# VMware vSphere

8 Hacker News commenters recommended VMware vSphere and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for reliable live migration and easy cluster management; critics say Broadcom's licensing has pushed prices up and support has degraded.

## Why people recommend it

- Live migration with minimal downtime (2 comments): "I have done migrations recently from vSphere to vSphere using vMotion and it was easy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48579505)) "live migrating VMs with nonexistent downtime not even missing a single ping" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48938099))
- Reliable and easy to manage (2 comments): "A vSphere cluster (in comparison to say KVM) has been easier to run in my perspective" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48659048)) "vSphere was extremely reliable and easy to manage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600109))
- Considered best in class (2 comments): "vSphere was in a league of its own." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48581161)) "VMware was such a great product (although a bit cumbersome in the VCF environment I managed)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603928))

## What people warn about

- Expensive licensing and price hikes (3 comments): "it's just obscene what they've done, with the price hikes, degraded support, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47721889)) "due to licensing and cost considerations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46150735)) "VMware rapidly gets very expensive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999969))
- Broadcom ownership strategy criticized (3 comments): "I don't think the strategy works long term, and I still think it was shortsighted play to juice #s" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49934115)) "the monster wearing broadcom skin fucking over vmware licensees" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46968502)) "broadcom's behaviour isn't helping" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617506))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Proxmox VE](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proxmox-ve.md): 208 recommend
- [Incus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/incus.md): 90 recommend
- [KVM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kvm.md): 32 recommend
- [bhyve hypervisor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bhyve.md): 17 recommend
- [Sylve](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sylve.md): 17 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "VMware vSphere", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vmware-vsphere/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).