| Released | 05/2009 | 07/2010 | 08/2011 | 09/2012 | 09/2013 | 03/2015 | 11/2016 | 04/2018 | 04/2020 | 10/2022 |
| End of Support | 05/2014 | 05/2014 | 08/2016 | 08/2016 | 09/2018 | 03/2020 | 10/2022 | 10/2022 | 04/2025 | 10/2027 |
| End of Technical Guidance | 05/2016 | 05/2016 | 08/2018 | 08/2018 | 09/2020 | 03/2022 | 11/2023 | 11/2023 | 04/2027 | 10/2029 |
| Hypervisor | ESX & ESXi | ESX & ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi | ESXi |
| CPUs per host | 64 | 160 | 160 | 160 | 320 | 480 | 576 | 768 | 768 | 896 |
| RAM per host | 1 TB | 1 TB | 2 TB | 2 TB | 4 TB | 12 TB | 12 TB | 16 TB | 16 TB | 24 TB |
| vCPU per VM | 8 | 8 | 32 | 64 | 64 | 128 | 128 | 128 | 128 | 768 |
| vMEM per VM | 255 GB | 255 GB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 4 TB | 6 TB | 6 TB | 6 TB | 24 TB |
| VMDK Size | 2 TB | 2 TB | 2 TB | 2 TB | 62 TB | 62 TB | 62 TB | 62 TB | 62 TB | 62 TB |
| Cluster Size | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| FT Limit | 1 vCPU
64 GB | 1 vCPU
64 GB | 1 vCPU
64 GB | 1 vCPU
64 GB | 1 vCPU
64 GB | 4 vCPU
64 GB | 4 vCPU
64 GB | 8 vCPU
128 GB | 8 vCPU
128 GB | 8 vCPU
128 GB |
| VM Hardware Version | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14+15 | 17+18+19 | 20 |
| VMFS Version | 3.33 | 3.46 | 5.54 | 5.58 | 5.60 | 5.61 | 5.81 (VMFS5)
6.81 (VMFS6) | 5.81 (VMFS5)
6.82 (VMFS6) | 5.81 (VMFS5)
6.82 (VMFS6) | 5.81 (VMFS5)
6.82 (VMFS6) |
| New Features | Distributed Switch
Update Manager
Fault tolerance
Host Profiles
Storage vMotion
Linked Mode
Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Distributed Power Management
Hot Add VM CPU/Memory
VMDirectPath
VMXNET3 | Boot from SAN
Scripted Installation
Storage I/O Control
DRS Host Affinity
Memory Compression
Array Integration
Network I/O Control | Auto Deploy
Storage DRS
vSphere Storage Appliance
Profile driven storage
vSphere Web Client
vCenter Server Appliance
ESXi Firewall
Virtual NUMA | Single Sign-On
Enhanced vMotion
Sparse Virtual Disks
Single-root I/O Virtualization
vSphere Replication
vSphere Data Protection
vShield Endpoint | vSphere Flash Read Cache
Virtual SAN
Reliable Memory Technology
vSphere Big Data Extensions
vCenter Single Sign-On 2.0
vSphere App HA
40GBps NIC Support | Virtual Volumes
vMotion across vSwitches
Cross vCenter vMotion
Native Linked Mode
Platform Services Controller
Certificate Authority (VMCA)
Content Library | vCenter Migration
vCenter Server High Availability
vCenter Backup and Restore
REST API
Virtual Machine Encryption
Encrypted vMotion
Audit Logging
Proactive HA
HA Orchestrated Restart
Automated UNMAP
vSphere Integrated Containers | Single Reboot Upgrade
Instant Clone
ESXi Quick Boot
Persistent Memory Devices
vCenter Appliance Backup
4k Native Storage
TPM 2.0
vTPM 2.0
Per-VM EVC
vGPU Migration | Tanzu
Trust Authority
Identity federation with ADFS
Lifecycle Manager
vCenter Server Profiles
Improved DRS
vMotion Logic Optimizations
vMotion with Reduced Stun Time
vMotion with Reduced Performance Impact | Distributed Services Engine
Device groups
Device Virtualization Extensions (DVX)
Configuration Profiles
Parallel ESXi remediation
vCenter Recovery
Migration-aware applications
vSAN Express Storage Architecture
Workload Availability zones |
| Management | C# Client | C# Client | C# Client
Web Client | Web Client
C# Client
| Web Client
C# Client
| Web Client
C# Client
| Web Client
HTML Client | Web Client
HTML Client | HTML5 Client | HTML5 Client |
| Authentication Management | N/A | N/A | N/A | Single Sign-On | Single Sign-On 5.5 | Platform Services Controller | Platform Services Controller | Platform Services Controller | Platform Services Controller | Platform Services Controller |
| Backup Strategy | VMware Data Recovery (VDR) | vSphere Data Protection (VDP) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| vMotion Support | Boundary: Datacenter
Shared Storage required
max. 5ms RTT | Boundary: Datacenter
Shared Storage required
max. 10ms RTT | Boundary: Datacenter
max. 10ms RTT | vMotion across vCenters
vMotion across vSwitches
max. 100ms RTT | vMotion across vCenters
vMotion across vSwitches
max. 150ms RTT
|
| Virtual SAN | N/A | N/A | N/A | | VSAN 5.5 | VSAN 6.0
VSAN 6.2 | VSAN 6.5
VSAN 6.6 | vSAN 6.7 | vSAN 7.0 | vSAN 8.0 |
| HA Agent | AAM
Automatic Availability Manager | FDM
Fault Domain Manager |
| vCenter Type | Windows | Windows | Windows
Linux | Windows
Linux | Windows
Linux | Windows
Linux | Windows
Linux | Linux
Windows
| Linux | Linux |
| vCSA Scale (vPostgres) | - | - | 5 Hosts
50 VMs | 5 Hosts
50 VMs | 100 Hosts
3000 VMs | 1000 Hosts
10000 VMs | 2000 Hosts
25000 VMs | 2000 Hosts
35000 VMs | 2500 Hosts
40000 VMs | 2500 Hosts
40000 VMs |
Thanks for the comparison
thanks for the info. Your contribution is much appreciated.
How about adding this please.
Virtual NUMA topology is available to hardware version 8 virtual machines and is enabled by default when the number of virtual CPUs is greater than eight.
Your contribution is much appreciated.
Thank you.
really good information
thanks
Thanks for the such information.
Wow, great chart. Thanks for the work on that!
Thanks.
Very useful info, thanks for sharing. Keep up the good job
Thanks
Thank you so much
Will the vSphere 6.7 column be added soon? :)
Thanks.
Thanks
Nice info
Wow perfect analogy Thanks
Wonderful information!!
Many thanks for your nice efforts
Thank you
Wonderful information!!