VMware licensing in 2026: what the Broadcom changes mean
Perpetual licenses abolished, products bundled, prices multiplied: since the Broadcom takeover, VMware licensing is a different world. This guide sorts out what applies today, what the October 2027 deadline means and which three options small businesses have now. As of July 2026, every figure with a source.
Published on July 12, 2026 · Daniel Gläser
From perpetual license to subscription: the chronology
Broadcom completed the VMware acquisition in November 2023 and rebuilt the business model within months. To understand today's situation you only need this chain of decisions:
| When | Change |
|---|---|
| 11 December 2023 | Sales stop for perpetual licenses: VMware subscription-only, billed per CPU core |
| 2024 | Portfolio consolidated into a few bundles, mainly vSphere Foundation (VVF) and Cloud Foundation (VCF); VCF list price 350 USD per core per year |
| October 2024 | VVF becomes 11 percent more expensive, in return the included vSAN capacity grows |
| March/April 2025 | Broadcom announces a 72-core minimum order and withdraws it within roughly two weeks after massive criticism; the 16-core minimum per CPU remains |
| May 2025 | Cease-and-desist letters to perpetual customers without support contracts, including audit threats |
| 2025 | vSphere 9 ships exclusively in the VVF 9 and VCF 9 bundles; vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus remain capped at version 8 Update 3 |
| December 2025 | VVF discontinued in parts of the EMEA region, affected customers have to move to VCF or alternatives |
| 11 October 2027 | General support for vSphere 8 ends, technical guidance runs until October 2029 |
The price consequences are documented: Gartner cites typical increases of 300 to 400 percent, the European cloud association CISPE reported renewal increases of 800 to 1,500 percent to the EU Commission, and AT&T put the increase it was quoted at 1,050 percent in court filings.
The product world in 2026: VVF, VCF and the end of the small editions
- vSphere Foundation (VVF): the smaller bundle for classic virtualization. Broadcom publishes no official price list; licensing advisors cite market rates of 150 to 190 USD per core per year for 2026. Beware: since December 2025 VVF is no longer available in parts of the EMEA region.
- Cloud Foundation (VCF): the large bundle including vSAN, NSX and automation, list price 350 USD per core per year.
- vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus: still sold, but frozen at version 8 Update 3. There will be no version 9 of these editions.
Why this matters for existing customers
Anyone running vSphere Standard 8 today sits on an edition without a future: new features only appear in VVF and VCF, and support for all of version 8 ends in October 2027.
Understanding core licensing: the 16-core minimum
VMware is licensed per physical CPU core, with a minimum of 16 cores per CPU. A CPU with 8 or 12 cores still costs 16 core licenses. All physical cores of all CPUs in a host are licensed; hyperthreading does not count. For small servers, concretely:
| Environment | VVF (150 to 190 USD per core) | VCF (list 350 USD per core) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 server, 16 cores | 2,400 to 3,040 USD per year | 5,600 USD per year |
| 2 servers, 32 cores | 4,800 to 6,080 USD per year | 11,200 USD per year |
| 3 servers, 48 cores | 7,200 to 9,120 USD per year | 16,800 USD per year |
How these amounts compare against alternatives is shown in the detailed Proxmox versus VMware cost comparison using the same scenario over five years.
The deadline: 11 October 2027
On that day, general support for vSphere 8 ends, the last version that was available as a perpetual license. After that there is only technical guidance until October 2029, meaning no regular patches. For existing customers with perpetual licenses this is the effective end of the old world: a hypervisor without security updates is not sustainable, least of all as the foundation under all of a company's servers.
Count backwards
If you want to be cleanly migrated by October 2027, you need time before that for assessment, decision, procurement and migration. Realistically, the decision falls in 2026 or early 2027, not in the summer of 2027.
What happens if you do not renew
- Subscription expires: the software keeps running technically, but support and updates end. Without security patches the risk grows every month.
- Late renewal: according to distributor information, Broadcom charges a 20 percent surcharge on the first-year price when a subscription is renewed late. Sitting out the renewal as a tactic is expensive.
- Perpetual license without support: since May 2025 Broadcom has been sending blanket cease-and-desist letters to perpetual customers shortly after their support contracts expired, accusing them of having applied patches after support ended and threatening audits. The license itself remains valid, but the room for manoeuvre is narrow.
Your three options: renew, shrink or switch
Option 1: renew, but negotiated
If VMware is a given, make it a deliberate one: request the renewal quote early, consider multi-year terms in exchange for discounts, align the licensed core count exactly with actual sizing, and question bundle components you do not use. The documented price ranges show that negotiating pays, especially via distributors.
Option 2: shrink
Many environments have grown historically. Consolidating workloads, decommissioning legacy systems or moving individual services to managed or cloud offerings reduces the core count and with it the subscription cost directly. Often this is the fastest lever, without any platform change.
Option 3: switch
For typical SME workloads a platform switch is more realistic in 2026 than ever: in a survey of 450 VMware customers across 14 countries, half plan to reduce usage by 2028, and Gartner expects around 35 percent of today's VMware workloads to run elsewhere by 2028. What the move costs is covered in the Proxmox versus VMware cost comparison, and how it works in practice in the VMware to Proxmox migration guide. To be fair: Gartner also warns that there is no one-to-one replacement for the full VCF package. If you genuinely use its special features, you do not switch lightly.
Decision aid: which option fits whom
- You use VCF-specific features (vSAN stretched clusters, NSX) or your business application is certified for VMware only: renew and negotiate.
- Your environment has grown larger than necessary: shrink first, then reassess.
- You run standard workloads on two to five hosts and the subscription costs hurt: evaluate the switch seriously, with a test cluster instead of gut feeling.
- Your support expires soon anyway and the hardware is up for renewal: combine the platform switch with the hardware cycle and save one migration.
Sources
- Broadcom: Ende der VMware-Kauflizenzen (VMware Blog, Januar 2024)
- Broadcom Knowledge Base 313548: Kern-Zählung und 16-Kern-Minimum
- VMware vSphere with VCF 9.1 FAQ: Standard und Enterprise Plus auf Version 8U3 begrenzt
- heise: VMware nimmt 72-Kern-Mindestbestellung zurück (April 2025)
- The Next Platform: VCF-Listenpreis 350 USD pro Kern und Jahr (Juni 2024)
- The Register: VVF-Preiserhöhung um 11 Prozent (Oktober 2024)
- The Register: VVF in Teilen der EMEA-Region eingestellt (Dezember 2025)
- The Register: CISPE meldet Preiserhöhungen von 800 bis 1.500 Prozent (Mai 2025)
- The Register: Hälfte der VMware-Kunden will Nutzung bis 2028 reduzieren (März 2026)
- The Register: Gartner zu Risiken des Ausstiegs (Mai 2026)
- Network World: Unterlassungsschreiben an Perpetual-Kunden (Mai 2025)
- Westcon (Distributor): 20 Prozent Aufschlag bei verspäteter Verlängerung
- Computer Weekly: Support-Ende von vSphere 8 im Oktober 2027
This article is carefully researched guidance, not legal or tax advice. For binding information, please consult your tax advisor or lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still buy vSphere Standard?+
As a subscription yes, but capped at version 8 Update 3. There will be no version 9 of vSphere Standard or Enterprise Plus; new features only appear in the VVF and VCF bundles. Perpetual licenses have not been sold at all since 11 December 2023.
What is the difference between VVF and VCF?+
vSphere Foundation (VVF) is the smaller bundle for classic virtualization, Cloud Foundation (VCF) the large package including vSAN, NSX and automation. VCF lists at 350 USD per core per year; for VVF, licensing advisors cite market rates of 150 to 190 USD. Since December 2025 VVF is no longer available in parts of the EMEA region.
What does the 16-core minimum mean?+
VMware licenses per physical CPU core, but at least 16 cores per CPU. An 8-core CPU therefore costs 16 core licenses. All physical cores of all CPUs in a host are counted. The 72-core minimum order announced in 2025 was withdrawn after protests.
By when do I have to decide?+
The hard deadline is 11 October 2027, when general support for vSphere 8 ends. If you want to switch or negotiate in an orderly way, make the decision in 2026 or early 2027 so that assessment, testing and migration do not run under time pressure.
Can I simply keep running my old perpetual license?+
The license remains valid, but without a support contract there are no updates. Since May 2025 Broadcom has been sending blanket cease-and-desist letters to perpetual customers with expired support contracts, accusing them of applying patches after support ended and threatening audits. As a permanent solution it is risky; from October 2027 at the latest, regular patches for vSphere 8 are gone too.
Is hard negotiating at renewal even worth it?+
Yes. Broadcom publishes no price list, real prices are set via distributors, and the documented ranges are wide. Important: request the quote early, because late renewals incur a 20 percent surcharge on the first-year price.
Not sure which of the three options fits?
I review your environment and your renewal quote, run the numbers for your case and tell you honestly whether renewing, shrinking or switching is the best route. From Chemnitz for SMEs in Saxony and across Germany.
Daniel Gläser
Owner of Gläser IT-Solutions, Chemnitz
I build software and run IT infrastructure for small and medium businesses, from the first analysis to day-to-day operations. Everything here comes from real projects and is backed by sources.
