Insights / VMware after Broadcom
VMware after Broadcom.
Since Broadcom bought VMware, the way it is sold has changed twice over: first the licences, then the providers allowed to host it. This guide sets out what changed, the four routes most UK organisations are weighing, and how to choose between them with your own data rather than a vendor’s.
What changed
Licences became per-core subscriptions
Perpetual licences and the long list of separate editions were replaced by a small number of subscription bundles, chiefly VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF). They are priced per physical CPU core, and every CPU counts as at least 16 cores. A host with two 8-core CPUs is billed as 32 cores, not 16.
That rule hurts small hosts most: DR sites, branch clusters and older two-socket servers with low core counts. The calculator below shows how much of your bill is cores you do not own.
The cloud provider programme narrowed
Broadcom moved its VMware Cloud Service Provider programme to invitation only. Providers that were not invited were told in 2025 that their contracts would not renew, and the programme closed to them after 26 January 2026 (reported by The Register). If you rent VMware from a hosting provider, ask now whether they are still in it.
Count before you decide
Write your hosts below as name, CPUs × cores. The count follows the 16-core minimum; it is a planning aid, not a quote.
| Host | CPUs × cores | Licensed |
|---|
The four routes
1. Stay on VMware, licensed directly
Renew VCF or VVF for your own hardware. Usually right when you rely on vSAN, NSX, Cloud Director or Aria, when your team’s skills are VMware-deep, or when a migration would touch systems you cannot risk. Reduce the bill by consolidating onto fewer, denser hosts before renewal so fewer cores are padded to 16.
2. Move to a hosted VMware platform
Rent VMware from a provider that is still in the programme, with licensing included. The VMs move unchanged (Veeam, Zerto or HCX can carry them). Check the provider’s programme status, data centre locations, exit terms and how they price storage and egress.
3. Re-platform onto another hypervisor
Hyper-V (on Windows Server Datacenter, which many organisations already license for the guest operating systems), Azure Local, Proxmox VE or Nutanix AHV. Plain vSphere estates usually move with little drama; estates built around vSAN, NSX micro-segmentation or vCD self-service need those functions replaced first. Prove it with a pilot on your own hardware.
4. Move workloads to public cloud
Azure or AWS, either rehosted VMs or, better, the workloads that benefit from managed services. Variable, internet-facing and new workloads suit it; steady, large databases and file estates often cost more there than on owned hardware.
How to choose
| If this is true | Lean towards |
|---|---|
| You use vSAN, NSX or Cloud Director heavily | Stay, or hosted VMware |
| You run plain vSphere with shared storage | Hyper-V, Proxmox or Nutanix |
| Your hardware is near end of life anyway | Hosted VMware or public cloud |
| Your provider has left the VMware programme | Another hosted provider, your own hardware, or Azure |
| Small DR or branch hosts carry most of the padding | Consolidate, or move DR to a different platform |
A checklist for the next renewal
- Export every host with its CPU count and cores per CPU, and every VM with its size and owner.
- List which VMware features you actually use: vSAN, NSX, DRS, vCD, Aria, SRM.
- Run the core count and compare it with your renewal quote, line by line.
- Ask your hosting provider, in writing, about their VMware programme status.
- Cost up to four routes over five years, including migration effort and staff time.
- Pilot the leading alternative on one cluster before you commit.
- Decide at least six months before the renewal date, so a move is not rushed.
The VMware Renewal Decision assessment does all of this for you in two to three weeks, at a fixed price.