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vSphere vs Parallels Desktop for Mac : Which is a better fit?

Updated on February 9th, 2025
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Summary
Features in Virtualization
6
Best performer
43
  • Data Migration
  • Namespace Management
  • Server Monitoring
2
43
  • Virtual Machine Encryption
User satisfaction
4.7
User reviews430
Ease of use
4.4
Functionality
4.6
Value for money
4.2
Customer support
4.3
4.4
User reviews144
Ease of use
4.5
Functionality
4.5
Value for money
4.3
Customer support
4.0
Price starts from
/user
Yearly subscription
Free version
Free trial
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Not provided by vendor
Free version
Free trial
Best for

Cloud-based data virtualization platform that helps manage and install virtual machines through hypervisor.

Not provided by vendor

User reviews
pros & cons
1 / 4
View Reviews
1 / 4
View Reviews
Video reviews
video-184c5bc5-c182-4e54-c4c5-08d994eeebe0
Evan G
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
5.0

Evan: Hi, my name is Evan. I'm a cloud engineer. I'm reviewing VMware vSphere, I would rate it a five out of five. And for more reviews like this click below. So before VMware vSphere, we used a lot of Redhat OpenStack, and OpenStack was a lot more difficult to manage because professional support isn't widely available. Whereas, VMware support is just a phone call away. So we chose VMware vSphere for its wide community support. The licensing cost was good when we purchased multiple products from VMware. There's a great monitoring capability. There's just the ability to see your entire environment from a single pane of glass. And it was cost-effective for us. It was very easy to get started with VMware vSphere. There's a number of labs available directly from VMware, so if you don't really understand the product there's a lot of hands-on labs that will teach you the product. So I found it very easy. If I were to recommend VMware vSphere to someone looking to purchase the product, I would say that they should consider all of the available products from VMware, other than just vSphere. There's a number of monitoring, logging and visibility applications that you can purchase. It could be expensive to purchase VMware vSphere on its own but if you look at the total package, you might see that there's a tremendous amount of value.

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video-8864d848-a686-4088-790b-08d9dc70fd1f
Joe M
President and Board Member
5.0

Joe: Hi, my name is Joe. I am an independent music producer and I give Parallels Remote Desktop a five out of five. And for more reviews like this, just click below. I used an awful lot of products, including Splashtop, and actually even tried the Windows Remote Desktop and Remote PC. All of them were a bit more wonky than Parallels, and Parallels won me over. I chose Parallels because it worked very seamlessly. In the music industry, there are two conflicting worlds, which are Mac and PC, and it really helps to work together. And it feels to me when I'm working with a colleague, that we're literally working on the same computer together. The setup of Parallels was just really simple. I downloaded it, paid for it, and I was up and running. It was great. If you work in a dual world like Mac and PC, like I do, I can't think of a better software than Parallels. It just makes your life really simple.

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User interface
93512 video thumbnail}
1 Video
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1 Video
93512
2 screenshots
No screenshots provided by vendor

vSphere

Top Features
6/43
  • Access Controls/Permissions
  • Active Directory Integration
  • Activity Dashboard
  • Alerts/Escalation
  • API
  • Application Access Control
  • Archiving & Retention
  • Automatic Backup
  • Backup and Recovery
  • Capacity Management
  • Compliance Management
  • Data Storage Management
  • Data Visualization
  • Desktop/Application Virtualization
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Event Logs
  • File Management
  • File Transfer
  • HIPAA Compliant
  • Load Balancing
  • Performance Monitoring
  • Real-Time Monitoring
  • Real-Time Reporting
  • Remote Access/Control
  • Remote Monitoring & Management
  • Remote Update/Installation
  • Reporting/Analytics
  • Role-Based Permissions
  • Secure Data Storage
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management
  • Single Sign On
  • Third-Party Integrations
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Virtual Machine Encryption
  • Virtual Machine Provisioning
  • Virtual Machine Snapshots
  • Visual Analytics
  • Configuration Management
  • Data Migration
  • Namespace Management
  • Server Monitoring
  • Version Control
  • Virtual Machine Monitoring
See All features
Hide Virtualization Software Features -

Parallels Desktop for Mac

2/43
Show Virtualization Software Features +

vSphere

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Parallels Desktop for Mac

  • Best Value Virtualization
    Software (2022)
vSphere
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Parallels Desktop for Mac
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
vSphere
  • By VMware
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 1989
Parallels Desktop for Mac
  • By Alludo
  • Located in Canada
  • Founded in 1999
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