The main VMware alternatives for a small or mid-size business in 2026 are Microsoft Hyper-V (included with Windows Server), Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, XCP-ng, and moving some or all servers to Azure or AWS. Which one fits depends on how many hosts you run, what your backup software supports, and what your IT people already know. For a typical office with one to three hosts and mostly Windows servers, Hyper-V or Proxmox is usually the shortest path. Staying on VMware can still make sense if your renewal quote is reasonable and you lock in the price for several years.
Why are so many owners asking this now? Since Broadcom bought VMware in November 2023, it ended perpetual licenses, moved everything to per-core subscriptions sold in bundles, cut many resellers, and briefly killed the free ESXi hypervisor. Below are the real stories from IT staff who opened those renewal quotes, what the courts and regulators have been told, an honest comparison of the alternatives, a step by step migration plan, and a checklist to use before you sign a renewal.
A $5,000 support bill that became a $30,000 quote
In March 2024 an IT manager at what he called a "small/micro shop" posted on the Spiceworks community forum (opens in a new tab). His company ran three ESXi hosts. A couple of years earlier it had bought new perpetual licenses for vSphere Essentials Plus and vSAN Standard, and it paid its reseller about $5,000 a year for support. His term did not end until the end of the year, but he asked for an early quote so his accounting team could budget.
The answer floored him. He wrote: "According to CDW's VMware people we would need to move to Foundation, and annually we would be on the hook for $30k." Because he used vSAN, the reseller said he needed a bigger bundle.
Other members had seen the same thing. One replied that his firm was moving many of its clients from VMware to Hyper-V "after they get up off the floor" from their renewal quotes. Another put it bluntly: "VMware for SMB/SME (small customers) is essentially dead (or a very poor value proposition at this point)." A few weeks later, the original poster said he was testing Proxmox with Ceph storage on three old servers and liked it so far. His biggest open question was backups, because his Veeam setup was built around vCenter.
What Broadcom changed, in plain terms
Perpetual licenses ended and subscriptions took over
In December 2023, a few weeks after the deal closed, Broadcom stopped selling VMware perpetual licenses and support contracts for them. The Register (opens in a new tab) described it as "The immediate cessation of perpetual license sales." The product list shrank to two main bundles, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and vSphere Foundation (VVF), with vSphere Standard and Essentials Plus kept for smaller needs at the time. Krish Prasad, who ran the division, said: "This shift is the natural next step in our multi-year strategy."
A perpetual license meant you owned the version you bought and paid yearly only for support. A subscription is rent: when it lapses, you must stop using the software. One Spiceworks member wrote (opens in a new tab) in December 2025 that his company's "annualized cost tripled" after that switch.
Pricing moved to cores, with minimums
Subscriptions are priced per physical CPU core. Broadcom's own knowledge base (opens in a new tab) says: "You must license a minimum of 16 physical cores for each CPU (physical processor)" even if the chip has fewer. In March 2025, The Register (opens in a new tab) reported an email from distributor Arrow saying the smallest order would rise from 16 to 72 cores from April 10, so a server with one eight-core processor would pay for 72 cores. Arrow's email also claimed Broadcom would add a 20 percent penalty for customers who renew after their anniversary date, and VMware did not answer The Register's requests to confirm. In April 2025 The Register reported (opens in a new tab) that the core floor might be back at 16, but Spiceworks members were still describing 72-core minimum orders in late 2025 and, in a January 2026 thread (opens in a new tab), a distributor update. Treat this as something to confirm in writing on your own quote.
Free ESXi went away, then partly came back
In February 2024 Broadcom discontinued the free version of ESXi (opens in a new tab), the hypervisor many small offices and home labs ran at no cost. In April 2025 it quietly brought a free edition back (opens in a new tab) with ESXi 8.0 Update 3e. Broadcom's knowledge base (opens in a new tab) lists the limits: up to 2 physical CPUs per host, 8 vCPUs per virtual machine, no vCenter management, no vMotion or high availability, no VADP-based backups, and "No official Broadcom support." It is aimed at home labs and testing, not production offices.
The low end may get attention again
In September 2026, The Register (opens in a new tab) reported that VMware promised an updated version of vSphere Standard, its low-end bundle. Paul Turner, chief product officer of VMware's Cloud Foundation division, said the company had at times had "too big a focus on VCF" and said of the sales incentives that pushed small customers toward it, "We corrected this." No price was given at the time. Ask your reseller whether it can be quoted to you before accepting a VCF quote.
How big are the price increases, really?
In March 2024, at a VMware User Group town hall, The Register (opens in a new tab) reported attendees using the chat to complain about "price rises of 500 and 600 percent," which it tied to bundle-only sales. A month later, Mark Boost, CEO of cloud provider Civo, told The Register (opens in a new tab): "We've seen as much as 10x price increases that people have told us about." He said three to five times was more typical.
In May 2025, a report from the European Cloud Competition Observatory (opens in a new tab) claimed CISPE members had told the European Commission of price hikes from 800 to 1,500 percent. Broadcom replied that it welcomed "a constructive dialogue with CISPE." Ars Technica (opens in a new tab) summed up the bundle costs as having "increased by 300 percent or, in some cases, more."
The Spiceworks threads give a closer look at small and mid-size quotes. In a September 2025 thread, one member wrote (opens in a new tab): "In 2024, I was quoted $50 per core for VMware vSphere Standard, and $135 for VMware vSphere Foundation." Another said the online list price he saw was $190 per core per year with a 72-core minimum per order. A third wrote: "Ya Broadcom has massively increased prices two years in a row now and seems determined to chase off all their existing customers." In November 2025 a member reported (opens in a new tab) first-round quotes "close to 50k for 96 cores" for one year.
Not every renewal is a disaster, and that matters for your decision. In the same threads (opens in a new tab), one company with four 24-core hosts said it renewed onto Standard for about what it paid three years earlier, at about 40 pounds per core per year. Another (opens in a new tab) said its reseller got a three-year flat-rate contract with an increase of about 2.8 percent. A third wrote: "Locked in for 5 years so I have time to figure out how to get off VMware." Quotes depend heavily on the bundle, your core count, and how early you negotiate.
Watch the bundle on your quote. One member warned (opens in a new tab): "Watch the quote our VAR moved us to VCF without telling us." Another said that out of VCF, "all we are using is ESXi, vCenter and Aria Operations."
When your reseller gets cut
Broadcom also shrank the network of companies allowed to sell and host VMware. In January 2024 it told cloud providers that "the ability to transact as a VMware Cloud Services Provider, under the VMware Partner Connect Program, will come to an end," effective April 30, 2024, with an invite-only program replacing it, The Register reported (opens in a new tab). In July 2025 came a second reset (opens in a new tab): another invitation-only program that "significantly reduces the number of authorised partners," with non-invited partners unable to take new contracts or renewals after October 31, 2025.
For a small business, this shows up as a slow or messy renewal. One Spiceworks member wrote (opens in a new tab) in November 2025 that his usual VMware partner had been cut off, so he had to switch, and "it took about 70 days to get the licenses and the cost doubled."
Timing becomes a weapon. In a September 2026 thread (opens in a new tab), a member said his company asked for its quote months early but got it only weeks before expiry. In his personal opinion, "they intentionally dragged it out so that we would have to absorb the cost of whatever they threw out for a quote" because there was no time left to migrate. Either way, start your renewal or exit at least six months early.
What courts and regulators have been told
AT&T v. Broadcom
In August 2024, AT&T sued Broadcom in New York State Supreme Court. According to The Register (opens in a new tab), AT&T alleged it had exercised an option to extend support on its perpetual VMware licenses for two more years, and that Broadcom refused unless AT&T bought subscriptions. The complaint called this an "attempt to bully AT&T into paying a king's ransom for subscriptions AT&T does not want or need." A later report said AT&T claimed (opens in a new tab) it was being pushed toward a price 1,050 percent above its previous bills. These were allegations. Broadcom said it "strongly disagrees with the allegations and is confident we will prevail in the legal process". The parties announced a settlement in principle (opens in a new tab) on November 21, 2024, and asked until December 13, 2024 to finalize it.
If AT&T had to go to court over licenses it already owned, a 20-person firm should get any extension rights confirmed in writing.
The CISPE challenge in Europe
In July 2025, CISPE, a European cloud provider trade group, asked the EU General Court (opens in a new tab) to annul the European Commission's approval of the deal. Its secretary general, Francisco Mingorance, said: "The Commission was warned this would happen, yet it stood by." In March 2026, CISPE also filed a competition complaint (opens in a new tab) over the end of the VMware cloud provider program in Europe, claiming that price hikes, bundling, up-front payments and minimum commitments had raised costs by more than 1,000 percent. These are CISPE's claims, not court findings.
Letters to customers who stopped paying
In May 2025, Ars Technica (opens in a new tab) confirmed that Broadcom was sending cease-and-desist letters to owners of perpetual licenses whose support had expired. The letter said updates applied after the expiration date "must be immediately removed/deinstalled" and warned of possible audits. One Spiceworks member posted (opens in a new tab) in March 2025 that he got such a letter after his company had already moved from VMware to Proxmox. His reseller called it fairly standard and told him to reply that they no longer used VMware. Broadcom didn't respond to Ars's request for comment.
The realistic VMware alternatives for a small business
For a deeper head-to-head on features and costs, see our Hyper-V vs VMware comparison. Here is what each option means in practice.
Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure Local
Hyper-V is built into Windows Server, which most small offices already license for their servers. Microsoft's pricing page (opens in a new tab) lists Windows Server 2025 Standard at a suggested $1,176 for 16 cores, covering two virtual machines plus the Hyper-V host, and Datacenter at $6,771 for 16 cores with unlimited virtual machines. Microsoft's free VM Conversion extension (opens in a new tab) for Windows Admin Center copies VMs from vCenter 6.x, 7.x and 8.x to Hyper-V while they keep running, in batches of up to 10, then does a short final sync at cutover. It is still labeled preview.
People who switched report it was quick. One member wrote (opens in a new tab): "I migrated 14 VMs to Hyper-V over the course of a couple of days." Rumors that Hyper-V is ending confuse it with the retired free Hyper-V Server. As one member put it (opens in a new tab): "Hyper-V as part of Windows Server is not going anywhere." Azure Local is Microsoft's separate subscription version, managed through Azure and billed per physical core per month (opens in a new tab).
Proxmox VE
Proxmox VE is open-source virtualization built on KVM, with clustering, high availability and Ceph storage. The software itself costs nothing. Support subscriptions are priced per CPU socket per year (opens in a new tab): 120 euros for Community (updates, forum help only), 370 euros for Basic, 550 euros for Standard, and 1,100 euros for Premium. Proxmox VE 8 and later include an ESXi import wizard (opens in a new tab) tested from ESXi 6.5 to 8.0. Limits: vSAN-backed and encrypted disks cannot be imported, snapshots slow imports, and vTPM state does not migrate, so keep BitLocker recovery keys handy.
The catch for many offices is backup support and Linux skills. One admin wrote (opens in a new tab) in September 2025: "We're probably going to renew at least another year because our backup software doesn't support Proxmox yet." Veeam now lists Proxmox as supported, according to a July 2026 Register report (opens in a new tab), but check your own backup product and version.
Nutanix AHV
Nutanix AHV is a hyperconverged platform where compute and storage run on the same nodes, much like vSAN. Nutanix says AHV comes included (opens in a new tab) with its Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offering, and its Move tool migrates VMs from VMware and other sources. It suits offices that already like the vSAN model and want strong vendor support. It is rarely the cheapest choice. One member noted (opens in a new tab): "From what I have heard, Nutanix is not a dollar bargain either."
XCP-ng
XCP-ng is an open-source platform (opens in a new tab) built on the Xen hypervisor, backed by the company Vates, and managed through Xen Orchestra. Xen Orchestra 5.110 and later include a built-in V2V tool (opens in a new tab) that copies most data while the VMware VM keeps running, then does a short cutover. In July 2026 Veeam added XCP-ng support (opens in a new tab) in version 13.1. It fits Linux-comfortable teams.
Moving servers to Azure or AWS
Azure Migrate (opens in a new tab) is a free Microsoft service that discovers VMware VMs, estimates Azure costs, and migrates them, agentless or with an agent. AWS offers AWS Transform MGN (opens in a new tab), formerly AWS Application Migration Service, which replicates servers from VMware vSphere to Amazon EC2. Cloud suits apps that tolerate monthly costs and internet latency; many offices end up hybrid. Our pages on cloud infrastructure and hybrid cloud explain how those setups work.
VMware alternatives compared side by side
| Option | Licensing model | Best for | Migration tool | Skills needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyper-V (Windows Server) | Windows Server per core; Standard covers 2 VMs, Datacenter unlimited | Windows-heavy offices with 1 to 3 hosts | Windows Admin Center VM Conversion (free, preview) | Windows Server admin |
| Azure Local | Subscription billed per physical core per month | Firms already deep in Azure that want on-site hardware | Confirm current Microsoft tooling | Windows Server plus Azure |
| Proxmox VE | Free software; optional support from 120 euros per socket per year | Budget-focused offices, mixed Windows and Linux | Built-in ESXi import wizard | Linux basics |
| Nutanix AHV | AHV included with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure subscription | Offices that want vSAN-style hyperconverged with vendor support | Nutanix Move | Moderate, vendor-guided |
| XCP-ng | Open source; paid support from Vates | Linux-comfortable teams wanting open source | Xen Orchestra V2V (5.110+) | Linux and Xen |
| Azure or AWS | Pay monthly for compute and storage | Apps that can run off-site; fewer servers to own | Azure Migrate (free) or AWS Transform MGN | Cloud cost and security management |
| Stay on VMware | Per-core subscription, 16-core minimum per CPU | Firms with a fair multi-year quote or apps that require VMware | None needed | Existing VMware skills |
Some apps are only supported on VMware. One Spiceworks member said (opens in a new tab) in 2024 that his phone system vendor required it.
How to plan a VMware migration, step by step
Step 1: Take inventory. List every VM, its operating system, CPU, memory, disk size, and what it does. Flag VMs using vSAN, encrypted disks, vTPM or snapshots, since conversion tools trip on those.
Step 2: Check backups first. One member warned (opens in a new tab): "Please don't forget your backups and DR plans when switching from VMware, especially to things like Nutanix, Scale, and lots of others." Confirm your backup product supports the new platform and plan how you would restore old VMware backups. Our guide to BaaS vs DRaaS explains what a sound recovery setup looks like.
Step 3: Check every application vendor. Ask each software vendor in writing whether they support your target platform. One app certified only on VMware can decide the project.
Step 4: Price the full picture. Compare three to five years of cost: your VMware quote, the new platform's licenses or support, Windows Server licenses, any new hardware, and the labor to migrate. Use our downtime cost calculator to put a dollar figure on each hour a server is offline during cutover.
Step 5: Build a pilot. Set up the new platform on one spare server and move two or three low-risk VMs, such as a print server or a test box. Practice a restore there too.
Step 6: Migrate in waves. Move groups of related VMs together during planned windows. Tools like Microsoft's VM Conversion, Proxmox's importer and Xen Orchestra's V2V copy data while the VM runs, then need a short shutdown for the final sync. Keep the VMware copy powered off but intact until the new VM has run cleanly for a few days.
Step 7: Clean up and document. Remove VMware Tools, install the new guest drivers, update monitoring and backup jobs, and retire the old hosts. Given the cease-and-desist letters Ars Technica reported, keep a dated record of when VMware software was removed.
For scale, one Spiceworks member described (opens in a new tab) his mid-size company's move from VMware to Hyper-V as starting in early August 2025, and in mid-December he was "in the midst of migrating the last VM this week." Plan for weeks, not a weekend.
What to check before you renew VMware
If you stay for now, check these first.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which bundle is quoted (VCF, VVF or vSphere Standard) | Users report resellers moved them to VCF without telling them |
| Core count per host and per CPU | Broadcom requires at least 16 cores per CPU, even on smaller chips |
| Minimum order size | 72-core minimums were reported in 2025 and early 2026; confirm in writing |
| Renewal date and late penalty | Distributor Arrow claimed, per The Register, a 20 percent penalty for renewing after the anniversary date |
| Multi-year price lock | Users who locked three to five years bought time to plan an exit |
| Who can sell to you | Partner cuts caused 70-day delays for one member; confirm your reseller is authorized |
| Hardware support for the next version | One member found his servers were not supported on version 9 |
| What happens to perpetual licenses if support lapses | Broadcom has sent letters demanding removal of updates applied after expiry |
Ask for the quote early, ask for a quote on the smallest bundle that covers what you actually use, and get a competing quote for an alternative even if you plan to stay. A member who said colleagues got discounts of up to 40 percent added that "You have to press them HARD in the beginning." That is second-hand, but a credible exit plan is the strongest position you can negotiate from.
Getting a second opinion on your VMware decision
GlobeVM's CEO, George Mansoor, is VMware and Citrix certified and has spent decades designing and fixing the networks, servers and backups Los Angeles businesses run on. If you are staring at a renewal quote and are not sure whether to pay, renegotiate or move, our free IT assessment is a good first step. We will look at your servers, backups and network and tell you plainly what we see.