HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software vs Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform
HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software
hpe.com
Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform
kubermatic.comSide by side
| Figure | HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software | Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 2 |
| Spec score · Cloud Automation Software | 8.1 (#7) | 7.9 (#10) |
| Spec score · Multi-Cloud Management Software | 8.1 (#7) | 7.9 (#11) |
| Founded | 2020 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Spring, Texas, United States | Hamburg, Germany |
| Integrations | HPE says the product supports 90+ integrations; its VM Essentials ecosystem includes HVM and VMware vSphere, among other listed integrations. | The vendor lists native support for Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki, and says teams can connect their preferred CI/CD system, Terraform provider, or Ansible playbooks. |
| Security | HPE describes role-based access policies and governance controls for managing access to IT resources. | KKP includes multi-tenancy, role-based access control, cluster authentication and authorization, and policy blueprints and presets. |
| Support | HPE says VM Essentials is backed by its global enterprise support. | Kubermatic Kubernetes Subscription offers upstream Kubernetes support with 24x7 business-critical response and service-level agreements. |
Plans
HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software
- 1-year E-LTUPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 1-year New InstallPriced on request
- 3-year E-LTUPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 3-year New InstallPriced on request
- 5-year E-LTUPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 5-year New InstallPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 1-year RenewalPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 3-year RenewalPriced on request
- Enterprise Software per Socket — 5-year RenewalPriced on request
- VM Essentials$600 a year
Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform
- Community Edition (CE)Free
- Enterprise Edition (EE)Priced on request
In their own words
HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software
HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software manages virtual machines across HPE’s HVM hypervisor and VMware, with provisioning and automation in a governed control plane. It is aimed at lower-cost virtualization and VMware coexistence: guided workflows support moving VMs from VMware to HVM, and both environments can operate side by side during a phased transition. VM features include high availability, live migration within HVM clusters, workload placement, policy-driven provisioning, and external storage support for NFS, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel. Basic scripting covers VM lifecycle tasks, while access controls include user access and VM-level permissions. An MCP server extends automation workflows with AI integration. HPE lists more than 90 integrations, including HVM and VMware vSphere, and describes role-based access policies and governance controls. VM Essentials runs on Linux, web, and self-hosted deployments. The listed VM Essentials plan is $600 a year per CPU socket, including support, with 1-, 3-, or 5-year licensing options; actual end-user price may vary.
Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform
Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform (KKP) automates Kubernetes cluster deployment, scaling, and lifecycle management across hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, on-premises, and edge environments. Its customer-managed control plane can manage thousands of clusters across more than 20 public cloud providers and on-premises environments. Development teams can provision and deploy environments through a self-service portal. KKP supports cluster upgrades and rollbacks, plus an add-on controller for software, configuration, and policy. KubeVirt support brings virtual machines and containerized workloads into one interface. Security controls include multi-tenancy, role-based access, cluster authentication and authorization, and policy blueprints and presets. Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki have native support; teams can also connect CI/CD systems, Terraform providers, or Ansible playbooks. KKP is self-hosted and installed with the Kubermatic Installer, and requires a Kubernetes master cluster. Community Edition costs nothing under Apache License 2.0. Enterprise Edition has no listed price and bills worker-node vCPU and memory on a consumption basis; master cluster nodes are excluded.