Virtualization has become an inevitable part of the modern IT landscape. No wonder the global virtualization software market is expected to touch $162.75 billion by 2030.
By using virtualization technologies, you can optimize resources, reduce costs, and scale your operations more efficiently.
While VMware has been a leader in the virtualization space, users have started seeking alternatives—and for the right reasons. VMware is expensive and complex to use, and more importantly, its recent acquisition by Broadcom has raised concerns among users.
Source: Reddit
In this article, we have listed the top 5 VMware alternatives for 2025. You can compare your options, choose the right one, and make the most of the cloud.
|
Tool |
Best for |
|
Proxmox VE |
Small to mid‑sized businesses and Linux/Windows admins who want a fully open‑source, cost‑effective virtualization and container platform |
|
Microsoft Hyper‑V |
Organizations deeply invested in Windows Server and Azure, needing seamless Windows integration, and hybrid‑cloud options |
|
Nutanix AHV |
Enterprise teams seeking a license‑free hyperconverged stack with integrated storage, and consistent on‑prem to public‑cloud operations |
|
Red Hat OpenShift |
DevOps and app teams building containerized, microservices‑based workloads with enterprise‑grade Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and multi‑cluster management |
|
XCP‑ng |
Businesses needing a fully open‑source, Xen‑based hypervisor—focused on large‑scale production environments—with optional paid support and community‑driven development. |
VMware is a popular virtualization platform that enables creating and operating multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. With VMware, you can:
Improve your ROI by running isolated VMs on a single server and increasing the average CPU utilization.
Save energy and reduce costs by running more applications on fewer physical servers.
Improve provisioning of apps and resources and optimize ITOps by balancing workloads across the virtual infrastructure.
However, several users face challenges with VMware, including:
The recent acquisition by Broadcom. Users are worried about VMware’s future:
Source: Reddit
Another reason is the expensive licensing. Here’s a user switching from VMware to another virtualization tool because of licensing costs:
Source: Reddit
Users also want to switch as the product is getting more complex to use:
Source: Verified G2 Review
Given the challenges with VMware, looking for alternatives sounds like a smart decision.
Before moving to our list of VMware alternatives, you must understand our criteria for evaluating the options:
Here’s what we considered when evaluating VMware alternatives:
Performance & Scalability Considerations: Ability to scale from a handful of VMs to thousands without performance drop‑offs, using dynamic resource scheduling and distributed storage fabrics.
Ease of Migration: Seamless VM/container import‑export, agentless conversion tools, and minimal downtime to help you easily migrate to better hypervisors.
Cost‑Effectiveness & Licensing Options: Transparent TCO with open‑source or perpetual/subscription models, avoiding surprise core‑based pricing hikes.
Support & Community: Access to vendor SLAs or active open‑source forums, knowledge bases, and peer communities for rapid troubleshooting and best practices.
Here are the top 5 VMware Alternatives for 2025:
Source: Proxmox
Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) is an open-source virtual environment built on a Debian-based Linux kernel. It supports KVM hypervisor for complete virtualization and Linux Containers (LXC) for containers.
This VMware alternative is scalable and can be accessed right from your web browser—there is no need to install a client.
Proxmox VE is an ideal solution for Windows and Linux admins looking for an affordable virtualization solution.
Pros:
Proxmox VE is an open-source software and thus affordable
Great forum and documentation support
Installation is simple, and the platform is easy to use for experienced admins
Cons:
Can be complex if admins lack the right experience
While affordable, performance can be slightly worse than VMware
Some features require command line. So, familiarity with Linux is required
User Reviews:
Source: Verified G2 Review
Source: Verified G2 Review
Microsoft’s Hyper-V is a type 1 hypervisor ideal for individuals seeking a virtualization solution for their Windows-based environment.
Source: Reddit
Hyper-V is known for its strong performance, ease of use, and enterprise features, including Failover Clustering, Windows Admin Center, Server Manager, and more. It dynamically allocates memory resources to VMs based on real-time requirements, optimizing resource utilization.
Other features include live migration, data replication, high cluster availability, and scalability.
Pros:
Cost-effective as compared to VMware
Creating virtual Windows servers and clients is easier than other vendors
Users appreciate dynamic memory allocation
Cons:
Suited for Windows environment only. No support for macOS
The console UI could use some improvement
User Reviews:
Source: Verified TrustRadius Review
Source: Verified TrustRadius Review
Source: Nutanix
Nutanix AHV, or Acropolis Hypervisor, is a bare-metal or Type-1 hypervisor that runs directly on your hardware. It offers you hassle-free virtualization with integrated storage and high availability.
You can manage Nutanix AHV via Nutanix Prism, which is an interface for monitoring and controlling the entire infrastructure.
Nutanix offers a consistent management experience across on-premises, AWS, and Azure environments. This is an excellent advantage as VMware requires a unique management strategy for each environment.
Pros:
Easy deployment and user-friendly
Built-in security is highly affordable
Failover mechanisms enhance data protection
Cons:
Support is not reliable, as reported by some Reddit users
Native Nutanix VMs take up quite a bit of RAM
Possibility of vendor lock-in as migrations are complex
User Reviews:
Source: Verified TrustRadius Review
Source: Verified Gartner Review
Source: G2
Red Hat OpenShift is a cloud-based platform that provides virtualization services. It hosts all infrastructure in the cloud and can be deployed on cloud servers, dedicated servers, or on-premises servers.
OpenShift also works with containers by integrating with Kubernetes, making it suitable for hybrid cloud and DevOps deployment. Some key features include built-in security, data storage failover across multiple disks, automation, and over-the-air updates.
Pros:
Ability to have containerization, virtualization, and AI in a single platform
Support is reliable and the platform is easy to use once set up
It’s highly scalable and allows users to automate CI/CD processes
Cons:
It’s a little complex to set up initially
The UI and UX could use some improvement
User Reviews:
Source: Verified G2 Review
Source: Verified G2 Review
Source: XCP-ng
XCP-ng is an open-source and free hypervisor based on the CentOS distribution of Open vSwitch and Linux. It provides virtualization capabilities and offers the stability, performance, and other capabilities of XenServer without the associated costs.
XCP-ng lets you run Windows, macOS, and even Linux as virtual machines. Its open-source nature makes this solution affordable.
XCP-ng is ideal for small businesses needing an affordable, robust, and scalable server virtualization and cloud infrastructure solution.
Pros:
100% open source and free. Affordable, even if you buy enterprise support
Despite being open-source, XCP-ng is very stable
Taking backups doesn’t feel like a task
Cons:
The Hypervisor GUI could use some improvement
Community is smaller compared to Proxmox, which means fewer tutorials and support
User Reviews:
Source: Verified Gartner Review
There you have it: The top 5 VMware alternatives for 2025.
If you value open-source freedom and predictable costs, consider starting with Proxmox or XCP-ng. And if you’re building modern microservices, OpenShift could be an option.
However, virtualization is only a step towards modern IT. You must integrate an asset management solution to manage physical assets—from purchasing new ones, deploying them, maintaining them, and handling asset retrievals and disposals.
After all, you cannot rely on error-prone spreadsheets that require manual labor hours.
That’s when Workwize enters the picture. Workwize automates your entire IT asset lifecycle—from global procurement and pre‑configured deployment to real‑time tracking, zero‑touch retrieval, and disposal—all in one intuitive dashboard.
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