Skip to content
Advscannet24

RMM, endpoints & virtualization

VMware vSphere / ESXi

Enterprise virtualization on the ESXi hypervisor, managed from vCenter.

paiddesktop

Reviewed by Giuseppe Tommaso Curella, Infrastructure & network engineer Updated 2026-11-05

Official site www.vmware.com

Independent reference — this page is a review. VMware vSphere / ESXi is downloaded from the vendor’s official site, not from here.

PlatformsESXi (type-1 hypervisor), vCenter, web client
LicencePaid — proprietary (Broadcom)
PriceCore-based subscription; free ESXi discontinued
SectionRMM, endpoints & virtualization
Updated2026-11-05

What it is

Built on the ESXi hypervisor plus vCenter, it consolidates workloads into VMs and runs clusters with vMotion, HA and DRS for resilient data-centre infrastructure.

Problems it closes

  • Critical workloads need a proven type-1 hypervisor with broad vendor support behind it.
  • VMs have to move between hosts and balance load with no downtime.
  • Many hosts and clusters need central management.

How administrators run it

  • Run ESXi on the hosts and manage them centrally from vCenter.
  • Lean on vMotion, HA and DRS for live migration, failover and load balancing.
  • Hook it into enterprise backup like Veeam.
VMware ESXi host client summary
Screenshot: Wikipedia (fair use, © VMware/Broadcom). Non-free.

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths

  • Mature, widely supported and feature-rich.
  • vMotion, HA and DRS all on hand.
  • Large partner and tooling ecosystem.

Trade-offs

  • Proprietary — Broadcom has moved it to core-based subscriptions.
  • The free ESXi tier is gone.

Common questions

Is there still a free ESXi?

No. The standalone free ESXi edition has been discontinued.

What’s vCenter for?

It’s the central management server that runs multiple ESXi hosts and unlocks vMotion, HA and DRS.

Proxmox VE Open-source server virtualization pairing KVM virtual machines and LXC containers. open sourcedesktop Linux (Debian), bare-metal; web UI (port 8006) Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise backup and replication across virtual, physical and cloud workloads. freemiumdesktop Windows console; protects VMware/Hyper-V/Nutanix/Proxmox, physical servers, cloud, M365 ManageEngine Endpoint Central Unified endpoint management — patching, deployment, MDM — on-prem or cloud. freemiumcloud + desktop On-prem (Windows/Linux) and Cloud; web; manages Windows/macOS/Linux/iOS/Android/ChromeOS