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VMware ESXi Free vs Harvester: catalog facts
VMware ESXi Free	Harvester
Freemium Free hypervisor edition for small deployments, with paid vSphere licensing for advanced…	Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hardware and support are…
Self-hosted	Linux, Self-hosted
Mature, widely deployed hypervisor used extensively in enterprise environments Free edition available for smaller homelab or small-business use	Runs virtual machines and containers on the same cluster and the same storage
Free edition lacks the centralized management features found in licensed vSphere Requires dedicated hardware to install, as it runs directly on bare metal	Installs on bare metal only and expects at least three nodes for a production cluster
Downloadable app	Self-hosted, Operating system
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.