KVM is installed on top of an operating system (Ubuntu, Debian, SuSE, etc) and includes one/more pieces of software that start automatically and run in the background (daemons).
ESXi is a combination of an Operating System and the hypervisor. When you install ESXi, you are in fact laying down a new Operating System which includes all of the software needed to run virtualization (includng many daemons that make the system available all the time) .
ESXi is the daemon
in VMware ESXi, there are many daemons.
KVM is installed on top of an operating system (Ubuntu, Debian, SuSE, etc) and includes one/more pieces of software that start automatically and run in the background (daemons).
ESXi is a combination of an Operating System and the hypervisor. When you install ESXi, you are in fact laying down a new Operating System which includes all of the software needed to run virtualization (includng many daemons that make the system available all the time) .