Hypervisor Licensing Cost Calculator 2026

Prices as of 2026-10-07. Data version 3, updated 2026-10-22. Full methodology, sources, FAQ and embed code in the licensing cost guide. How Sysprobs Data collects and checks figures: hub methodology.

• Prices are vendor list prices or the vendor's public API meter, in USD, retrieved 2026-10-07. US prices; Microsoft states prices vary by country. No taxes.
• Windows Server 2025 is priced as a one-time licence price at suggested MSRP; S02 states no term, so the 3-year figure equals the 1-year figure. Minimums: 8 core licences per processor, 16 per server. CALs, Software Assurance and the per-VM licensing option are not priced.
• Windows Server packs: 16-core packs first, then 2-core packs for the remainder. The 2-core pack has no published MSRP; it is priced at one eighth of the 16-core pack as a stated assumption. Hosts with core counts that are multiples of 16 are unaffected.
• Windows Server Standard covers 2 VMs per full licensing of the host. Each further 2 VMs relicenses all the host's cores (stacking). VMs are spread evenly over the hosts, no failover headroom. Datacenter covers unlimited VMs.
• Proxmox VE and Vates sell support for free software. Proxmox is priced per CPU socket in EUR net of VAT on a one-year term only, so 3-year = 3 x 1-year. USD uses the ECB reference rate shown, rounded to whole dollars per socket before multiplying. The Community tier is listed by Proxmox for non-production use.
• Vates tiers: Essential and Essential+ are flat fees for up to 3 hosts; Pro is per host from 3 hosts; Enterprise is per host from 4 hosts. The "save up to 10%" 3-year offer is not applied. XOSTOR storage add-ons are excluded.
• Azure Local host fee: 0.33 USD per physical core per day (Azure Retail Prices API, effective 2025-04-01), no minimum or maximum. Year = 365 days; monthly total = yearly / 12. The 60-day trial and the Windows Server guest add-on are not applied; the add-on is shown as an excluded line.
• VMware licensed cores = sum over hosts of sockets x max(16, cores per socket), then, only if the order minimum toggle is on, max(72, total) per product. The 16-core per CPU minimum is Broadcom's rule (KB 313548, S10; S30, S31 repeat it for 2026). The 72-core order minimum comes from distributor and reseller reports, not from a Broadcom public page. Support and vSAN entitlement are included in the core price.
• The 72-core order minimum is a toggle, off by default. Sources for the minimum: S14 (the distributor notice), S15 (UK only), S16 (states the rule with no regional scope). Reversal reports: S27 (heise), S28 (it-daily relaying iX), S29 (Licenseware). It was reported in March 2025 (distributor notice to French partners, S14). One UK reseller says UK only (S15). Another states it with no regional scope (S16). It was reported reversed in April 2025 (S27 heise, S28 it-daily relaying iX) and in May 2025 (S29 Licenseware). Broadcom's 2026 licensing pages state 16 cores per processor, and no per-order minimum was found on them (S30, S31). Absence from a Broadcom page is not proof, because order terms can sit on the quote. Switched on, licensed cores are max(72, total) per product.
• Discounts are your own figures, 0 to 90 percent per platform group, applied to that group's totals after the list arithmetic and rounded to cents. List prices stay visible.
• Migration labour is your own estimate: VMs x hours per VM x hourly rate, one-off, added as one row under each platform other than the current one. It is never pre-filled and is not discounted.
• VMware has no public list price. The calculator computes VCF and VVF only from the quote you enter.
• Nutanix NCI and Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine are excluded: their only dollar figures are reseller SKU listings with no stated term (Nutanix) or an unverified Standard price (Red Hat). For Hyper-V Server 2019, Microsoft's lifecycle page says mainstream support has ended and gives 2029-01-09 as the extended end date.
• Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. The share link carries only the input values.

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