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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    VMware vSphere

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AAn 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

    VMware Workstation Player

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AVMware Workstation 17 Player is a platform for running a single virtual machine on a Windows or Linux PC to deliver managed corporate desktops. Organizations can use Workstation Player to deliver managed corporate desktops, while students and educators use it for learning and training.N/A
    Pricing
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $995.00
    per year
    Enterprise
    $3,995.00
    per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Considered Both Products
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    30 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    30 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    31 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    26 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of VMware vSphere and VMware Workstation Player
    Feature
    VMware vSphere
    7.2
    67 Ratings
    11% below category average
    VMware Workstation Player
    -
    Ratings
    Virtual machine automated provisioning7.062 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management console7.067 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup6.060 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration8.065 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security8.062 Ratings00 Ratings
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    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
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    Score9.2 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    VMware Fusion
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Amazon WorkSpaces
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (70 ratings)
    6.9
    (9 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    9.7
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    VMware vSphereVMware Workstation Player
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:
    • Testing windows updates on a system
    • Testing a new software or a new software version
    • Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS
    • Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them
    You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • VMware Player is easy to use.
    • VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems.
    • Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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.
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    VMware by Broadcom
    Very useful for environments where space and energy consumption are issues and management is not very keen on upfront spending on hardware every time whenever requirement comes from any dept for provisioning a machine for their occasional use, easily can be done in case of VMware vSphere in few clicks. Backup, security, monitoring and management everything is covered but at additional cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    VMware by Broadcom
    Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    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
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    VMware by Broadcom
    • A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use.
    • Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support.
    Read full review
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