# VMware vSphere alternatives: what AI models name instead, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. 188 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where VMware vSphere holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-vsphere/alternatives

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Proxmox VE: 79
- Nutanix AHV: 35
- Microsoft Hyper-V: 13
- Hyper-V: 5
- KVM: 2
- Microsoft Hyper-V / Azure Local: 2

## Server virtualization platforms

**Small business**: 73 of 84 answers did not name VMware vSphere (VMware vSphere is #6 of 9 at 4%).

- Proxmox VE: first choice in 53 of those 73
- Microsoft Hyper-V: first choice in 5 of those 73
- Hyper-V: first choice in 4 of those 73
- Nutanix AHV: first choice in 2 of those 73
- Scale Computing HC3: first choice in 2 of those 73
- XCP-ng: first choice in 2 of those 73
- Microsoft Hyper-V with Windows Server Failover Clustering: first choice in 1 of those 73
- Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V: first choice in 1 of those 73

**Mid-market**: 63 of 84 answers did not name VMware vSphere (VMware vSphere is #4 of 12 at 6%).

- Proxmox VE: first choice in 22 of those 63
- Nutanix AHV: first choice in 13 of those 63
- KVM: first choice in 2 of those 63
- Microsoft Hyper-V: first choice in 2 of those 63
- Microsoft Hyper-V / Azure Local: first choice in 2 of those 63
- Hyper-V: first choice in 1 of those 63
- Microsoft Hyper-V / Azure Stack HCI: first choice in 1 of those 63
- Microsoft Hyper-V with Windows Server and System Center: first choice in 1 of those 63

**Enterprise**: 52 of 84 answers did not name VMware vSphere (VMware vSphere is #2 of 10 at 30%).

- Nutanix AHV: first choice in 20 of those 52
- Microsoft Hyper-V: first choice in 6 of those 52
- Proxmox VE: first choice in 4 of those 52
- Microsoft Hyper-V with Azure Stack HCI: first choice in 1 of those 52
- Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization: first choice in 1 of those 52
- VMware Cloud Foundation: first choice in 1 of those 52

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.