommendation if Hyper-V is needed for anything such as Windows containers, is to use nested virtualization and installing Windows Hyper-V within …
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware ESXi
    The vSphere management interface is going to be web-based and you access that through a web browser by browsing to the IO address of the VMware ESXi host itself and then from there you'll be prompted for a login screen.
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware ESXi
    We have heavily invested in VMware now. 10 years ago we considered HyperV, but at the time they had no vMotion. We tested Server 2005 virtual server, but the network performance was very poor. VMware also is constantly an innovator and the one that we used recently to great …
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware ESXi
    VMware has been in the business a long time, and makes a very reliable virtualization platform. Hyper-V had matured exponentially, since it's been released and is a viable alternative to ESXi. However, it is not as reliable as ESXi at least at this time. ESXi also accommodates …
    Incentivized
    VMware by Broadcom
    Chose VMware Workstation Pro
    VMware Workstation is ideal for small infrastructures and businesses, particularly for small-scale tasks, whereas VMware ESXi is well-suited for large production environments, multiple servers, and data centers.
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware Workstation Pro
    VMware ESXi is more enterprise based whereas VMware Workstation offers capabilities at a lower cost and smaller scale. VMware Workstation Pro is also user friendly and easy to install. It can be utilized on a regular desktop system as the name implies. It helps with also …
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware Workstation Pro
    While I'm not very familiar with other offerings, I think Workstation is a tier one solution. It's top of the line. While there are free options out there, none are as robust and easy to use as VMware offering. I don't believe you can find a solution that does the same thing as …
    Incentivized
    Chose VMware Workstation Pro
    Vmware workstation is always better than Virtualbox in features. It lets you manage all the virtual machines like Google Chrome, you can extend the virtual machine up to 2 monitors, which is by far my most liked feature.
    Incentivized
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    93 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    94 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    91 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of VMware ESXi and VMware Workstation Pro and VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Feature
    VMware ESXi
    8.2
    128 Ratings
    2% above category average
    VMware Workstation Pro
    7.7
    29 Ratings
    5% below category average
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning8.0116 Ratings9.122 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Management console9.0128 Ratings6.624 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup8.0112 Ratings7.322 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration8.0116 Ratings6.021 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security8.0117 Ratings9.421 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (129 ratings)
    7.7
    (30 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (55 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    5.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    VMware ESXiVMware Workstation ProVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    I would not recommend using a VM as a complete replacement for your everyday driver, but I would recommend
    it for testing. One way that I use Workstation Pro is with testing GPO's. I can
    make a change to a user or computer GPO, take a snapshot, reboot the computer
    to pull the GPO, see if it worked. If it didn't, I revert to the last snapshot before the GPO was pulled, make some changes to the GPO again, and test on the test VM. The same style
    of testing can be used with creating and changing scripts for computer changes.
    We have a whole computer setup script that installs software and changes a ton
    of settings. On a VM you can test over and over to make sure the script runs
    how you want it to and revert if you didn't like the script outcome. Especially
    handy with software installs, so you don't have to wait for a program to
    uninstall and then edit the script and run the script again. Using snapshots save me so much time in testing!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Vsphere Operation Management is suitable for automating the process of bringing up an alternate data center in case of a disaster. It also is a great way for testing your readiness of disaster. You have the ability to bring up a server in a "bubble" for testing. This way you can show your admins how the failover process will work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    • It provides a great remote access tool for accessing and managing servers in virtual environment. With the security risks surround remote desktop this provides a good alternative to do the same functions.
    • The app itself is very lightweight and easy to install/maintain.
    • Sandbox testing can be a time consuming thing to setup and do. Workstation makes this easy to create, use, and put away. This make you more willing to put new things in the sandbox and test them before production usage.
    • The cost of workstation is very affordable for the functionality that you get and you can try it for free before you buy it.
    • We use it to run apps that can be difficult to setup or conflict with other apps. We just spin this app VM up run it, and then shut it back down. The startup and shutdown is very quick.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • The best thing about VSOM is that it's built into VCenter so you only have one point of administration
    • VSOM does a great job of making applications intuitive
    • Re-IPing virtual machines are a must and VSOM does a great job of making this a simple process
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • The installation of VSOM is very tedious
    • It uses an MS SQL database
    • It should be able to adjust for hardware modifications in VCenter
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    It's a solid product, and if they make it compatible with HyperVM (WSL, Docker, etc.) it would be great
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    It is well documented since it is a long actor in the virtualization scene. Easy to use for most user cases. Pretty much not maintenance on the software besides the occasional software updates and/or compatibility issues from time to time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware ESXi is more enterprise based whereas VMware Workstation offers capabilities at a lower cost and smaller scale. VMware Workstation Pro is also user friendly and easy to install. It can be utilized on a regular desktop system as the name implies. It helps with also demonstrations when needed to clients without having bulky hardware every time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    vSphere with Operations Management has a much better way of automating the re-IPing of servers so you can stand them up in a different environment or location. You do, however, need another way of replicating your servers to your DR site, VSOM will not do that. We used EMC Recover Point for replication.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    VMware by Broadcom
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • In the case of a disaster, the ROI would be substantial.
    • The license for VSOM is pretty expensive initially.
    • Support for VSOM is terrific.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots