VMware Fusion vs. VMware vSphere

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
VMware Fusion
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Vmware Fusion is a virtual user session software built to run Windows applications on Macintosh to run any Windows applications.N/A
VMware vSphere
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
An enterprise workload platform, vSphere is used to improve the performance for a data center. It is used to boost operational efficiency, supercharge workload performance, and accelerate innovation.
$995
per year
Pricing
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Standard
$995.00
per year
Enterprise
$3,995.00
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
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
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Considered Both Products
VMware Fusion
Chose VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion works much better for us because of the migration capabilities. We use VMware vSphere and the migration/conversion is seamless. Some of the other virtualization application do not covert or migrate VMs onto other platforms as easily.
VMware vSphere

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Server Virtualization
Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Product A and Product B
VMware Fusion
-
Ratings
VMware vSphere
8.9
66 Ratings
7% above category average
Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings9.161 Ratings
Management console00 Ratings8.866 Ratings
Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings9.059 Ratings
Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings9.664 Ratings
Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.061 Ratings
Best Alternatives
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Small Businesses
Parallels RAS
Parallels RAS
Score 8.7 out of 10
Proxmox VE
Proxmox VE
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Score 9.0 out of 10
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
Score 9.0 out of 10
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(19 ratings)
9.1
(69 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
9.3
(10 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(5 ratings)
9.0
(24 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(5 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
VMware FusionVMware vSphere
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware by Broadcom
Due to its perpetual licensing model, VMware Fusion is a great option for users whose needs do not change as much over time. It is also great for occasional-use scenarios such as testing and preparing code to run on newer platforms. Fusion is not really recommended for running graphics-intense applications as graphics acceleration in Fusion is fairly limited in both performance and API support. It has, however, come a very long way and offers near-native performance for many tasks.
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VMware by Broadcom
vSphere is well suited for multiple VMWare hosts and can be very useful in larger enterprises where vMotion is used to load balance and failover running virtual machines. In smaller businesses with one or two hosts then the features can be overkill. The addition of virtual TPM support is a very nice addition to provide vm security in a more Microsoft supported methodology.
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Pros
VMware by Broadcom
  • Allows users to run Windows only applications on their Mac without switching devices.
  • Fusion is excellent for Windows image creation, and works exceptionally well on the Mac environment.
  • Assists a Mac user to virtualize Windows apps.
  • Excellent for installing Linux distros for penetration testing.
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VMware by Broadcom
  • vMotion that provides seamless movement of Virtual Machines between physical hosts and datastores.
  • Ease of Manage: vCenter provides very good management experience to the users.
  • It provides hassle free upgrade of versions, which requires good planning.
  • Easy to manage datastore, networks, CPU and memory resources.
  • It also allows to convert the physical machine and bring it to vSphere Environment with minimum effort.
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Cons
VMware by Broadcom
  • With OSX - 10.14.1 and the latest version of Fusion - 11.0.2 the user interface has taken a step back IMHO.
  • I would like to see price decrease.
  • Better remote host connection capabilities - remote server connections are available but connections are spotty.
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VMware by Broadcom
  • Allow enable EVC without requiring host shutdown
  • More detail in recent tasks. Instead of just showing a task called "Reconfigure virtual machine" also have a link to more detailed information as to what was reconfigured, changed or removed.
  • Allow searching tasks or events
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Likelihood to Renew
VMware by Broadcom
For Apple workstations VMware Fusion is the virtualization software to use. No other application (free or paid) can do what Fusion can. The features and constant updates make Fusion an application that cant be beat.
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VMware by Broadcom
We are constantly looking for change that will benefit our company. We are not ones to stick with a product simply because it is what we know, but rather looking for what fits us best. We can't imagine another product on the market today doing a better job of handling our infrastructure than vSphere.
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Usability
VMware by Broadcom
Sometimes the best surprise is no surprise and Fusion is just that. It's reliable and generally just works as expected every time (the only exception was running a boot camp install directly but that use-case scenario opens a can of worms due to how product activation works) The interface and settings are clean and simple and there is no hide and seek games to play.
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VMware by Broadcom
It is a highly documented suite. If you are unsure of how to do something, a simple search will yield hundreds of results showing you how to do it. Support is also available if you need to talk to an expert.
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Support Rating
VMware by Broadcom
I have never contacted VMware, but there is a lot of support online on message boards, forums, StackOverflow, YouTube tutorial videos, and the like. VMware has been around nine years longer than its leading competitor, VirtualBox, although both seem to have a good presence of online user communities who can help solve issues that come up.
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VMware by Broadcom
I rarely ever have to contact support and when I do need to resolve an issue, there is always an abundance of kb articles and research information available that can help quickly resolve the issue. Depending on the type of support contract you have, you may get support from some offshore group in another country and this could be a little challenging because of the language barrier.
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Implementation Rating
VMware by Broadcom
This is a workstation application and no install insights are needed.
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VMware by Broadcom
Just make sure that when you implement, that the person implementing truly knows what they are doing and has a plan of action coming in. Since our initial implementation using a consulting service, I have implemented a few vSphere just from what I learned at the initial implementation and use over time, and the person implementing really needs to know what they are doing or you will miss out on features that may help you down the line
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Alternatives Considered
VMware by Broadcom
I've heard of other/competitive software but frankly once I tried VMware, I never looked back. There is absolutely nothing that I need that this product does not deliver. It's fast, effective and seems to be extremely durable and reliable. My only concern (and minor) might have to do with memory resources, but frankly it has not been an issue yet.
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VMware by Broadcom
vSphere has a lot more feature sets than Hyper-V but at a much higher cost of entry versus MS Hyper-V. I have not been able to play with Hyper-V as much as I would have liked, but the setup and ongoing maintenance seems to be easier in vSphere than with Hyper-V
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
VMware by Broadcom
The contract terms are very clear and can be updated as per the project requirement. Customer support is also included in the contract which help us to troubleshoot critical issues very easily. Training included in contract will really help the client team to empower and hands-on on the latest updates and enhancements
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Professional Services
VMware by Broadcom
No answers on this topic
VMware by Broadcom
As I said earlier, they're always ready to understand our issues and propose the best and most appropriate solution for issues all the time. The security patches solution is accordingly to the business needs. Another scenario is their Knowledge Base where
they're many articles that help you in order to solve something which
is wrong.
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Return on Investment
VMware by Broadcom
  • Users using a VM often don't need something as "fancy" as VMware Fusion, and instead can use a free option like Virtual Box, so we waste money on using an extra amount of VMware Fusion licenses.
  • Developers using and IT admins using VMware Fusion for testing saves us time and money. Simply, we know mistakes would take time and money to fix, but VMware is powerful, allows for proper and fast testing.
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VMware by Broadcom
  • Having vSphere helped my business quickly recover from a ransomware attack which would have crippled us for weeks if we were not virtualized. I think the ROI on something like that is immeasurable.
  • vSphere has allowed my company to purchase bigger server hardware to host 3 or 4 virtual servers, which was at a cost much lower than buying 3 or 4 server hardware boxes, saving us thousands each time we need to upgrade hardware.
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ScreenShots