Virtualization · Microsoft
Hyper-V
Microsoft's built-in hypervisor, included with Windows Server. Runs multiple isolated VMs on a single physical host.
Hyper-V is Microsoft's hypervisor. It ships as a role in Windows Server and provides the same core virtualization capabilities as VMware vSphere — running multiple virtual machines on a single physical host, with live migration, failover clustering, and replication.
For organizations in the Microsoft ecosystem, Hyper-V is the natural on-premises virtualization platform. Licensing is included in Windows Server Datacenter edition, management integrates with familiar Microsoft tooling, and failover clustering provides high availability without additional licensing cost.
Capabilities that matter: live migration (move running VMs between hosts without downtime), Windows Server Failover Clustering for HA, and Hyper-V Replica for basic VM replication to a secondary site or Azure.
Where it fits vs. VMware: Hyper-V is the rational choice for Microsoft-first organizations that don't need VMware's advanced capabilities — vSAN, NSX, distributed resource scheduling. For environments running primarily Windows workloads with standard HA requirements, Hyper-V provides comparable core functionality at significantly lower licensing cost.
With the Broadcom/VMware pricing changes, Hyper-V has become an increasingly compelling migration target for organizations looking to exit the VMware cost model.