CORE Baseline — VMware Migration

VMware got expensive.
You have options.

Since Broadcom’s 2023 acquisition of VMware, licensing has moved to subscription-only bundles, minimum order sizes have grown, and renewal costs have risen sharply for many customers. Armorstack helps you evaluate alternatives and migrate on your timeline — not Broadcom’s.

What Actually Changed

The Broadcom/VMware Licensing Shift, Plainly

Broadcom closed its acquisition of VMware in November 2023 and moved quickly to restructure how VMware is sold. According to VMware’s own Cloud Foundation blog, Broadcom ended availability of perpetual licenses and standalone SaaS services in early 2024, shifting the portfolio to a subscription-only model. Existing perpetual licenses remain usable, but in many cases support/SnS renewal is no longer available outside a new subscription contract.

Broadcom also consolidated VMware’s sprawling catalog — historically thousands of SKUs — into a small number of bundles built around VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and vSphere Foundation, discontinuing some previously separate editions.

In 2025, Broadcom introduced a per-CPU core minimum for licensing (reported at 72 cores) on top of the existing 16-cores-per-CPU rule, per Broadcom’s own knowledge base documentation on core counting. Industry coverage of this change has been inconsistent over time — some reporting describes later adjustments or reversals of specific minimums — so if a core-minimum number is decision-critical for your renewal, verify current terms directly with your VMware account team or reseller before budgeting against it.

What’s well documented and consistent across independent analyses: many customers have reported renewal cost increases in the range of 2–5x their prior perpetual-license spend, and a 20% surcharge has been reported for subscription renewals processed after the contract anniversary date. Given how much these terms have moved since 2023, treat any specific number — including the ones on this page — as a starting point for your own verification, not a final figure.

Why This Matters for Your Budget

If your organization is running on-prem VMware and hasn’t re-quoted your renewal since the Broadcom acquisition, it’s worth doing before you’re forced into a surprise number at renewal time.

Your Options

Migration Paths Worth Evaluating

There’s no single right answer — the right path depends on your workload mix, compliance requirements, and internal skills.

Renegotiate & Stay

Sometimes the right move is simply renegotiating your VMware terms with a clear-eyed view of the new pricing structure, rather than migrating. We’ll help you build the comparison to know which is actually cheaper.

Alternative Hypervisors

Platforms like Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, and Microsoft Hyper-V have gained real enterprise traction as VMware alternatives since 2023. We assess workload compatibility and migration complexity for each.

Cloud Repatriation

For some workloads, moving off on-prem virtualization entirely into AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud eliminates the hypervisor licensing question altogether. See our cloud migration services.

Hybrid Transition

Most organizations don’t migrate everything at once. We help you sequence which workloads move first, keeping production stable while lower-risk systems migrate to validate the new platform.

Our Process

How We Approach a VMware Exit

01

License & Cost Audit

We pull your current VMware entitlements and model your actual renewal cost under Broadcom’s current terms, so the decision is based on real numbers, not headlines.

02

Workload Compatibility Assessment

Not every workload migrates cleanly to every alternative. We test compatibility, driver support, and performance characteristics before committing to a target platform.

03

Parallel-Run Migration

We run legacy VMware and the target platform in parallel during transition, migrating workloads in sequenced batches to avoid a disruptive cutover.

04

Decommission & Optimize

Once workloads are validated on the new platform, we decommission legacy VMware infrastructure and tune the new environment for cost and performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Broadcom still selling perpetual VMware licenses?
No. According to VMware’s own Cloud Foundation blog, Broadcom ended availability of new perpetual licenses in early 2024, moving to a subscription-only model. Existing perpetual licenses remain usable, but support renewal terms have changed.
How much have VMware renewal costs actually increased?
Independent industry analyses commonly report increases in the 2–5x range for many customers, though the exact figure depends heavily on your prior licensing tier, edition, and negotiated terms. We’ll model your specific renewal rather than rely on a market average.
Do we have to migrate everything at once?
No. Most successful exits are phased, migrating lower-risk workloads first to validate the target platform before touching production-critical systems.
What if we decide to stay on VMware?
That’s a legitimate outcome. We’ll help you build an accurate cost comparison and, if staying is the right call, make sure you’re negotiating from an informed position rather than accepting the first renewal quote.

Know Your Real Numbers Before You Renew

A VMware exit assessment audits your current entitlements, models renewal cost under current Broadcom terms, and maps realistic alternatives — before your next renewal deadline.

Schedule a VMware Exit Assessment →

Armorstack operates infrastructure for regulated industries: healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and defense contractors. One contract. 24/7.