VMware Workstation, VMware Player and VMware Server seem like redundant products. However there are quite a few destinctions, which are quite apparent from their names already.

VMware Workstation is intended for "desktop use", for a user who creates and edits Virtual Machines and uses them on his/hers desktop. It has features useful for product development that no other VMware product has such as integration with MS Visual Studio or VM teams, where the network between virtual machines in the team can be specified, including bandwidth and packet loss. VMware Workstation usually gets the new virtual hardware releases first and supports the widest guest OS range. It is optimized for interactive use and has some Direct3D capabilities (DirectX 8.1). Workstation is not free. More information: http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/new.html

VMware Player is a stripped-down version of workstation, so it offers the same virtual hardware as Workstation. However, it is intended only for "playing" or running virtual machines that someone else has made and provides no means for editing them. Manual edits to the virtual machine setting file (.vmx) is possible. Player is a free product. More information: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/features.html

VMware Server is meant for creating and editing virtual machines and running server-like loads. It is optimized for IO rather than interactive use on the local terminal. Server usually provides older or same generation of virtual hardware than Workstation or Player. Server is a free product. More information: http://www.vmware.com/products/server/features.html

VMware Server cannot be installed at the same time with Workstation/Player. This is most likely due to conflicting, different kernel modules and cannot be circumvented.

Note that even if this article says that the intended use is something, this does not mean that the product could not be used for something else. Just don't expect Player to be a good Server.

Feature comparison

Feature/Product	Workstation	Player	Server 1.x	Server 2.x
Intended use	Desktop use, test environments, Q&A, product development	Run VMs made elsewhere	Host production VMs	Host production VMs
Edit VM settings?	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Max RAM / VM	8GB	8GB	3.6GB	8GB
VSMP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Snapshots	Multiple, branchable, linked clone	No	Single	Single
USB 2.0	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
3D acceleration	DirectX 9 with Shader Model 2.0	DirectX 9 with Shader Model 2.0	No	No
Other	-Integrates MS Visual Studio/Eclipse -Allows definition of properties of the virtual networks within VM teams - Record/replay functionality -Unity mode - Shared folders	- Editing of .vmx settings by hand possible - Unity mode - Shared folders
Cost	$189	Free