As businesses continue to evolve and scale, the need for efficient, cost-effective IT infrastructure becomes more critical. While VMware has long been a dominant player in the virtualization market, many organizations are now actively seeking VMware alternatives. High costs, increasing complexity, and restrictive licensing agreements are driving this search, with companies looking for solutions that not only reduce expenses but also simplify the management of their infrastructure.
The quest for alternatives to VMware stems from common pain points: steep licensing fees, a complex and sometimes cumbersome user experience, and the need for costly expert resources to maintain and optimize VMware environments. Businesses are now focusing on solutions that streamline operations, offer flexibility, and provide better value—without the operational overhead and licensing headaches that VMware often brings.
In their search for VMware alternatives, organizations are finding platforms like Scale Computing that prioritize simplicity, automation, and affordability while maintaining the reliability and performance needed for modern IT environments.
Many businesses are now considering the benefits of switching from VMware to Scale Computing, as they seek to reduce complexity, lower costs, and enhance efficiency. Scale Computing Platform offers a robust alternative designed to eliminate the challenges associated with VMware while delivering a simplified, cost-effective infrastructure solution.
Replace VMware with Scale Computing and benefit by making the switch.
Scale Computing uses a simple, all-inclusive pricing model, which removes the need for expensive, multi-tiered VMware licensing fees. This transparent approach significantly reduces costs and eliminates the need to manage complex contracts and licenses.
Unlike VMware, which often requires multiple tools and extensive expertise, Scale Computing provides an intuitive interface that simplifies infrastructure management. This simplicity extends to ongoing management, with features like automated backups, resource allocation, and scaling. With features like automation and self-healing, IT teams spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on strategic initiatives.
By consolidating infrastructure and automating routine tasks, Scale Computing minimizes the need for specialized VMware expertise and reduces ongoing operational expenses. This translates into lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and greater long-term savings.
Scale Computing’s platform includes integrated data protection and disaster recovery features without additional licenses for VMware’s higher tiers or third-party tools, simplifying business continuity planning and reducing associated costs.
Businesses need infrastructure solutions that can adapt to their changing needs. SC//Platform excels in this area, offering seamless scalability options that are straightforward to implement. Organizations can easily add nodes to expand their virtualization and storage resources, ensuring they can grow without disruption.
VMware does provide scalability, but the process can be more complex and time-consuming. Additionally, VMware's scaling may require substantial investments in hardware, while Scale Computing's scale-out approach allows organizations to incrementally increase capacity as needed.
SC//HyperCore monitors and optimizes system performance through built-in automation and self-healing technology, ensuring workloads are distributed efficiently across resources, minimizing downtime, and maximizing processing power. SC//Fleet Manager enhances this by providing centralized performance monitoring and control for multiple clusters across different sites. It enables real-time visibility into key metrics like resource utilization, system health, and workload efficiency, making it easier to identify performance bottlenecks and proactively manage infrastructure at scale. Together, these tools deliver faster response times, better resource allocation, and streamlined infrastructure management.
Ensuring high availability and business resilience is paramount in today's always-on business environment. SC//Platform is designed with built-in high availability and resilience features. It utilizes a distributed file system and automatic failover capabilities to minimize downtime during hardware failures. Even small organizations with limited IT resources can enjoy enterprise-level reliability.
VMware offers similar high-availability features but often requires additional configurations and investments to achieve the same level of resilience. The simplicity and out-of-the-box high availability of SC//Platform give it an edge.
While VMware is often overbuilt for smaller or edge environments, Scale Computing offers a more flexible solution tailored to both data center and edge use cases, allowing businesses to deploy resources where they’re needed most, without unnecessary complexity.
Switching from VMware to Scale Computing helps organizations simplify their IT infrastructure, lower costs, and streamline operations, all while delivering the reliability and performance they demand.
With Scale Computing, organizations benefit from a unified, all-in-one platform that integrates virtualization, storage, disaster recovery, and automated management, all at a significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO). In comparing Scale Computing vs VMware, SC//Platform stands out by offering a simplified solution. Unlike VMware's complex infrastructure, which often requires multiple tools and expensive licensing tiers, Scale Computing simplifies everything into a single, easy-to-manage platform. This streamlined approach reduces infrastructure complexity, eliminates the need for costly integration, and minimizes operational overhead.
When it comes to performance, Scale Computing, a leading VMware competitor, delivers high efficiency without the heavy resource overhead that VMware’s systems often demand. Its lightweight design ensures optimized workload management, leading to better performance and less resource consumption.
Additionally, Scale Computing offers superior scalability, making it an adaptable solution for businesses of all sizes. Whether managing a small edge deployment or scaling across multiple sites, SC//Platform provides the flexibility to grow without the complexity or cost escalation typically associated with VMware.
VMware | Scale Computing | |
---|---|---|
Licensing / Subscription |
VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
VMware vSphere Essentials Plus Kit (VVEP)
VMware vSphere Standard (VVS) VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF)
| SC//HyperCore license SC//Fleet Manager license (optional) |
Hypervisor | vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) | Scale Computing HyperCore (KVM-based) |
General Management | vCenter Server runs as a separate Linux VM/Server per site in the environment | SC//HyperCore built-in web-based / REST API management from any node in the system, optionally connect to SC//Fleet Manager for global centralized management |
Storage Management | vSAN, datastores / NFS / Block (iSCSI/other) to manage | Scale Computing Reliable Independent Block Engine (SCRIBE) - Treats all storage in the cluster as a single logical pool for management and scalability purposes. No external storage to manage, no shares / targets / LUNs to create or maintain |
AIOps | N/A | Autonomous Infrastructure Management Engine (AIME) - Handles day-to-day administrative tasks and maintenance automatically, monitors the system for security, hardware, and software errors, and remediates those errors where possible |
Upgrade Management | vSphere OS / ESXi Hypervisor patching; requires HCL validation, vCenter interoperability, node “maintenance mode” | Unified, full stack updates with integrated pre-flight update checking |
In Guest tools | VMware Tools | SC// Guest Tools (Virtio) |
High Availability | Requires HA Configuration | Multi-node SC//HyperCore clusters handle automatic failover of VMs, including storage redundancy |
Support | Tiered by severity: Basic, Production, Premier, Success, Select, or Per Incident which determine support team availability and response time | One level: 24x7x365 |
In the new VMware/Broadcom reality, organizations everywhere face waves of uncertainty with escalating costs, forced VMware migrations, and unpredictable changes. Don’t let your IT strategy be held hostage by pricing and product instability. Switch to Scale Computing for a future-proof solution that eliminates the chaos and complexity.
The Switch to Scale Computing VMware Rip & Replace promotion includes:
Don’t risk your infrastructure on VMware’s uncertainty.
For organizations looking to reduce VMware complexity, Scale Computing offers a powerful VMware replacement solution that simplifies infrastructure management. By integrating storage, computing, and management into a single platform, Scale Computing eliminates many of the challenges businesses face when using VMware, such as multi-tiered licensing, complex management tools, and high operational overhead.
One of the key benefits of switching to Scale Computing is its ability to streamline operations. With VMware, IT teams often juggle multiple interfaces and tools to manage virtualization, storage, and disaster recovery. This leads to increased complexity, requiring specialized knowledge and constant attention. Scale Computing, on the other hand, provides a VMware replacement solution with a unified interface that simplifies day-to-day management. Its automated systems and self-healing technology reduce the need for manual intervention, allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic tasks.
Managing VMware’s complex licensing structure can be a challenge in itself. As businesses grow, they often need to upgrade to higher, more expensive tiers just to access essential features. Scale Computing’s licensing model is simple and transparent, with all features included in a single platform. There’s no need to worry about navigating complicated licensing agreements or paying extra for capabilities like disaster recovery or advanced virtualization tools.
With Scale Computing, there are no complex licensing requirements. Unlike VMware, which has multiple tiers and add-ons, SC//Platform provides a single, all-inclusive solution. You won't need to track or upgrade licenses to access the tools you need, leading to both cost and time savings.
SC//Platform is an all-in-one solution that integrates storage, computing, and management into a single platform. This eliminates the need for separate vendors or management consoles, drastically reducing complexity. Whether it's managing virtual machines, handling storage, or maintaining disaster recovery capabilities, everything is controlled through one unified system. This approach not only simplifies IT management but also reduces the risk of compatibility issues and integration failures.
By switching to Scale Computing, businesses can replace VMware with a more intuitive, efficient, and cost-effective platform, drastically reducing infrastructure complexity.
For growing organizations, Scale Computing offers a powerful, cost-effective VMware replacement that simplifies infrastructure while reducing total cost of ownership (TCO). By eliminating VMware’s complex licensing structure, hardware dependencies, and operational overhead, Scale Computing enables organizations to scale more efficiently without hidden costs or expensive upgrades.
When comparing TCO between VMware and Scale Computing, significant cost savings can be seen across multiple areas:
VMware environments often require separate systems for storage, virtualization, and networking, leading to higher hardware costs. In contrast, Scale Computing’s all-in-one platform integrates these components, reducing the need for additional hardware by as much as 50%.
VMware often requires extensive and expensive training for IT staff to manage and maintain its complex environment, with some businesses reporting training costs of $4,500 per employee per year to stay current with VMware certifications and updates. This cost can quickly escalate, especially in larger organizations with multiple IT personnel.
In contrast, Scale Computing is designed to be intuitive and easy to manage, even for IT teams with minimal experience in complex virtual environments. The ease of use allows existing staff to become proficient in managing the system quickly, reducing the dependency on external consultants or certified experts. This not only reduces costs but also accelerates the time to value, as your team can immediately begin benefiting from the platform without extensive downtime for training.
Managing a VMware environment often requires specialized IT resources and time-intensive manual tasks. Scale Computing automates many of these processes, reducing operational management time by as much as 75%, which translates directly into lower staffing and support costs.
Scale Computing’s architecture, with features like built-in high availability, automatic failover, and self-healing technology, ensures that critical systems remain operational even during hardware failures or maintenance windows.
VMware’s tiered licensing structure (vSphere Standard, Essentials, Foundation) often leads to hidden fees as businesses grow and require more advanced features. With Scale Computing, all features—such as virtualization, disaster recovery, and automation—are included in a single, upfront license, eliminating the need for costly upgrades and additional purchases. This transparent pricing structure makes budgeting simpler and prevents cost surprises down the line.
With SC//Platform, organizations no longer need to over-provision their infrastructure to accommodate future growth. Unlike VMware, which often requires businesses to purchase excess hardware and licenses in advance to handle potential demand, Scale Computing’s architecture allows organizations to scale resources incrementally as needed. This allows organizations to start with the capacity they need immediately and expand resources only as required, avoiding unnecessary upfront investments.
Gain precise financial insights and explore the strategic advantages of the Scale Computing Platform.
As organizations search for the best VMware replacement solution, performance is a critical factor. Scale Computing provides an optimized platform that delivers superior performance across storage, computing, and network management, making it an ideal VMware replacement solution for businesses looking to streamline their IT infrastructure while maintaining high levels of efficiency and reliability.
One of Scale Computing's key advantages is its highly efficient storage architecture. Unlike VMware, which often requires complex configurations and third-party integrations to manage storage, SC//Platform uses integrated Scale Computing Reliable Independent Block Engine (SCRIB technology to optimize data storage and access. This technology ensures faster read/write speeds, significantly reducing latency and improving application performance. Scale’s built-in storage capabilities also eliminate the need for separate storage networks, reducing complexity while boosting performance.
SC//Platform leverages the artificial intelligence of Autonomous Infrastructure Management Engine (AIME), a powerful tool that drives automation and optimization of IT management and efficiency throughout the platform. AIME continuously monitors system performance and workload distribution, making intelligent decisions to rebalance resources in real-time. AIME’s automation ensures that systems run at peak performance with minimal manual intervention, reducing downtime and improving the overall user experience. This optimized resource allocation results in faster application performance, better utilization of computing power, and reduced latency across networks and storage systems. This means more applications can run on fewer resources, significantly improving operational efficiency and lowering costs.
By contrast, VMware’s complex architecture often requires manual tuning and often creates resource bottlenecks, leading to higher overhead and resource inefficiencies that can slow down system performance.
Networking in a virtualized environment can often be a bottleneck for performance. Scale Computing solves this issue by integrating network management into its platform, allowing faster data transfer and optimized network paths. This built-in network intelligence helps reduce latency and enhances performance across the entire infrastructure, providing a seamless experience for applications and end-users.
Ensuring high availability and resilience is paramount in today's always-on business environment. SC//Platform is designed with built-in high availability and resilience features. It utilizes a distributed file system and automatic failover capabilities to minimize downtime during hardware failures. Even small organizations with limited IT resources can enjoy enterprise-level reliability.
Data protection and disaster recovery are critical considerations for any business. SC//Platform incorporates integrated backup and disaster recovery solutions as part of its hyperconverged infrastructure. This approach provides a seamless and cost-effective way to safeguard your data and applications.
In contrast, VMware often requires additional third-party backup and recovery solutions, which can add complexity and cost to the virtualization environment. The integrated backup and recovery capabilities of Scale Computing reduce the need for multiple vendors, streamlining the management of data protection.
VMware offers similar high-availability features but often requires additional configurations and investments to achieve the same level of resilience. The simplicity and out-of-the-box high availability of SC//Platform give it an edge.
Although internal benchmarks consistently show Scale Computing outperforming VMware regarding resource efficiency and reduced overhead, third-party reviews offer further validation. Industry analysts and customers have reported significant improvements in performance after switching from VMware to Scale Computing, particularly in edge deployments and environments with high-demand workloads.
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In addition to its performance benefits, Scale Computing’s integrated platform simplifies IT management by removing the need for separate storage, networking, and virtualization management systems. With its optimized use of resources, reduced overhead, and faster processing capabilities, Scale Computing is the best VMware vSphere alternative for businesses looking to enhance their infrastructure’s performance while lowering costs.
Scale Computing's focus on customer satisfaction and support is another area where it shines as a VMware competitor. The company is known for its exceptional customer service, with a dedicated support team readily available to address customer concerns and provide assistance.
In contrast, VMware's support options can be complex and costly, and many customers have reported challenges in obtaining timely and effective support. Scale Computing's commitment to customer satisfaction enhances its attractiveness as a more customer-centric alternative to move from VMware.
Scale Computing specializes in IT infrastructure solutions, including edge, hyperconverged, and virtualization. Hear Jeff Ready discuss how Scale Computing is transforming itself for the future and the trends partners should keep in mind.
Our clients rely on V-TAB to be a creative partner that can offer a quality, but speedy service. For this reason, we needed a solution that was simple to navigate and gave us improved high availability and redundancy. Something we weren’t getting from our previous technology.
V-TAB replaced its aging VMware solution with Scale Computing HyperCore to improve IT infrastructure and reduce management costs. The deployment of SC//HyperCore across two production sites in Sweden provides high availability, simplified management, and cost savings.
Migrating from VMware to Scale Computing can significantly simplify infrastructure management, reduce operational overhead, and cut costs. This guide outlines the key steps to ensure a smooth transition from VMware to Scale Computing.
Inventory Current Environment: Identify all VMs, applications, storage configurations, and networking setups within your VMware environment. Understand dependencies and critical workloads that require minimal downtime during migration.
Evaluate Workload Requirements: Analyze the resource needs of each workload (CPU, memory, storage) to ensure they can be effectively migrated to SC//Platform.
Set Migration Goals: Define the expected benefits, such as reduced licensing costs, improved performance, and easier management. Establish timelines for migration, including testing and validation phases.
Lift and Shift: This strategy involves moving VMs directly from VMware to Scale Computing with minimal changes. It's the fastest method but may require minor post-migration optimizations to fully leverage Scale’s capabilities.
Replatforming: This may involve reconfiguring some VMs and applications.
Hybrid Deployment: Gradually migrate workloads by running VMware and Scale Computing in parallel. This approach ensures that critical services stay operational during the transition.
Deploy the Scale Cluster: Install and configure SC//HyperCore to ensure it’s ready for migration. SC//Fleet Manager can be used to provision clusters efficiently across locations, enabling quick setup.
Configure Networking and Storage: Migrate your networking setup, ensuring that IP addresses, subnets, VLANs, and storage pools are correctly configured.
Back up VMware VMs: Before migrating, ensure all VMs are backed up in case any issues arise during the transition.
Export VMs from VMware: Use VMware’s export feature to package VMs into formats compatible with Scale Computing, such as OVF (Open Virtualization Format) or VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk).
Import VMs to Scale Computing: Using Scale Computing’s migration tools, import VMs and begin the migration process. If needed, adjust resource allocations (CPU, RAM) to optimize performance on SC//HyperCore.
Test VM Functionality: After each migration, ensure that applications and services are running as expected. Test critical features like failover, disaster recovery, and performance under load.
Monitor and Adjust: Monitor your migrated environment for performance, system health, and resource utilization.SC//Fleet Manager simplifies ongoing management and allows centralized monitoring and control across multiple sites.
Train IT Teams: Ensure your IT team is fully trained on using Scale Computing’s management tools, including the intuitive console, Fleet Manager, and ZTP.
Document Changes: Record all migration steps, configurations, and optimizations for future reference, especially as your environment scales.
By following this migration guide, your organization can successfully transition from VMware to Scale Computing, benefiting from a simpler, more cost-effective infrastructure platform.
Scale Computing’s Support and Services teams offer hands-on assistance during migration, helping organizations plan, execute, and optimize their move to SC//Platform. This comprehensive support ensures minimal disruption and faster deployment, allowing organizations to quickly realize the benefits of simplified infrastructure.
For additional technical details and support, schedule a personalized 1:1 demo.
In this video, Scale Computing's Director of Solutions Architects, Mike O'Neil, talks through the many options available for successfully migrating to SC//Platform.
One of the top alternatives to VMware is Scale Computing. It offers a simplified, all-in-one platform for virtualization, storage, and management, reducing the complexity and high licensing fees typically associated with VMware. Scale Computing's integrated approach makes it a strong choice for businesses looking for a more efficient and cost-effective solution.
Scale Computing simplifies infrastructure management compared to VMware by consolidating storage, compute, and disaster recovery into a single platform. Unlike VMware, which requires multiple tools and higher licensing tiers, SC//Platform includes built-in automation, self-healing, and easier management features, making it more intuitive and requiring less IT expertise for day-to-day operations.
Yes, Scale Computing is a highly cost-effective replacement for VMware. It eliminates complex licensing models, reducing direct costs, and simplifies infrastructure management, which cuts operational expenses. Many businesses, including large retailers, have seen up to 50% savings in licensing and a 75% reduction in time spent managing IT after switching to SC//Platform.
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