VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) is an enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisor developed by VMware for deploying and serving virtual computers

Most small businesses don't require a full enterprise installation of vSphere and usually decide on the VMware vSphere Essentials Kit or the free lifetime version on vSphere.

VMware vSphere Essentials Kits are for small businesses and combine virtualization for up to three physical servers with centralized management using VMware vCenter Server® for Essentials™. The cost is around $500 with an additional $65 for a required 1 year support agreement. With it, you receive a fully functioning version of ESXi for 3 hosts.

On the other hand, the free license of vSphere can be extremely compelling if you aren't visualizing many servers. However, you must decide if its limitations will be an issue.

• Only one host

• Limited amount of processors(8) per VM

• No support

• Closed API