We’ve created a list of the top VMware management tools. Compiling data from both G2 and Capterra and scoring each VMware management software based on a unique formula, we offer you a comprehensive guide to address your specific pain point and business needs.
💻 Manage your whole VMware infrastructure with NinjaOne.
Table of Contents
What is VM management software?
Virtualization technology, such as virtual machines (VM), enables businesses to become more agile and maximize hardware utilization. By allowing multiple operating systems and applications to run on a single physical server, virtualization reduces the need for additional hardware, leading to improved cost savings and scalability. However, it’s worth noting that while virtualization enhances flexibility – businesses have reported a 50% improvement in operational efficiency, according to G2 statistics – virtualization alone does not directly minimize downtime or guarantee data security. Additional strategies and tools are required to address these critical aspects of IT infrastructure management.
One of the leading virtualization providers, VMware, and its flagship VMware vSphere platform allows organizations to create and manage VMs to optimize hardware efficiency, enhance security, and reduce operational costs. VMware also allows users to virtualize network and storage and streamlines deployment and management, offering organizations enhanced flexibility and resilience.
To keep VMware environments running smoothly and ensure the overall health and security of VMs and networks, admins need to employ VMware monitoring tools to track host resource utilization, VM health, and identify and remediate issues or security threats.
A word on comparing the best VMware management tools
Finding and effectively implementing your best VMware management tool can significantly enhance the performance and reliability of VMware infrastructures, enabling businesses to maximize their use of virtualization technology.
To find the best VMware management tools, you must first assess your specific needs and challenges. Consider factors such as the size and complexity of your virtual environment and any specific features you require, such as automation capabilities or deploying and tracking OS and third-party application security updates to prevent cyberattacks. Free trials or demos can provide valuable insights into how each tool performs in real-world scenarios.
Best VMWare Management Tools for Admins
All G2 & Capterra ratings data as of October 2024.
1. NinjaOne
NinjaOne, an endpoint management company trusted by 17,000+ clients worldwide, offers VMware management software that allows you to easily and seamlessly monitor and manage your whole VMware infrastructure. With the platform, you can:
- Monitor and manage host machines and get alerts and logs to anticipate possible issues
- Gain 360-degree view of your IT environment, from endpoint devices to network infrastructure
- Deploy and track OS and third-party application security updates to prevent cyberattacks
- Monitor all endpoint parameters without the need to log on to each machine.
Because the tool is built into its endpoint management solution, you receive an all-in-one tool that automates the hardest parts of IT and allows you to experience radical efficiency from day one. With NinjaOne, your technicians can better support all your virtual infrastructure, including hosts and guests. In addition, you are supported by a proactive and knowledgeable support team that is healthily obsessed with your success. Thousands of customers have ranked NinjaOne a market-leading CSAT (customer satisfaction score) of 98, with an average first-response time of under 30 minutes.
This significantly impacts your bottom line: Now, you can get rid of known vulnerabilities and keep track of patches on both VMware hosts and guest VMs, but you receive prompt and tailored IT support.
Customer story
Wyatt Hansen, VP of Information Technology Services at LeaderOne Financial, says that NinjaOne reduced the time each IT analyst needed for manual tasks by 15%, eliminated three legacy tools, and contributed 30% savings on software costs.
“We consolidated our antivirus, backup, and remote tool into NinjaOne, which enhanced our overall IT capabilities,” said Hansen. “With NinjaOne, we spend 50% less time finding and remediating end-user issues than with our previous tool.”
Read more NinjaOne customer stories.
Reduce downtime and streamline IT operations for your VMware with NinjaOne.
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NinjaOne reviews on G2
| Category | NinjaOne Rating |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (1,441) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.6 |
| Quality of support | 9.3 |
| Ease of Admin | 9.3 |
| Ease of Use | 9.2 |
No. of 2024 G2 awards: 9
NinjaOne reviews on Capterra
| Category | NinjaOne Rating |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (232) |
| Ease of Use | 4.7 |
| Customer Support | 4.8 |
| Functionality | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.7 |
2. New Relic
New Relic offers various observability solutions to help IT teams and engineers plan, build, deploy, and run efficient software. Its unified data platform records and monitors telemetry data, including metrics, events, logs, and traces, on one secure cloud.
New Relic’s VMware vSphere monitoring integration is a tool for understanding the health and performance of your vSphere environment. The integration helps you query data to gain insights into the performance of your hypervisors, virtual machines, and more. Additionally, you can easily move from high-level views to the most granular data.
Use cases
- Monitor multiple vSphere instances using the same account
- Collect data on snapshots, VMs, resource pools, clusters, and datastores, including tags
- Set alerts based on any metric collected from vCenter
Shortcomings
- The tool has a steep learning curve and may be better suited for more experienced IT personnel
- Recommended for larger organizations with a more flexible budget
- Documentation could be improved
New Relic reviews on G2
| Category | New Relic Rating |
| Overall | 4.3 out of 5 (45) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 8.4 |
| Quality of support | 8.4 |
| Ease of Admin | 8.4 |
| Ease of Use | 8.2 |
No. of 2024 G2 awards: 9
New Relic reviews on Capterra
| Category | New Relic Rating |
| Overall | 4.5 out of 5 (180) |
| Ease of Use | 4.2 |
| Customer Service | 4.2 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.0 |
3. Quest Foglight
Quest Foglight offers a broad and deep monitoring and optimization solution for hybrid enterprises. It provides performance monitoring and deep diagnostic capabilities across servers, databases, virtual machines, containers, and cloud offerings. Foglight helps IT teams overcome the dual challenges of diverse technical infrastructures and limited expertise in multiple database and virtualization platforms.
For databases, Foglight allows you to proactively improve database performance and increase visibility by monitoring all your diverse databases in a single-pane environment.
Use cases
- Single monitoring and diagnostic platform for hybrid database environments
- Proactive problem detection
- Reusable alarm templates
Shortcomings
- Steep learning curve
- Customization of features and functions could be improved
- Limited troubleshooting options
Quest Foglight reviews on G2
| Category | Quest Foglight Rating |
| Overall | 4.0 out of 5(47) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 8.5 |
| Quality of support | 8.5 |
| Ease of Admin | 7.7 |
| Ease of Use | 7.8 |
No. of 2024 G2 awards: 0
Quest Foglight reviews on Capterra
| Category | Quest Foglight Rating |
| Overall | 4.4 out of 5(3) |
| Ease of Use | 4.3 |
| Customer Support | 5.0 |
| Functionality | 4.3 |
| Value for Money | 4.1 |
4. ManageEngine OpManager
ManageEngine OpManager is an integrated network management solution that offers VMware monitoring. It offers real-time reporting of virtual servers and their associated physical hosts and can monitor critical VMware metrics like CPU usage, memory utilization, and network performance.
Its virtual machine monitoring tool helps you monitor VMware ESX/ESXi servers, HyperV, Xen servers, and related guest virtual machines. With out-of-the-box reports and the option to set thresholds, users can efficiently monitor their VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Citrix Xen host in real-time.
Use cases
- Automatically discovers, maps, and monitors all the VMs in a host
- Identify virtual machines running low on resources
- Centralized view of critical metrics
Shortcomings
- Integrations with third-party solutions require additional configuration and technical support
- Moderate learning curve
- G2 users have stated that device templates could be improved
See how ManageEngine compares with NinjaOne.
ManageEngine OpManager reviews on G2
| Category | ManageEngine OpManager Rating |
| Overall | 4.5 out of 5 (116) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.0 |
| Quality of support | 8.8 |
| Ease of Admin | 9.2 |
| Ease of Use | 8.8 |
No. of 2024 G2 awards: 9
ManageEngine OpManager reviews on Capterra
| Category |
ManageEngine OpManager Rating |
| Overall | 4.6 out of 5 (116) |
| Ease of Use | 4.6 |
| Customer Support | 4.5 |
| Functionality | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.6 |
5. Red Hat Virtualization
Red Hat Virtualization (RHV), formerly known as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, is an enterprise-grade virtualization platform that allows you to migrate your VMs to a modern platform without interrupting workflows. Backed by comprehensive tooling and partner integrations, RHV’s open-source foundation ensures continuity and ingenuity, making it recommended for even smaller organizations.
Red Hat Virtualization enables IT pros to modernize VM-based apps and infrastructure in a centralized dashboard. Its platform provides a unified environment for VMs, containers, and serverless apps while maintaining operational consistency and control over your environment.
Use cases
- Centralized dashboard.
- Several integrations for storage and networking, backup and disaster recovery, and hardware infrastructure
- Easy migration
Shortcomings
- According to some G2 users, implementing into a cloud environment may be complex
- Steep learning curve
- Integrating into a Windows AD domain environment can be tricky
Red Hat Virtualization reviews on G2
| Category | Red Hat Virtualization Rating |
| Overall | 4.1 out of 5 (14) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 7.6 |
| Quality of support | 8.2 |
| Ease of Admin | 8.1 |
| Ease of Use | 8.0 |
No. of 2024 G2 awards: 0
Red Hat Virtualization reviews on Capterra
| Category |
Red Hat Virtualization Rating |
| Overall | 4.5 out of 5 (2) |
| Ease of Use | 3.5 |
| Customer Support | 4.0 |
| Functionality | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.5 |
Comparison of best VMware management tools (G2)
| Category | NinjaOne | New Relic | Quest Foglight | ManageEngine OpManager | Red Hat Virtualization |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (1,441) | 4.3 out of 5 (451) | 4.0 out of 5 (47) | 4.5 out of 5 (116) | 4.1 out of 5 (14) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.6 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 9.1 | 7.6 |
| Quality of support | 9.3 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 8.2 |
| Ease of Admin | 9.3 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 9.2 | 8.1 |
| Ease of Use | 9.2 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| No of G2 awards | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
Comparison of best VMware management tools (Capterra)
| Category | NinjaOne | New Relic | Quest Foglight | ManageEngine OpManager | Red Hat Virtualization |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (232) | 4.5 out of 5 (180) | 4.3 out of 5 (3) | 4.6 out of 5 (116) | 4.5 out of 5 (2) |
| Ease of Use | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 3.5 |
| Customer Support | 4.8 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Functionality | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
Final scores and summaries of VMWare Management Tools
| Vendor | Final Score | Summary |
| NinjaOne | 4.846 | NinjaOne is a comprehensive IT management solution with robust capabilities for managing VMware environments. |
| New Relic | 2.712 | New Relic’s tool, while robust, is more suitable for larger organizations with more experienced IT professionals. |
| ManageEngine
OpManager |
1.933 | ManageEngine OpManager is a network management solution that can monitor VMware virtual servers and their associated physical hosts. |
| Quest Foglight | 0.619 | Foglight is an all-in-one monitoring software that provides deep diagnostic capabilities across virtual machines and databases. |
| Red Hat Virtualization | 0.5701 | Red Hat Virtualization is a robust tool that allows you to create, migrate, and deploy your virtual machine workloads. |
Our rankings formula
To derive the final score for each vendor, we employed a weighted formula that takes into account various metrics. Here’s how it breaks down:
Final Score = w1 * G2 Overall Star Rating + w2 * Capterra Overall Star Rating + w3 * G2 Total Number of Reviews (Scaled) + w4 * Capterra Total Number of Reviews (Scaled) + w5 * G2 Total Number of Awards
Where:
W1 = .25 * G2 score
W2 = .25 * Capterra score
W3 = .2 * Number of G2 reviews
W4 = .2 * Number of Capterra reviews
W5 = .1 * Number of G2 awards
The best VMware management tool
NinjaOne VMware Management Software is built into its robust endpoint management tool, allowing you to easily monitor and manage your VMs, along with your Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints, in a single pane of glass, while receiving real-time alerts and logs so you can anticipate possible issues, deploy software and patches, and much more!
If you’re ready, request a free quote, sign up for a 14-day free trial, or watch a demo.
