We compared VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
VMware Workstation is praised for seamless virtual machine creation and reliability, but lacks feedback on customer service and ROI. In contrast, VMware Fusion offers exceptional customer support, reasonable pricing, and positive ROI. Fusion users also suggest areas for improvement, such as performance enhancements and better customer support.
Features: Valuable features in VMware Workstation include seamless VM creation, efficient resource use, reliable performance, helpful snapshots, and compatibility with different OS. In contrast, VMware Fusion emphasizes seamless integration, powerful VM performance, and extensive operating system support.
Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for VMware Workstation is not specified in the available data. However, for VMware Fusion, users have expressed concerns about the setup cost, as it may require technical expertise., The ROI for VMware Workstation is not provided, while user feedback for VMware Fusion describes a positive and beneficial ROI. Users found value in its ability to run multiple operating systems, improving productivity and cost savings.
Room for Improvement: VMware Workstation has no feedback for improvements, while VMware Fusion needs enhancements in performance, hardware compatibility, user interface, customer support, and software updates based on user feedback.
Deployment and customer support: From the user reviews, it is unclear how long it takes to deploy, set up, or implement VMware Workstation. However, for VMware Fusion, some users took three months for deployment and an extra week for setup, while others only needed a week for both. This suggests the terms deployment and setup may refer to the same period, and evaluating user context is crucial., The customer service for VMware Workstation cannot be assessed due to a lack of information. In contrast, user experiences with VMware Fusion's customer service have been exceptional, with prompt and helpful assistance, knowledgeable staff, and efficient and reliable support.
The summary above is based on 31 interviews we conducted recently with VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"The product is easy to use and has a simple user interface."
"The whole point of it is to run Windows VMs on a Mac. This is the most valuable feature. There is snapshotting, but we don't really use that. The Pro version allows me to actually attach to the Windows ESXi infrastructure at the backend, and I'm able to create a session that I can attach to the VMware hooks at the backend, so one is running a VM, and the whole operating system is running on the actual Mac. The other one is literally a frontend to the VMs that are running in the infrastructure at the backend. These are the two main features I use."
"The most value that it provides is that it is versatile."
"It is a highly stable solution."
"VMware Workstation is easy to manage and understand."
"I appreciate the ease of backup and snapshot creation. The ability to revert to previous versions without losing data is very useful for our team."
"It will not harm any of the computer settings to run a specific program. For example, if a program needs a specific security policy, we don't have to use the shared configuration. We have an individual copy of Windows installed on the virtual machine, so anybody can access that. It helps us a lot."
"VMware Workstation is great for migrating and patching operating systems."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support, you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution."
"I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use."
"I would like to see newer and updated cloud functions."
"VMware Fusion's licensing cost needs improvement."
"The way they handle snapshotting can be improved. One time, I moved a machine from one to another, and I tried to pull it up on the second machine, but it didn't work. This was because I had not cleaned up the snapshot before I deleted it and moved it across. So, when I tried to pull it up, it wouldn't let me bring it up. The backups for the VMs themselves can also be improved. I pretty much have to rely on Windows backups and not something on VMware. That's where it needs improvement. I am able to upload from my Fusion into the ESXi easily. I'm able to spin something up on Fusion and push it into the big arena, but the reverse is not as easy, that is, trying to pull something down from that. I would love to have a functionality where I could pull something from the VMware infrastructure into Fusion, but I'm not sure if I can take something from ESXi and pull it into Fusion."
"Its installation process could be simpler."
"There could be more integration with different tools."
"VMware Workstation uses more resources like CPU and disk space, especially the CPU, which is a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The interface is a little wonky and needs to be improved."
"The solution should provide a guide on its installation."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"It takes too much time to load all the plug-ins and software."
"VMware Workstation has some network limitations which could improve, it is not as flexible as VMware NSX. Additionally, it could support operating systems better. I only run some Linux versions and Windows at the moment but it would be nice to be able to take whatever operating system you want and run it."
"VMware Workstation’s scalability could be improved."
VMware Fusion is ranked 7th in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 5 reviews while VMware Workstation is ranked 2nd in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) with 42 reviews. VMware Fusion is rated 9.0, while VMware Workstation is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of VMware Fusion writes "Robust software with efficient snapshot and cloning features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware Workstation writes "An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players". VMware Fusion is most compared with Parallels Desktop, VMware Player, VMware Horizon View, VMware Horizon and Citrix Workspace, whereas VMware Workstation is most compared with Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, KVM, Proxmox VE and Oracle VM VirtualBox. See our VMware Fusion vs. VMware Workstation report.
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