Nearly every conversation about VMware pricing these days starts the same way. A quote arrives, there’s frustration, and suddenly there’s a rush project to look at alternatives.
Here’s why. In November 2023, Broadcom bought VMware for $69 billion. The following year, it rewrote almost every rule of how VMware is sold. Perpetual licenses are gone. The catalog shrank from roughly 8,000 products to a handful of subscription bundles. Broadcom cut most of its resellers and now sells directly to its biggest accounts. It also briefly killed the free version of ESXi, then quietly brought it back with strings attached, and you now have to buy at least 72 CPU cores’ worth of licensing per order.
The pushback has created quite a stir. AT&T sued Broadcom in August 2024 over what it called a 1,050% price hike. Tesco filed a similar case in the UK High Court in September 2025. A group of European cloud providers has asked the EU courts to reverse the acquisition outright. And customers of every size are quietly building plans to move to Proxmox, Hyper-V, Nutanix, and other VMware alternatives.
Let’s walk through what changed month by month under Broadcom, what VMware actually costs now, which products you can still buy, what the real per-core math looks like, and which alternatives can genuinely replace VMware.
Every Major Broadcom-VMware Event Since November 2023
- Nov 22, 2023 — Broadcom closes $69B acquisition of VMware after US, EU, UK, and China clearance.
- Dec 11, 2023 — End of perpetual licensing announced. ~8,000 SKUs collapsed into VCF, VVF, and two compute-only SKUs.
- Dec 28, 2023 — Broadcom notifies channel that VMware Partner Connect is being terminated.
- Feb 5, 2024 — Partner Connect officially ceases. Broadcom moves top ~2,000 accounts to direct sales. Smaller partners must reapply via invitation.
- Feb 13, 2024 — Free ESXi hypervisor terminated (marked End of General Availability).
- Mar 2024 — CISPE files EU antitrust complaint alleging 800–1,500% price hikes for European CSPs.
- May 2024 — Broadcom offers “white-label” workaround letting smaller CSPs resell via authorized primary partners.
- Aug 29, 2024 — AT&T sues Broadcom over support-renewal option Broadcom refused to honor; alleges 1,050% price increase in replacement quote.
- Nov 2024 — AT&T–Broadcom settle confidentially. Broadcom launches vSphere Enterprise Plus as new per-core subscription tier. Essentials Plus Kit discontinued.
- Mar 21, 2025 — VMware sues Siemens in the US District of Delaware for copyright infringement over unlicensed product listings in a renewal request.
- Apr 10, 2025 — 72-core-per-order minimum enforced. 16-core-per-CPU rule still applies (pay the higher). 20% late-renewal surcharge enforced.
- Apr 14, 2025 — Free ESXi quietly reinstated in ESXi 8.0 Update 3e (no vCenter management, 8-vCPU cap per VM).
- Jul 24, 2025 — CISPE files suit in EU General Court seeking annulment of the Commission’s original merger clearance.
- Sep 2025 — Tesco files UK High Court lawsuit against Broadcom over refused honor of long-term VMware agreements.
- Oct 31, 2025 — VCSP white-label program officially sunset outside the EEA. VCSP replaced by invite-only model (~19 US providers retained).
- Nov 2025 → Jan 2026 — Fidelity Investments files breach-of-contract suit. Settles before hearing in January 2026.
- Dec 2025 — VMware sues Allstate in the Northern District of California over an obstructed licensing audit.
- Jan 31, 2026 — Broadcom issues March 2026 migration deadline for remaining EEA white-label VMware CSPs.
VMware Pricing After Broadcom: What Actually Changed?
Before Broadcom took over, VMware sold licenses the traditional way. You paid once per CPU, added a support contract for roughly 20% of the license price each year, and could keep using the software.
There were four main tiers of vSphere (Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, and an Essentials Plus Kit for small businesses), plus hundreds of add-ons (Site Recovery Manager for disaster recovery, NSX for networking, vSAN for storage, Aria for management, Horizon for virtual desktops, and dozens more).
Broadcom rebuilt all of that in the first year after closing the deal. Three big changes drive everything else.
1. Perpetual licenses went away
On December 11, 2023, VMware announced it would only sell subscriptions going forward. The old catalog of roughly 8,000 individual products was collapsed into two flagship bundles. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF, the full private-cloud stack) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF, a lighter version), plus a couple of compute-only options. If you already owned perpetual licenses, they still work, but Broadcom won’t sell you new ones, and once your support contract ends, you stop getting security updates.
2. Licensing shifted from per-CPU to per-core.
Under the old model, one license covered one physical CPU no matter how many cores it had. Now you pay per core, and Broadcom enforces two minimums: at least 16 cores per CPU, and as of April 10, 2025, at least 72 cores per order. You pay for whichever number is bigger. A small business with two 8-core CPUs (16 real cores) can end up buying 72 cores of licensing anyway.
3. Renewal terms got stricter
Miss your renewal date by even a few days, and Broadcom adds a 20% surcharge. Support fees have climbed from the old 20–25% of license value to 25–30%, and Broadcom now pushes hard for 3- and 5-year prepaid commitments up front.
What Are the Only VMware SKUs You Can Still Buy?
Four subscription bundles remain in the catalog, plus the limited-feature free ESXi build reintroduced in April 2025.
vSphere Standard
Compute-only, roughly $50 per core per year. Includes basic HA, vMotion, and vCenter Standard. Aimed at small deployments that don’t need Enterprise Plus features.
Broadcom has not been actively promoting this SKU. One licensing consultancy claims it was discontinued in July 2025, but it is still visible in most 2026 partner catalogs, so treat availability as reseller-dependent.
vSphere Enterprise Plus
Compute-only, per-core subscription (list price not publicly disclosed by Broadcom). Adds DRS, Storage DRS, Distributed Switch, host profiles, and vGPU support. Broadcom introduced Enterprise Plus as a new per-core subscription tier in November 2024 (see the Broadcom Solution Product Description). This effectively backfilled the gap after Essentials Plus Kit was killed.
VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF)
Publicly reported estimates for VMware vSphere Foundation vary considerably, but a rough estimate is around $135–$190 per core per year. It bundles vSphere Enterprise Plus with Aria Suite Standard, Tanzu Kubernetes runtime, and up to 0.25 TiB per core of included vSAN capacity. Vmware is positioning it as the “single-site private cloud” pack for organizations that don’t need NSX or full HCX.
VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
It costs roughly $350 per core per year (down from an initial $700/core list floated shortly after the acquisition). VMware Cloud Foundation combines VMware’s virtualization, software-defined storage, networking, management, and automation capabilities.
It includes 1 TiB of raw vSAN capacity per licensed core. VMware Live Recovery is an advanced service licensed separately. Broadcom’s flagship “private-cloud stack” and where all of their public marketing energy sits in 2026.
What Happened to Essentials Plus, Standalone vSAN, and Standalone NSX?
Essentials Plus Kit was discontinued in late 2024 and is no longer available for new purchase. Standalone vSAN and standalone NSX were quietly removed from the catalog when the VVF and VCF bundles launched. vSAN capacity expansions and NSX are now only orderable inside a VVF or VCF entitlement.
VMware’s disaster-recovery portfolio is now offered under VMware Live Recovery. It is licensed separately from the core VMware Cloud Foundation subscription, and pricing depends on the services and protected workload capacity purchased.
How Much Does VMware Cost Per Core?
How does the per-core math work?
The rough formula is: (SKU list price per core per year) × (greater of physical cores licensed at 16-core-per-CPU minimum, or 72) × (term length in years) × (1 + support and add-on uplift).
Support uplift will be an additional line item. Add-ons include extra vSAN capacity, NSX advanced features, Live Recovery beyond VCF’s included volume, Aria premium tiers, and Tanzu Kubernetes Operations. These routinely add another 20–40% before you sign.
A concrete example: three hosts, each with 2 CPUs × 16 cores = 96 cores. On VVF at $150 per core per year, the headline is $14,400 per year.
Add 25% support uplift and any add-ons, and the real quote lands closer to $18,000–$22,000 per year. Prepay a three-year term, and you’re writing a $54,000–$66,000 check up front.
Which minimum actually costs you: 16 cores per CPU vs 72-core-per-order?
Both. On every order, Broadcom compares (physical cores rounded up to 16 per CPU) to 72, and you pay for the higher number.
If you have two 8-core CPUs, the 16-core-per-CPU rule inflates you to 32 licensed cores. The 72-core order floor then inflates you further to 72 licensed cores. You’ve just paid for 40 cores you cannot use.
If you have a hundred-node cluster with 32-core CPUs, your real core count dwarfs the 72-core floor and the per-CPU rule dominates. Small and edge estates get hit hardest by the 72-core minimum. This is precisely where the math often flips in Proxmox’s or Hyper-V’s favor purely on the wasted-cores tax alone.
What add-ons does Broadcom leave out of the headline price?
- vSAN capacity overage, which is billed above the 0.25 TiB/core included in VVF and 1 TiB/core included in VCF.
- NSX advanced features, such as Distributed Firewall, Advanced Load Balancer, and NSX Intelligence.
- VMware Live Recovery (formerly SRM) protected-VM volume above the VCF-included allotment.
- Aria Operations for Networks and Aria Automation premium tiers.
- Tanzu Kubernetes Operations subscription.
- Third-party integrations formerly bundled (Skyline analytics, select Carbon Black modules).
Actual quotes may exceed a basic core-based estimate when customers require additional vSAN capacity, advanced networking or recovery services, professional services or enhanced support. Request a line-item quote before comparing VMware with alternative platforms.
What Does VMware Actually Cost?
Here are three worked examples using publicly reported list prices. Keep in mind, your actual quote will vary with negotiated discount, region, add-ons, and how much Broadcom wants your logo.
Scenario 1 — Small business, 3-host cluster (formerly on Essentials Plus)
Configuration: 3 hosts × 2 CPUs × 16 cores = 96 licensed cores.
- vSphere Standard: 96 × $50/core/yr = $4,800/yr. With assumed 25% support: ~$6,000/yr. Three-year prepay: ~$18,000.
- VVF: 96 × $150/core/yr = $14,400/yr. With assumed support: ~$18,000/yr. Three-year prepay: ~$54,000.
Compare to Essentials Plus Kit, which used to be a one-time perpetual purchase of roughly $5,596 renewed at ~$1,300/yr. A like-for-like SMB now spends 10x to 30x their old annual outlay. One of many reasons the SMB segment has driven the largest wave of Proxmox and Hyper-V migrations.
Scenario 2 — Mid-market, 10-host cluster
Configuration: 10 hosts × 2 CPUs × 24 cores = 480 licensed cores.
- VVF: 480 × $150/core/yr = $72,000/yr. With assumed support: ~$90,000/yr. Three-year prepay: ~$270,000.
- VCF: 480 × $350/core/yr = $168,000/yr. With assumed support: ~$210,000/yr. Three-year prepay: ~$630,000.
The widely-cited mid-market benchmark tracks these figures: Software Pricing Guide’s post-Broadcom shock analysis documents 10-host customers previously paying about $40,000/yr for perpetual + support routinely landing at $200,000–$270,000/yr on Broadcom’s bundle terms.
VendorBenchmark’s 2026 pricing benchmark pegs a 5-host / 160-core cluster at $30,400–$40,000/yr on VCF list. A 4–8x jump from the $5,000–$10,000/yr those clusters ran on perpetual + SnS pre-Broadcom.
Scenario 3 — Enterprise, 50-host estate
Configuration: 50 hosts × 2 CPUs × 32 cores = 3,200 licensed cores.
- VCF: 3,200 × $350/core/yr = $1.12M/yr. With assumed 30% support: ~$1.46M/yr. Three-year prepay: ~$4.36M.
Trilio’s published analysis of comparable 2,000-core enterprise migrations shows jumps from roughly $500K/yr on perpetual + support to ~$1.5M/yr on Broadcom’s new bundle terms. A 3x uplift that has become the default renewal outcome for enterprises without leverage.
What Hidden Costs Should You Watch For?
The 20% late-renewal penalty
Since April 10, 2025, any VMware subscription renewed after the term-end date carries a 20% surcharge, on top of whatever headline uplift Broadcom applies at renewal.
Support uplift and multi-year commitments
Standard support attach went from 20–25% of license value pre-Broadcom to 25–30% today. Broadcom favors 3- and 5-year prepay commitments. A 5-year VMware support attach can total 125–150% of the underlying license value over the term.
Partner ecosystem collapse
Broadcom substantially reduced and restructured VMware’s partner ecosystem. Before the acquisition, VMware reported more than 4,500 active cloud, hyperscaler, and managed-service-provider partners. Broadcom later moved VMware partners into invitation-based reseller and cloud-provider programs and drastically reduced the number of authorized participants.
Cloud Service Providers took the hardest hit: the VCSP program was officially sunset outside the EEA on October 31, 2025, and the EEA white-label workaround has a March 2026 wind-down. If you bought VMware through a small MSP or CSP, you’ve probably already received a letter to be moved directly onto Broadcom (or you’re looking to be migrated to a different platform in your next renewal cycle).
The downstream consequences: worse discount depth (fewer partners means less price competition), longer procurement cycles, and smaller MSPs proactively steering their clients toward VMware alternatives.
Are There Any Good VMware Alternatives in 2026?
Yes, several. Each replaces a different mix of what VMware bundled, so the right pick depends on your workload profile and what capabilities you need to keep.
Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure Local
Hyper-V is a Type-1 hypervisor bundled with Windows Server. The Datacenter edition unlocks unlimited Windows VM guests per host. The standalone free “Hyper-V Server” SKU is discontinued, but Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI) provides a modern on-prem/hybrid stack for roughly $10 per physical core per month with native Azure integration.
One independent five-year TCO model estimated that Hyper-V could cost approximately 48% to 70% less than VMware Cloud Foundation in modeled Windows-heavy environments.
Windows-first estates, teams comfortable with PowerShell and Active Directory, and organizations already committed to Azure for hybrid or DR.
Proxmox VE
Open-source (AGPLv3), Debian-based, KVM + LXC, and is free to run in production. Optional enterprise support subscriptions start around €110 per CPU socket per year (Community ~€105, Standard ~€440, Premium ~€1,100). Ships with clustering, HA, live migration, Ceph software-defined storage, and Proxmox Backup Server at no cost. Proxmox Datacenter Manager (PDM) now handles multi-cluster ops without a vCenter-equivalent central appliance.
Cost-driven mid-market and SMB estates, Linux-first workloads, organizations willing to trade a formal enterprise sales motion for the lowest possible licensing bill.
Nutanix AHV
KVM-based hypervisor bundled with the Nutanix Cloud Platform (no separate hypervisor line item). Sold per node/core in Starter, Pro, and Ultimate editions. Feature parity closed substantially in 2025–2026: live migration, Flow microsegmentation, NearSync DR, and NKE Kubernetes are all mature.
Organizations willing to standardize on Nutanix HCI hardware, teams that want a single-vendor stack with formal enterprise support.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt)
Runs VMs as Kubernetes pods on OpenShift, included in the OpenShift subscription (per-core). Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) automates VMware imports. Red Hat Summit 2026 featured production case studies from Telenet Business and NASA JPL.
Organizations already modernizing to containers and looking to consolidate VM and container platforms under one control plane.
Scale Computing HyperCore
HCI appliance and software with self-healing SDS. Tiered pricing is around $249–$312 per core per year. Named CRN’s #1 edge vendor. Actively running “Rip & Replace” (25% discount) and “Seamless Switch” promos, including a program to replace VMware on existing Dell VxRail hardware.
Distributed and edge environments, retail and manufacturing, SMB clusters that need turnkey HCI without a datacenter team.
XCP-ng (Vates)
Open-source Xen-based Type-1 fork. Free, with commercial Vates Pro/Enterprise support running roughly €340–€1,020 per node per year, including the Xen Orchestra management appliance. Features XenMotion live migration, HA, continuous replication, and XOSTOR SDS. Best fit: mid-market Linux estates, organizations with existing Xen skill sets, environments where full-source auditability matters.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM)
KVM-based management platform derived from oVirt. Free with Oracle Linux, commercial support via Oracle Linux Premier. Best fit: Oracle Database and Exadata-centric estates. Beware Oracle licensing entanglement risk in mixed environments.
Public cloud (AWS EVS, Azure VMware Solution, GCVE)
VMware Cloud on AWS is now sold exclusively via Broadcom. AWS stopped reselling VMware Cloud on April 30, 2024. AWS’s newer Amazon Elastic VMware Service (EVS) lets you run customer-managed VCF in a VPC on your own Broadcom licensing (BYOL). Azure VMware Solution and Google Cloud VMware Engine bundle VMware licensing into the host price. Note: EVS, AVS, and GCVE all leave you in a Broadcom licensing relationship — they are not true Broadcom exits.
Alternatives at a glance
| Platform | Cost model (2026) | Feature parity with VMware | Migration effort | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyper-V / Azure Local | $10/core/mo (Azure Local); Windows Server Datacenter for on-prem | High for Windows workloads; native Azure hybrid | Low–Medium | Windows-first estates already paying Microsoft |
| Proxmox VE | Free; enterprise support ~€110–€1,100/socket/yr | High (compute/HA/live migration); no NSX equivalent | Medium | Cost-driven SMB and mid-market, Linux-heavy shops |
| Nutanix AHV | Per node/core; Starter/Pro/Ultimate | High (2025–2026 feature-parity push) | Medium–High (HCI hardware refresh) | Enterprises wanting a single-vendor HCI stack |
| OpenShift Virtualization | Included in OpenShift subscription (per-core) | High for VM+container consolidation; gaps in DR/backup | High | Container-modernizing orgs |
| Scale Computing HyperCore | $249–$312/core/yr | Medium–High for edge/SMB workloads | Low (turnkey HCI) | Edge, retail, manufacturing, SMB |
| XCP-ng (Vates) | Free; Vates support ~€340–€1,020/node/yr | Medium–High; strong for VM basics | Medium | Mid-market Linux estates |
| AWS EVS / AVS / GCVE | Hyperscaler host pricing + Broadcom licensing | Full VMware stack in cloud | Medium (rehost) | Cloud-consolidation strategies (not a Broadcom exit) |
Should You Migrate, Negotiate, or Stay?
A rough decision framework for the renewal on your desk right now:
- Renewal quote is 3x or more of prior spend, and workload isn’t NSX/vSAN-locked? Migrate. The ROI window is usually under 24 months.
- Renewal quote is 1.5x to 2x? Negotiate hard with a credible migration plan in your back pocket. Broadcom now offers meaningful discounts to accounts that produce a live Proxmox or Hyper-V RFP.
- Renewal is less than 1.5x, workload is deeply NSX or SRM/Live Recovery integrated, and you have less than 12 months to plan? Stay for one more cycle, but start migration planning now. Broadcom’s pricing trajectory doesn’t appear to be stabilizing.
How Do I Calculate My Real VMware TCO?
The fastest way to price your specific environment and see what you’d save by moving to Hyper-V is Summit’s Hyper-V Licensing Calculator. Plug in your node count and cores per host.
The calculator returns side-by-side annual license costs and a projected savings figure using current list prices. Combine that output with the worked scenarios above to sanity-check whatever Broadcom quote is on your desk.
How Does Summit Help You Exit VMware?
Summit is a US-based managed infrastructure provider with 22 data centers across six continents and a flat-fee, platform-agnostic pricing model. We offer two managed VMware alternatives, and you can run either or both under a single Summit private-cloud contract:
- Proxmox Private Cloud — the lowest licensing cost, open-source flexibility, and a great fit for Linux-first estates and cost-driven SMB and mid-market environments.
- Hyper-V Private Cloud — tightest Microsoft integration, easiest path if you already own Windows Server Datacenter licensing, and native Azure hybridization for DR and cloud bursting.
Free migration is available for qualifying environments. Ready to see what you’d save? Start with the VMware vs. Hyper-V Licensing Calculator, then talk to a Summit engineer about which VMware Alternative may be right for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are my existing perpetual VMware licenses still valid?
Yes. Perpetual keys you already own continue to work indefinitely. However, Broadcom no longer sells new perpetual licenses and does not provide security patches or product updates on perpetual entitlements once support lapses. Most organizations bridge with third-party independent support or migrate.
Can I still buy vSphere Essentials Plus in 2026?
No. Essentials Plus Kit was discontinued in late 2024. Broadcom’s positioning is that former Essentials Plus buyers should move to vSphere Enterprise Plus per-core, VVF, or a competing platform.
What is the actual minimum number of cores I have to license?
The greater of: (a) 16 cores per physical CPU, or (b) 72 cores per order, effective April 10, 2025. You pay for whichever number is higher on a given transaction.
Is the free ESXi hypervisor back?
Yes, in limited form. Broadcom quietly revived a free build of ESXi in ESXi 8.0 Update 3e in April 2025, but it cannot be managed by vCenter and caps VMs at 8 vCPUs. It’s fine for a lab. It’s not a production platform.
Who are the largest VMware customers publicly fighting Broadcom?
AT&T sued in August 2024 and settled confidentially in November 2024. Tesco filed in the UK High Court in September 2025. Fidelity sued in November 2025 and settled in January 2026. VMware itself sued Siemens (March 2025) and Allstate (December 2025) over disputed audits. CISPE, representing European cloud providers, filed with the EU General Court in July 2025 seeking to annul the merger clearance.
What’s the cheapest VMware SKU I can legally buy in 2026?
vSphere Standard at approximately $50 per core per year, subject to the 16-core-per-CPU and 72-core-per-order minimums. Availability is reseller-dependent as of mid-2026 and some Broadcom partners no longer stock it.
Can I still buy VMware through my old reseller or MSP?
Probably not. Cloud Service Providers were hit hardest, with the VCSP program largely sunset outside the EEA. Most SMB and mid-market buyers now transact directly with Broadcom or through a Pinnacle partner.