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VMware ESXi

VMware ESXi

Overview

What is VMware ESXi?

A 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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Powerful Tool for Managing VMs: Users consistently praise VMware ESXi as a powerful tool for managing a large number of virtual machines, …
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TrustRadius Insights
TrustRadius Insights

VMware ESXI

8 out of 10
April 07, 2022
VMware Esxi is very good product. Which helps people to virtualize the environment or data center. I am using Exsi for last 5 years. …
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A class above the rest

10 out of 10
April 04, 2022
Incentivized
We use ESXi in our organization for our virtualized workloads. ESXi provides a solution for growing organizations that have way too much …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 5 features
  • Live virtual machine migration (115)
    9.3
    93%
  • Management console (127)
    8.8
    88%
  • Virtual machine automated provisioning (115)
    8.5
    85%
  • Hypervisor-level security (116)
    8.3
    83%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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VMware ESXi

VMware ESXi

N/A
Unavailable

What is VMware ESXi?

A 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.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

269 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere

$995
per year
What is VMware vSphere?

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.

Hyper-V

Hyper-V

$24.95
per month

Sorry, this product's description is unavailable

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Product Demos

VMware ESXi 5.1 Install & Configure In Oracle Virtual Box

YouTube
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Features

Server Virtualization

Server virtualization allows multiple operating systems to be run completely independently on a single server

8.7
Avg 8.3
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Product Details

What is VMware ESXi?

A 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.

ESXi is used to:

  • Consolidate hardware for higher capacity utilization.
  • Increase performance for a competitive edge.
  • Streamline IT administration through centralized management.
  • Reduce CapEx and OpEx.
  • Minimize hardware resources needed to run the hypervisor, boosting efficiency.

VMware ESXi Integrations

VMware ESXi Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

A 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.

Reviewers rate Live virtual machine migration highest, with a score of 9.3.

The most common users of VMware ESXi are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(806)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Powerful Tool for Managing VMs: Users consistently praise VMware ESXi as a powerful tool for managing a large number of virtual machines, with easy management of individual VM settings and configurations. Several reviewers have highlighted this aspect, emphasizing how it simplifies their virtualization workflows and enhances overall efficiency.

Cost Reduction Benefits: Many users appreciate the cost reduction benefits offered by VMware ESXi. It minimizes the need for physical servers and reduces storage footprint, resulting in electricity savings. This advantage has been mentioned by a significant number of reviewers, highlighting the financial value that VMware ESXi brings to their organizations.

Support for Various Operating Systems: The support for various operating systems, including Windows and Unix, is considered a significant advantage by users. This feature enables them to host a wide range of applications on VMware ESXi. Multiple reviewers have specifically mentioned this pro, appreciating the flexibility it provides in terms of application deployment and compatibility.

Confusing User Interface: Many users have expressed frustration with the confusing and non-intuitive user interface of VMware ESXi. This has made it challenging for them to perform tasks efficiently, causing unnecessary delays and difficulties in managing their virtual environments.

Stability Issues: Several users have encountered stability issues with VMware ESXi's hypervisor. These issues have resulted in instances of corruption, leading to the need for reinstallations. The instability not only disrupts operations but also poses potential risks to data integrity and system reliability.

High Pricing and Complexity: The pricing of VMware products is often considered a barrier, particularly for smaller businesses. Many users find the deployment process complex and excessive for their needs, requiring significant time and resources to set up properly. This can be overwhelming, especially for organizations with limited IT expertise or budget constraints.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(76-100 of 127)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
January 08, 2020

Industry leading hypervisor - for good reason!

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Engineering
Computer Software Company, 1-10 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Recommending a Type 1 hypervisor for virtualization, you really don't have that many options. If I were forced to recommend one, VMWare ESXi would have to be my primary choice for its rich feature set, wide variety of support and compatibility, and overall industry acceptance. You will be hard pressed to find a software as prevalent as VMWare ESXi in most on-premise servers, and has not only industry but also hobbyist support. VMWare documentation may be a bit lacking in certain areas but community support more than makes up for that.
December 31, 2019

VMware ESXi in the Eyes of An Administrator and End-User

SK
Shawn Karr
IT Infrastructure Engineer
Advanced Pharmacy (Pharmaceuticals, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
I think ESXi is an invaluable tool no matter the industry that a company is in. It is a great tool to allow for the easy creation of servers for development purposes. It also has the ability to use snapshots when changes are being made to a server in the event of failure or misstep. The one drawback to ESXi is that it is expensive and may not be suited to smaller sized companies. While it offers a free version, that version cannot be centrally managed.
December 21, 2019

VMware ESXi is pound-for-pound the best hypervisor in the business

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
ESXi is recommended in most scenarios. VMware has the most robust and scalable virtualization platform *if you are willing to spend the initial cost*. If you are looking for a low-cost hypervisor, Microsoft's Hyper-V may be the way to go. But, ESXi (paid license) outperforms Hyper-V and Citrix Xenserver in just about every arena.
December 17, 2019

VMWare ESXi Brings Stability

Verified User
General Manager in Information Technology
Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 11-50 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMWare ESXi is well suited for consolidating light to medium workload guests. As long as the physical resources are not oversubscribed, the guest OS will work in their respective resource silos. Oversubscribing allows increased density as guest OS(s) utilize their full allocation only a few times. VMotion licensing is quite high and is necessary to seamlessly move VMs between multiple ESXi hosts. Patches to the ESXi require the shutdown of all guest VMs which can be tricky in a production environment.
December 03, 2019

VMware ESXi, still the market leader for a reason.

MW
Michael Ward
Sr Systems Administrator
USI (Insurance, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware is suited for just about any kind of server virtualization nowadays. The only scenario where I am not fully comfortable virtualizing at this point is for HPC environments that have strict NUMA or CPU allocation requirements. And even that scenario is being addressed by VMware and is technically supported today. The product is mature and able to run just about any kind of workload assuming the OS you are running supports being virtualized.
November 26, 2019

Small piece of software with great and strong virtualization skills!

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Entertainment Company, 201-500 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It's one of the best host operating systems I know for virtualization. It can be used from home users up to large-scale companies. There is almost no administrative overhead - install, fire, and forget!
November 25, 2019

VMware ESXi helps you to to cloud

Verified User
Project Manager in Information Technology
Airlines/Aviation Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware ESXi is suited for medium to big organizations. It is the fist step to move to a cloud infrastructure. It is the best cost effective technology towards consolidating resources. It it less appropriate if your organization is involved in development. For that kind of companies it is better to move a cloud solution that offers a framework already thought about developement.
November 20, 2019

The only server virtualization platform that you need

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Insurance Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Great for "old fashioned" companies like us that mostly still use on-premise infrastructure. But on the good side once we decide to move to the cloud, it will also be great to manage cloud infra as well with the hybrid cloud and multi cloud focus nowadays. Really cannot think of data center scenario where VMware would not fit in.
November 18, 2019

Server virtualization done right

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Gambling & Casinos Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware has been the standard for years regarding server virtualization. They are still the best in this field, providing a very solid platform with well-tested features. If you are running your applications on classical servers and have not made the jump to the container space yet, ESXi is a great solution for your needs.
November 15, 2019

ESXi, hypervisor extraordinaire!

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Education Management Company, 201-500 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
ESXi is great when you want your hardware to have more than one purpose. It allows for easy management and helps alleviate repetitive mundane tasks. Sometimes licensing can be a problem depending on the type of licensing model. We have had great luck with VMware and the way it works.
November 12, 2019

VMware has made life simpler

Verified User
Engineer in Sales
Telecommunications Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend

VMware is perfect for Data Center and all Telephony servers where a large number of applications can be installed on a single server reducing the Power consumption, N/w port, IP address per server and even the Ethernet cable used within the data center.

If only a single application to be used then no use of going for VMware as it's license and yearly support renewal adds cost to the server piece.

November 12, 2019

Upgrading to the virtual realm for a mid-sized business

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Information Technology and Services Company, 201-500 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
This software is fantastic when it comes to providing visibility for multiple virtual systems that have been implemented within the infrastructure. The ability to have eyes on multiple virtual servers and their current workload is fantastic, with VMWare ESXi you can verify which server is experiencing a high amount of use and allocate resources from a system that is not being utilized as much to alleviate pressure.
November 06, 2019

Fantastic Virtualization Platform!

IS
Ivan Sytchev
Supervisor, Information Technology
Real Estate Council of Ontario (Non-Profit Organization Management, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
ESXi has been on the market for a long time, and thus has an advantage over its competitors. Even though as of late others have greatly improved their virtualization technologies, VMware is still ahead of others. ESXi is well suited for any size organization, as it can scale very easily and there are lots of compatibility options to make everything work regardless of platform.
October 25, 2019

Best Hypervisor for on prem workloads

TC
Tyler Cook
Server and Cloud Engineer
OnPoint Group (Consumer Services, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are in the business of having a datacenter and purchasing your hardware. VMware is one of the best choices. It's the industry leader for server hardware.

However, if you're new to having servers and don't have a large footprint. Maybe a cloud native solution would be a better choice.
October 22, 2019

After using VMWare for all these years it still feels like magic

Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology
Restaurants Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Luckily since VMWare ESXi itself is free, a small company could definitely take advantage of it, so it works for small to large enterprises. Any company could also stand it up just to do testing if they don't want to set up a production environment, then easily take it to production if they find it suitable.
October 16, 2019

ESXi is a product that I don't see how a business can live without.

Verified User
Director in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware ESXi is well suited in almost every environment. Even the smallest of organizations can benefit from the ease of migration and backup/business continuity that this product allows for. Where it struggles for these small businesses is in the cost model. The redundant hardware and licensing can be cost-prohibitive to a small business. Beyond that, I wouldn't run a business without it if I could scrape up the resources.
September 27, 2019

ESXi -- still the best combination of value and compatibility in hypervisors

PP
Patrick Plaisance
CTO (Chief Technical Officer)
Pachyderm Consulting (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have some legacy server hardware and a tight budget, and want to run non-Windows server OS's, or workstation OS's, ESXi is a snap to set up. Great as a host for Ubuntu VMs for Unifi controllers, NVRs, etc. If hosting Windows server guests, you're better off using Hyper-V that's included with your Windows Server licenses.
August 31, 2019

Good, solid product that saves time and budget.

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Education Management Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
ESXi is great for groups with limited staff or staff that work remotely as 90% of tasks can be done through the GUI. It is also a cost-saver because one robust host can run several virtual machines and cut down on the need to buy multiple expensive physical devices.
July 19, 2019

Not great for the basics

Christian Shaheen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Christian Shaheen
Director Of Special Projects
NCS DataCom, Inc. (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees)
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
VMware ESXi is well suited for any situation involving PCI passthrough and ESXi is generally my go-to then KVM as a backup. ESXi is also one of my top picks for remote desktop services (Horizon) along with Windows Server.

For any situation involving general-purpose VMs, I would recommend steering clear of ESXi. I will preface this by saying I haven't used their vSAN feature and that may have an impact. For me, the difficulty and expense to license ESXi along with the poor resource management and (to a lesser extent) the buggy web interface make it a deal-breaker. There are other better options such as Hyper-V.
July 18, 2019

Small Government Use of VMware ESXi

Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 11-50 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Depending on your size and what type of servers you plan to run, it could be more beneficial to use something else. Again, there are lots of alternatives. They might not be as easy to use or as feature-rich as VMware ESXi, but that might not matter in your case.
June 13, 2019

ESXi fan because it makes my life easier

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 201-500 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I've enjoyed my experience with ESXi, it makes daily tasks easy and allows us to grow quickly when we need to. There is a learning curve so someone coming from a Hyper-V environment might need to study up or take a course to become proficient. It might be overkill for small business not needing the flexibility of ESXi.
April 24, 2019

VMware ESXi saves us money and space in the data center

Verified User
Director in Information Technology
Higher Education Company, 201-500 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
In the data center, VMware enables you to eliminate physical server sprawl, which will reduce the cost of power and reduce some cooling needs. It can create virtual server sprawl if you're not careful. You may find yourself spinning up a new server for every little thing. VMware ESXi provides a lot of features such as storage v motion, VM migration, high availability, update manager, etc.
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