Breaking News 2024-2026

Leaving VMware:
Why and How

Since Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, licensing costs have skyrocketed (+200% to +500%). Many organizations are now actively seeking VMware alternatives. Proxmox VE has emerged as the leading open-source replacement.

Reading time: 8 min Updated: March 2026

The Context: Why Are Companies Leaving VMware?

What Changed After the Broadcom Acquisition

  • End of perpetual licenses: mandatory switch to subscription model
  • Massive price increases: +200% to +500% depending on configuration
  • vSphere Essentials discontinued: the SMB-friendly edition no longer exists
  • Mandatory bundles: you pay for features you don't need
  • Degraded support quality: widespread negative feedback since the acquisition

Real-World Pricing Example

Configuration Before (Essentials) After (VCF) Increase
3 servers, 2 CPUs each ~600 EUR/year ~8,000 EUR/year +1,233%

Source: client feedback and market analysis following Broadcom's 2024 announcements. See our TCO comparison: VMware vs Proxmox 2026 for a detailed cost analysis.

Case study: How one client saved 88k EUR/year by migrating to Proxmox -- a real-world VMware to Proxmox migration managed by RDEM Systems.

Proxmox VE: The Open-Source Alternative

Why Proxmox?

Open source: no vendor lock-in
Free to use: only support is paid
Mature: 15+ years of development
Feature-complete: VMs + containers (LXC)
Built-in HA: native high availability
Integrated backup: PBS for backups

VMware vs Proxmox Comparison

Criteria VMware vSphere Proxmox VE
License cost High (subscription) Free
PVE support Included in license Free to 1,100 EUR/year/socket
Hypervisor ESXi (proprietary) KVM (standard Linux)
Web interface vCenter (paid) Included (free)
High availability vSphere HA (licensed) Built-in (free)
Backup Veeam (paid) PBS (free to 4,480 EUR/year)
Containers Not native Native LXC

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How to Migrate from VMware to Proxmox

The migration is technically feasible but requires rigorous planning. See our complete technical migration guide for the full technical details. Here are the key steps.

1

Inventory and Analysis

List all your VMs, their resources (CPU, RAM, disk), network dependencies, and hosted applications. Identify critical VMs and prioritize the migration order.

2

Prepare the Proxmox Environment

Install Proxmox VE on your servers (or on new servers for a progressive migration). Configure networking, storage (Ceph, ZFS, NFS...) and HA clusters if needed.

3

Convert the VMs

Export VMware VMs in OVF/VMDK format, then convert them to qcow2 (native KVM format). Tools like qemu-img convert make this straightforward.

4

Adapt the VMs

Replace VMware Tools with the QEMU Guest Agent. Adjust network and disk drivers if necessary. Test each VM in an isolated environment before moving to production.

5

Progressive Migration

Start with non-critical VMs. Validate proper operation, then progressively migrate production workloads. Keep VMware accessible in parallel for rollback.

Key Considerations

  • - Windows Server: may require driver adjustments
  • - Sensitive applications: test in a staging environment first
  • - Licensing: verify your software's virtualization terms
  • - Training: the Proxmox interface differs from vCenter

RDEM Systems: Proxmox Experts

Our Infrastructure Runs on Proxmox

RDEM Systems has been running its own virtualization infrastructure on Proxmox VE for several years. We host our clients and internal services on high-availability Proxmox clusters.

Migration Support

We guide you through your VMware to Proxmox migration: audit, planning, migration, and validation. Already on Proxmox 8? See our Proxmox 8 to 9 migration guide (timeline, pricing, methodology).

Request a quote →

Managed Proxmox Hosting

You can also host your VMs directly on our Proxmox infrastructure, with managed services included. Discover our managed Proxmox plans.

Explore our offering →

Off-Site Backup Included with Managed Services

After migrating to Proxmox, your VMs are automatically backed up to NimbusBackup PBS (Equinix Paris). Included in every RDEM managed services contract -- not a separate product.

We manage your Proxmox servers at the hosting provider of your choice: OVHcloud, Hetzner, Scaleway, Contabo, IONOS or any other provider.

Quote: Migration + Managed Services 15-Min Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions

Since Broadcom acquired VMware, licensing costs have increased by 200% to 500%. Perpetual licenses have been discontinued, the SMB-friendly vSphere Essentials edition has been eliminated, and mandatory bundles force you to pay for features you don't need. These Broadcom VMware pricing changes have pushed many organizations to evaluate VMware alternatives like Proxmox VE.

Break Free from VMware

Stop absorbing Broadcom's price increases. Migrate to Proxmox with guidance from experts who run this technology in production every day.

Request a Free Audit 15-Min Discovery Call See Our Proxmox Infra View Pricing