With Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, many enterprises are exploring potential alternatives to VMware vSphere. In particular, both Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform (AECP) and Red Hat OpenShift are considered viable alternatives to VMware. This blog will dive deeper into these two solutions and compare their focuses, features, use cases and advantages as VMware alternatives.

Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform (AECP)

Focus

Arcfra aims to offer a full-stack modern enterprise cloud infrastructure software that streamlines enterprises’ cloud experience. Its main product, Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform (AECP), provides complete IT infrastructure capabilities encompassing compute, storage, networking, security, backup, disaster recovery, and Kubernetes services within a single platform.

Key Features

• KVM-Based Virtualization: Arcfra offers Arcfra Virtualization Engine (AVE), KVM-based virtualization for production environments, equipped with complete compute virtualization and VM life cycle management functionalities.
• Convergence of VM and Container: With Arcfra Kubernetes Engine (AKE), AECP can efficiently integrate virtualization and container resources, enabling unified deployment and management while meeting the needs of various environments.
• Elevated Performance and Efficiency: High-performance storage, virtualization, Kubernetes, and security — all optimized for performance and efficiency.
• Inspired by Cloud, Built for Enterprise IT Needs: Elastic, flexible, and simple. Scalable architecture with easy-to-manage cloud service modules.
• Seamless Migration: Arcfra Migration Tool is an agentless migration tool that allows seamless migration from VMware ESXi to Arcfra Virtualization Engine with minimal downtime.
• Reduced Cost: Save over 50% Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with lower upfront costs and an easy-to-use interface that streamlines operations and enhances efficiency, compared with VMware.

Gartner Recognitions

Gartner®’s recent report, A Guide to Choosing a VMware Alternative in the Wake of Broadcom Acquisition, has identified Arcfra as one of the sample vendors for hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) in replacing VMware. Arcfra is also recognized as a representative vendor of full-stack HCI software in Gartner® 2025 Market Guide for Full-Stack Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software.

Use Cases

Ideal for organizations looking for a straightforward, integrated HCI solution to replace their on-premises VMware infrastructure, emphasizing simplicity, cost efficiency, and a unified management experience. It caters to both traditional virtualized applications and modern containerized workloads.

Red Hat OpenShift

Focus

Red Hat OpenShift is an enterprise-grade container platform built on Kubernetes, extending its capabilities to provide a comprehensive solution for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications. It also includes OpenShift Virtualization, which allows running and managing virtual machines alongside containers on the same platform (built on KubeVirt project).

Key Features

• Container Orchestration: Built on Kubernetes, the leading platform for container orchestration.
• OpenShift Virtualization (based on KubeVirt): Enables running and managing virtual machines within the OpenShift Kubernetes environment, treating VMs as Kubernetes workloads.
• Open-Source: Red Hat emphasizes open-source technologies, and OpenShift is based on open-source components. However, the commercial version of OpenShift includes enterprise enhancements and is subscription-based. It is often considered a modern alternative to VMware for hybrid infrastructure, though pricing depends on deployment scale.
• Hybrid Cloud: Red Hat OpenShift is designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, allowing management of VMs and containers across different infrastructures.

Gartner Recognitions

In Gartner®’s recent report, A Guide to Choosing a VMware Alternative in the Wake of Broadcom Acquisition, Red Hat OpenShift is identified as one of the sample vendors for container management in replacing VMware.

Use Cases

Suitable for organizations looking to modernize their IT infrastructure by adopting containerization and cloud-native architectures while still needing to support existing virtual machines. It’s a strong choice for hybrid cloud strategies and organizations already invested in the Red Hat ecosystem. Please note that some open-source solutions may lack responsive support services offered by commercial vendors.

Comparison

Explore Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform, save over 50% Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared with VMware.