Microsoft describes Hyper-V Server 2019, the standalone product, as a free product. Mainstream support for it has ended and extended support ends 2029-01-09. Hyper-V is also built into Windows Server, and Windows Server 2025 lists at USD 6,771 for Datacenter and USD 1,176 for Standard per 16-core pack, suggested MSRP.

Windows Server 2025 was released on 2024-11-01, with mainstream support to 2029-11-13 and extended support to 2034-11-14. For the standalone Hyper-V Server 2019, mainstream support has ended and extended support ends 2029-01-09.

Reference table

VMware Alternatives Compared 2026: Licence, List Price, Free Tier and End of Support

9 VMware alternatives compared as of 2026-10-11. VCF: per core, 16-core minimum per processor. Broadcom's estimated 9.x end of service: 2031-06-17.

Last updated 19 October 2026 Data version 3 Refreshed quarterly 56 sources Cite Download CSV

Broadcom licenses VMware VCF per core as subscription software (Broadcom specific program documentation, June 2026). VVF is licensed per core, on subscription. Both have a minimum of 16 cores per processor. ^S80 ^S01 ^S03

Broadcom's estimated end of service date for the VCF 9.x code line is 2031-06-17 (Broadcom blog, 2025-07-16). ^S05

Customers with perpetual VMware licences must switch to subscription licences before upgrading to VCF 9 (Broadcom VCF 9.1 FAQ, 2026-09-03). ^S02

As of 2026-10-11, this table covers 9 alternatives to VMware VCF and VVF ^derived. They are Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure Local, Nutanix AHV, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, Platform9 Private Cloud Director, Proxmox VE, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine, XCP-ng with Vates and XenServer. The count follows an inclusion rule: a platform needs at least 3 of the 9 table fields filled from its own vendor’s pages.

Broadcom licenses VCF per core as subscription software (Broadcom specific program documentation, June 2026) ^S80. VVF is licensed per core ^S01, on subscription ^S03. Both have a minimum of 16 cores per processor ^S01. Broadcom’s estimated end of service date for the VCF 9.x code line is 2031-06-17 (blog dated 2025-07-16) ^S05. Customers with perpetual licences must switch to subscription licences before upgrading to VCF 9 (Broadcom FAQ, 2026-09-03) ^S02.

Every cell below is a sourced value, or says “not published” or “not retrieved”. The page does not rank platforms or recommend one. It does not compare prices across vendors, because they charge per core, per socket, per host and per node. To work out a cost, use the hypervisor licensing calculator. For survey data on who is moving, see VMware migration statistics.

Key findings

Broadcom licenses VCF per core as subscription software ^S80; VVF per core ^S01, subscription ^S03; 16 cores per processor ^S01. Broadcom’s TechDocs licensing page, last updated 2026-09-29, states the same 16-core rule ^S78.
VCF 9.0 was released on 2025-06-17, VCF 9.1.0 on 2026-05-12 and VCF 9.1.1 on 2026-09-03 ^S06. VVF 9.1 general availability is dated 2026-05-05 ^S03. VCF and VVF are different products with different documents.
Broadcom’s estimated end of service date for the VCF 9.x code line is 2031-06-17 ^S05. Broadcom describes its 6+1 model as a general expectation: six years of support from a major release and, in certain cases, the option to purchase an additional year of Extended Support ^S05.
Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e supports up to 2 physical CPUs per host and 8 vCPUs per VM, with no vCenter management and no official Broadcom support ^S04. The knowledge base article is undated and does not cover VCF 9.
Proxmox VE lists EUR 120 to EUR 1,100 per CPU socket per year across four plans, net of VAT ^S18. Core count does not affect the price ^S18.
Windows Server 2025 lists at USD 6,771 for Datacenter and USD 1,176 for Standard per 16-core pack, as Microsoft’s suggested MSRP ^S07. Microsoft describes Hyper-V as built into Windows Server ^S73.
Azure Local bills USD 0.33 per physical core per day ^S13, which is USD 10.04 per core per month ^derived.
XCP-ng with Vates lists the Essential plan at 2,000 per year for up to 3 hosts and the Pro plan at 1,000 per host per year with a 3-host minimum ^S28. The page shows the same number under USD and EUR.
Nutanix NCI is licensed per physical CPU core ^S24 on term licences of 6 to 60 months ^S23. Nutanix pages show no price ^S23.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine is licensed per bare-metal node, regardless of sockets or cores ^S34. Its OpenShift 4.22 base reached general availability on 2026-06-09, and maintenance support ends 2027-12-31 ^S54.
XenServer 9 is supported until 2031-07 and XenServer 8.4 until 2028-11 ^S55.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.5 on Oracle Linux 9 is dated 2026-08 ^S51. Its licence metric, price, minimums and free tier are not retrieved ^S51.

VMware alternatives compared, as of 2026-10-11

The four tables list the same 10 platforms in the same order: VMware first as the baseline, then the alternatives in alphabetical order. The order is not a ranking. Each table is one slice of the 9 fields, so each platform stays readable on a narrow screen.

Two phrases carry fixed meanings. “Not published” means the vendor’s own pages show no such figure, for example Nutanix shows no price ^S23. “Not retrieved” means the vendor page exists but this run could not read it, for example Oracle’s licence metric ^S51. A vendor can publish a price later. The Oracle fields marked not retrieved may be stated on pages that refused retrieval in this run.

Licence metric, subscription or perpetual, and public list price

Prices are in each vendor’s own currency and unit.

Platform	Licence metric	Subscription or perpetual	Public list price
VMware VCF and VVF (Broadcom)	Per core (physical cores): VCF ^S80, VVF ^S01	Subscription: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S03. Perpetual licences must switch to subscription before upgrading to VCF 9 ^S02	Not published: no price on the Broadcom pages retrieved ^S78.
Microsoft Azure Local	Per physical processor core, flat rate ^S14	Not published: the billing page does not label it subscription or perpetual ^S14	USD 0.33 per physical core per day ^S13. USD 10.04 per core per month ^derived.
Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows Server 2025)	Per physical core, sold in 2-core packs and 16-core packs ^S07 ^S08	Perpetual (conventional licensing). Pay as you go through Azure Arc is the subscription alternative ^S92	Datacenter USD 6,771 and Standard USD 1,176 per 16-core pack, suggested MSRP ^S07. Pay as you go through Azure Arc: USD 33.58 per core per month ^S07.
Nutanix AHV (NCI)	Per physical CPU core. Licensing must cover all cores of the licensed cluster ^S24 ^S23	Term licence, 6 to 60 months ^S23. The licensing page says 1 through 5-year options ^S24	Not published: no price on the Nutanix pages retrieved ^S23.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager	Not retrieved ^S51	Not retrieved ^S51	Not retrieved ^S51.
Platform9 Private Cloud Director	Per core, one SKU ^S61	Not published ^S61	Not published: price by quote only ^S43. Service-provider programme, not the enterprise list price: on 2026-10-19 the page showed USD 13.52 per core per month in its body text and USD 10.40 in its billing block ^S59.
Proxmox VE	Per occupied physical CPU socket. Core count does not affect the price ^S18.	Annual subscription for support and Enterprise Repository access, one year from purchase ^S18	EUR, net of VAT, per socket per year: Premium 1,100, Standard 550, Basic 370, Community 120 (listed under non-production use) ^S18.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine	Per physical (bare-metal) node, regardless of sockets or cores ^S34	Subscription, bare-metal node ^S34	Not published: no price on the Red Hat pages retrieved ^S34.
XCP-ng with Vates	Per host. Essential tiers are a flat price for up to 3 hosts ^S28	Support subscription, 1, 3 or 5 year terms ^S28. XCP-ng itself: “no limits, no license fees” ^S28.	USD or EUR, same number shown: Essential 2,000 per year, Essential+ 4,000 per year, Pro 1,000 per host per year, Enterprise 1,800 per host per year ^S28.
XenServer (Cloud Software Group)	Per CPU socket ^S41 ^S48	Term subscription, maintenance included ^S48	Not published: price by quote only, sold as an entitlement of a Citrix subscription ^S48 ^S57.

The Azure Local monthly figure is 0.33 USD x 365 / 12 = 10.0375, rounded half-up to 10.04 USD. Billing is daily, so a 31-day month costs more and a 28-day month costs less. Prices are in each vendor’s own currency and unit. Nothing is converted between currencies.

Minimums and free tier

A trial is labelled a trial, not a free tier.

Platform	Minimums	Free tier
VMware VCF and VVF (Broadcom)	16 cores per processor ^S01 ^S78 ^S80	Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e: up to 2 physical CPUs per host, 8 vCPUs per VM, no vCenter management, no official Broadcom support ^S04. The article is undated, covers ESXi 8.0, not VCF 9, and current availability was not verified.
Microsoft Azure Local	No minimum, no maximum ^S14. Up to 16 nodes in hyperconverged (L1) deployments with local storage ^S14	60-day free trial after registration ^S12. No ongoing free tier is stated.
Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows Server 2025)	8 core licences per physical processor and 16 core licences per server ^S08	Hyper-V Server 2019, the standalone product: Microsoft describes it as a free product ^S94. Its extended support ends 2029-01-09 ^S10.
Nutanix AHV (NCI)	Licensing must cover all cores of the cluster ^S23. Starter edition: up to 12 nodes per cluster ^S23	Nutanix Community Edition: join and download at no cost, for learning on your own hardware ^S26. Limits are not stated on the page retrieved.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager	Not retrieved ^S51	Not retrieved ^S51.
Platform9 Private Cloud Director	The vendor states no 16-core minimum ^S61. This is a marketing statement, not a licence term	Community Edition: free, fully featured for one region, no time limit, community support ^S60. Not for production workloads ^S62.
Proxmox VE	One subscription per occupied CPU socket ^S18	Open source under AGPLv3 ^S19. The vendor pages retrieved do not use the word free. The Community plan is EUR 120 per socket per year, with Enterprise Repository access and no enterprise ticket support ^S18.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine	Bare-metal node subscription with Standard 8x5 or Premium 24x7 support ^S34. Bare-metal only, no third-party hypervisor allowed ^S34	Not published: no free tier on the pages retrieved ^S33.
XCP-ng with Vates	Pro: 3 hosts minimum. Enterprise: 4 hosts minimum. Essential: 3 hosts maximum ^S28	XCP-ng itself: “no limits, no license fees”. Support plans are paid ^S28.
XenServer (Cloud Software Group)	Not published: no minimum stated on the pages retrieved ^S41	Trial Edition, not a free production tier (XenServer 8.4 documentation): Premium feature set, maximum 3 hosts, up to 90 days ^S41.

Current version, release date and end of support

Dates are as each vendor publishes them.

Platform	Current version	Release date	End of support
VMware VCF and VVF (Broadcom)	VCF 9.1.1, 9.x code line ^S06	VCF 9.1.1: 2026-09-03 ^S06. VCF 9.1.0: 2026-05-12 ^S06. VCF 9.0: 2025-06-17 ^S06. VVF 9.1 general availability: 2026-05-05 ^S03	Estimated 2031-06-17 for the 9.x code line, a Broadcom estimate ^S05.
Microsoft Azure Local	24H2 (12.x), build 12.2609.1003.7 ^S15	2026-09-11 ^S15	Not published: no fixed date. Each release is supported for six months ^S15. Version 23H2 reached end of support in 2026-04 ^S15.
Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows Server 2025)	Windows Server 2025 ^S09	2024-11-01 ^S09	Mainstream 2029-11-13, extended 2034-11-14 ^S09. Standalone Hyper-V Server 2019: mainstream support has ended, extended 2029-01-09 ^S10.
Nutanix AHV (NCI)	Not retrieved: per-release data needs a support portal login ^S27	Not retrieved ^S27	Not retrieved ^S27. Policy: 15 months Maintenance, then 9 months Troubleshooting only, per AOS upgrade family ^S27.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager	Release 4.5 on Oracle Linux 9 ^S51	2026-08, month only ^S51	Not published for the current release. Release 4.5 on Oracle Linux 8 is available until 2027-03 ^S51.
Platform9 Private Cloud Director	Private Cloud Director, August 2026 Release ^S96	2026-08, month only, taken from the release name “August 2026 Release”; no day stated ^S96	Not published ^S96.
Proxmox VE	Proxmox VE 9.2 ^S20	x86-64: 2026-05-21. arm64: 2026-08-05 ^S20. Proxmox VE 9 first release: 2025-08 ^S19	Not published: the vendor table shows “tba” for Proxmox VE 9. Proxmox VE 8 ended in 2026-08 ^S19.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine	OpenShift 4.22, whose life cycle OVE follows ^S54 ^S35	2026-06-09 ^S54	Maintenance support 2027-12-31. Optional extended update support Term 2 ends 2029-06-30 ^S54.
XCP-ng with Vates	XCP-ng 8.3 LTS ^S30	2024-10-07 ^S30	2028-11-30, a project date ^S30.
XenServer (Cloud Software Group)	XenServer 9 ^S55	Not published ^S55	2031-07, month only. XenServer 8.4: 2028-11 ^S55.

Release and end of support of the current major version, VMware and 9 alternatives, as of 2026-10-11Vendor lifecycle pages retrieved 2026-10-11. Calendar years on the horizontal axis.

Dates are as each vendor published them on the retrieval date and can change. Month-only dates are plotted at mid-month.
Microsoft's page source gives end times in UTC, the previous evening in US Pacific time; the chart shows the Pacific date.
Azure Local, Proxmox VE 9, Oracle OLVM and Platform9 have no published end date for the current version, so no bar is drawn.
Red Hat's light bar is Extended Update Support to the end of Term 2. Term 1: Premium includes it, Standard may add it.
Row order is VMware first, then alphabetical by platform name, as in the page tables. It is not a ranking.

Embed this chart

The chart draws each platform’s current major version from release to end of support, with 2026-10-11 marked. The dashed bar is Broadcom’s estimated end of service date, not a lifecycle matrix entry. Month-only dates are plotted at mid-month. Broadcom states an expectation of 27 months of support for initial minor releases and 45 months for the last minor release, not a commitment ^S05. Lifecycle dates are as published on 2026-10-11 and can change. Microsoft’s page source gives each end time as 6:59:59 AM UTC, which the source snippets show and which is the previous evening in US Pacific Time. The Windows end dates here are the US Pacific calendar dates, as Microsoft’s page displays them ^S09.

VMware migration tool and hypervisor

Each tool is shown as the vendor describes it.

Platform	VMware migration tool	Hypervisor
VMware VCF and VVF (Broadcom)	Not applicable: VMware is the source platform of the migrations ^S02	ESX (vSphere hypervisor) ^S02.
Microsoft Azure Local	Azure Migrate, VMware VMs to Azure Local ^S16	Hyper-V ^S73.
Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows Server 2025)	VM Conversion extension for Windows Admin Center, no extra cost. In preview on 2026-10-11 ^S11	Hyper-V ^S73.
Nutanix AHV (NCI)	Nutanix Move, with sources including vSphere, Hyper-V and AWS ^S25. The page states no price	Nutanix AHV ^S23.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager	virt-v2v, open source, semi-automated, with automation through Oracle Linux Automation Manager ^S83. It is an open-source tool, not an Oracle-built product	Oracle Linux KVM ^S83. Release 4.5 is based on oVirt community release 4.5.5 ^S50.
Platform9 Private Cloud Director	Project vJailbreak, open source, built by Platform9. Supports vCenter 6.7 or greater ^S44	KVM ^S60.
Proxmox VE	Integrated VM importer (ESXi import wizard, OVA and OVF). Tested from ESXi 6.5 up to 8.0. VMs with disks on VMware vSAN cannot be imported directly ^S21	KVM, with Linux Containers (LXC) ^S22.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine	Migration Toolkit for Virtualization, included ^S33. Sources: VMware vSphere, Red Hat Virtualization, OpenStack ^S36	KVM ^S34.
XCP-ng with Vates	XO V2V (VMware to Vates) in Xen Orchestra. Needs HTTP access to the ESXi API, not direct access to VMware storage ^S31	Xen, type-1 ^S28. Began as a XenServer fork and is a Xen Project incubation project hosted by the Linux Foundation ^S32.
XenServer (Cloud Software Group)	XenServer Conversion Manager, a virtual appliance that converts ESXi and vCenter VMs ^S49 ^S56. It cannot convert Windows VMs with four or more disks ^S56	Xen Project hypervisor ^S49.

VMware VCF and VVF licensing

For VCF and VVF, the Broadcom pages retrieved state a minimum of 16 cores per processor ^S01 ^S80. Broadcom’s knowledge base article on counting cores says to license a minimum of 16 physical cores for each CPU, even if a CPU has fewer than 16 cores ^S01. Broadcom’s specific program documentation of June 2026 states the same minimum and a per core licence metric ^S80. The VCF 9.0 licensing model page, last updated 2026-09-29, says most products have a minimum consumption rule of 16 cores per physical CPU ^S78. Broadcom’s FAQ states that Broadcom Software Maintenance Essential Support is included with VCF ^S02.

Proxmox vs VMware

The table sets each Proxmox VE field beside the VMware field. Each cell keeps the vendor’s own unit and currency, so the prices are not comparable and no difference is calculated.

Field	VMware VCF and VVF	Proxmox VE
Licence metric	Per core: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S01	Per occupied physical CPU socket ^S18.
Subscription or perpetual	Subscription: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S03	Annual subscription for support and repository access ^S18. Code licensed under AGPLv3 ^S19.
Public list price	Not published ^S78	EUR 120 to 1,100 per socket per year, net of VAT, by plan ^S18.
Minimums	16 cores per processor ^S01 ^S80	One subscription per occupied CPU socket ^S18.
Free tier	Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e: 2 physical CPUs per host, 8 vCPUs per VM ^S04	Open source under AGPLv3 ^S19. Community plan EUR 120 per socket per year ^S18.
Current version and release	VCF 9.1.1, 2026-09-03 ^S06	Proxmox VE 9.2, 2026-05-21 ^S20.
End of support	Estimated 2031-06-17 for 9.x ^S05	Not published: “tba” for Proxmox VE 9 ^S19.
VMware migration tool	Not applicable ^S02	Integrated VM importer, tested from ESXi 6.5 up to 8.0 ^S21.
Hypervisor	ESX ^S02	KVM with LXC ^S22.

Hyper-V vs VMware

Microsoft describes Hyper-V as its enterprise-grade hypervisor technology built into Windows Server and Windows ^S73. This table therefore uses the price, minimums and lifecycle of Windows Server 2025, except where a row names Hyper-V Server 2019.

Field	VMware VCF and VVF	Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows Server 2025)
Licence metric	Per core: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S01	Per physical core, in 2-core and 16-core packs ^S07 ^S08.
Subscription or perpetual	Subscription: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S03	Perpetual (conventional licensing). Pay as you go through Azure Arc is the subscription alternative ^S92.
Public list price	Not published ^S78	Datacenter USD 6,771 and Standard USD 1,176 per 16-core pack ^S07. Pay as you go USD 33.58 per core per month ^S07.
Minimums	16 cores per processor ^S01 ^S80	8 core licences per processor and 16 per server ^S08.
Free tier	Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e: 2 physical CPUs per host, 8 vCPUs per VM ^S04	Hyper-V Server 2019 (standalone): Microsoft describes it as a free product ^S94.
Current version and release	VCF 9.1.1, 2026-09-03 ^S06	Windows Server 2025, 2024-11-01 ^S09.
End of support	Estimated 2031-06-17 for 9.x ^S05	Mainstream 2029-11-13, extended 2034-11-14 ^S09.
VMware migration tool	Not applicable ^S02	VM Conversion extension for Windows Admin Center, in preview ^S11.
Hypervisor	ESX ^S02	Hyper-V ^S73.

Nutanix vs VMware

The table sets each Nutanix AHV field beside the VMware field. Neither vendor shows a price in the pages retrieved. Nutanix shows Move as its VMware migration tool and states no price for it ^S25.

Field	VMware VCF and VVF	Nutanix AHV (NCI)
Licence metric	Per core: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S01	Per physical CPU core ^S24.
Subscription or perpetual	Subscription: VCF ^S80, VVF ^S03	Term licence, 6 to 60 months ^S23.
Public list price	Not published ^S78	Not published ^S23.
Minimums	16 cores per processor ^S01 ^S80	Licensing must cover all cores of the cluster ^S23.
Free tier	Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e: 2 physical CPUs per host, 8 vCPUs per VM ^S04	Community Edition, at no cost, for learning on your own hardware ^S26.
Current version and release	VCF 9.1.1, 2026-09-03 ^S06	Not retrieved ^S27.
End of support	Estimated 2031-06-17 for 9.x ^S05	Not retrieved ^S27. 15 months Maintenance, then 9 months Troubleshooting only ^S27.
VMware migration tool	Not applicable ^S02	Nutanix Move ^S25.
Hypervisor	ESX ^S02	Nutanix AHV ^S23.

Platforms not yet covered

Three platforms were looked at and have no table row. A platform needs at least 3 of the 9 fields filled from its own vendor’s pages. These three fell short in the pages this run could retrieve. This is a statement about retrieval on 2026-10-11, not about the products. The refresher retries them each quarter.

HPE Morpheus VM Essentials. The vendor site refused automated retrieval. hpe.com, community.hpe.com and the HPE documentation hosts reset the connection or returned HTTP 403 or 404. The support.hpe.com release notes returned an empty script shell. No archive snapshot exists.
Scale Computing HyperCore. The price sits behind a quote tool that needs a form, which was not filled. The licence metric, free tier, version, support dates and migration tool name were not found on the pages retrieved.
VergeIO VergeOS. The price is behind a sales form. The hypervisor, version and support dates are not stated on the pages retrieved.

Methodology

Every value comes from a vendor’s own page, document or API, retrieved on 2026-10-11, except the Platform9 service-provider page ^S59 and the Vates pricing page ^S28, re-checked on 2026-10-19. Each value traces to a row in the clean dataset and an entry in the source ledger. The two VVF licensing statements, per core ^S01 and on subscription ^S03, trace to the source ledger and the source list only. The dataset has 199 publishable rows. Each of the 10 platforms has all 9 fields filled with a sourced value, a “not published” or “not retrieved” row with its reason, or, for VMware’s migration tool, “not applicable”. Prices quoted by resellers or analysts are not treated as vendor list prices and are not shown.

Prices stay in the vendor’s currency and unit. Nothing is converted across currencies, and no price is normalised across metrics. The only derived price is the Azure Local per-month figure, 10.04 USD per physical core per month. Where a source gives a month and no day, the value stays month-only. Microsoft’s page source gives each end time in UTC, as the source snippets show, and the dates here are the US Pacific calendar dates that Microsoft’s page displays. Where two Broadcom documents give different 9.1 dates, VCF 9.1.0 and VVF 9.1 keep their own dates because they are different products.

Lifecycle dates are current as of 2026-10-11 and are not aged out by the 24-month rule. Several sources are vendor marketing pages, and they are used only for what the vendor says about its own product. The refresh cadence is quarterly, plus vendor announcements. Hub-wide rules are on the methodology page.

Download and embed

Download the CSV. It holds the publishable rows, each with its source key and retrieval date, not every row in the working dataset. The citation block below gives ready-made citation HTML. The lifecycle chart has an embed link, and the embed code below carries the attribution link.

Frequently asked questions

Is VMware completely free now?

Not for VCF. Broadcom's specific program documentation of June 2026 states that VCF is subscription software licensed per core ^S80. Broadcom's knowledge base describes a free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e hypervisor limited to 2 physical CPUs per host and 8 vCPUs per VM, with no vCenter management and no official support ^S04. That article is undated and does not cover VCF 9.

Is Hyper-V free?

Microsoft describes Hyper-V Server 2019, the standalone product, as a free product ^S94. Mainstream support for it has ended and extended support ends 2029-01-09 ^S10. Hyper-V is also built into Windows Server ^S73, and Windows Server 2025 lists at USD 6,771 for Datacenter and USD 1,176 for Standard per 16-core pack, suggested MSRP ^S07.

Is Hyper-V obsolete?

Windows Server 2025 was released on 2024-11-01, with mainstream support to 2029-11-13 and extended support to 2034-11-14 ^S09. For the standalone Hyper-V Server 2019, mainstream support has ended and extended support ends 2029-01-09 ^S10.

Is VMware becoming obsolete?

Broadcom's KB 314608 lists VCF 9.1.1 as released on 2026-09-03 ^S06. Broadcom's estimated end of service date for the VCF 9.x code line is 2031-06-17, an estimate and not a lifecycle matrix entry ^S05.

Is Proxmox the same as VMware?

No. They are different products from different vendors. Proxmox VE combines the KVM hypervisor with Linux Containers ^S22, and VMware VCF uses the ESX hypervisor ^S02. Proxmox is licensed per occupied CPU socket under an annual subscription ^S18, and VCF per core as subscription software ^S80.

Can Proxmox be used to replace VMware?

Proxmox VE has an integrated VM importer for VMware ESXi, tested from ESXi 6.5 up to 8.0 ^S21. Importing a VM with disks on VMware vSAN does not work directly ^S21. The wiki text carries the phrase "At time of writing (November 2024)" ^S21.

What are the key differences between VMware and Nutanix?

VMware VCF is licensed per core as subscription software, with a minimum of 16 cores per processor ^S80, on the ESX hypervisor ^S02. Nutanix NCI is licensed per physical CPU core ^S24 on term licences of 6 to 60 months, and licensing must cover all cores of the cluster ^S23. Its hypervisor is Nutanix AHV ^S23, and neither vendor shows a price in the pages retrieved ^S78 ^S23.

Sources

Every figure on this page carries a key that links to an entry below. Retrieved is the date the figure was last verified against the source. Sponsor names who paid for the research; a figure with a sponsor is read with that interest in mind. Hub-wide rules are on the methodology page.

S01 Broadcom Knowledge Base, Counting Cores for VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation and TiBs for vSAN (KB 313548)
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
not stated
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
You must license a minimum of 16 physical cores for each CPU (physical processor) in your ESXi hosts, even if a CPU has fewer than 16 cores. | VCF and VVF core licensing is based on the total number of physical CPU cores across all ESXi hosts you intend to license.
S02 Broadcom, VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
2026-09-03
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Customers with perpetual licenses will need to switch to subscription licenses prior to upgrading. | Broadcom Software Maintenance Essential Support is included with VCF.
S03 Broadcom, VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), PDF
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
not stated
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
A. VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1 is generally available as of May 05, 2026. | VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1 licensing is designed specifically for the new subscription model.
S04 Broadcom Knowledge Base, VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 3e now available as a Free Hypervisor (KB 399823)
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
not stated
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Up to 2 physical CPUs supported per host 8 vCPUs per virtual machine | Cannot be managed by vCenter Server | No official Broadcom support
S05 Broadcom, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog (author shown as VCF Team), VMware Cloud Foundation 9 Ushers In New Support Model and Release Cadence
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
2025-07-16
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
For the VCF 9.x code line, this would represent an estimated End of Service date of 17-June 2031. | general expectation going forward will be to provide support for our major releases for six (6) years from that major release and, in certain cases, | an additional year of Extended Support. | Our expectation is that initial minor releases will provide 27 months support each, while the last minor release will provide 45 months of support
S06 Broadcom Knowledge Base, Correlating VMware Cloud Foundation version with the versions of its constituent products (KB 314608)
Sponsor
none stated
Sample
not stated
Fieldwork
not stated
Published
not stated
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
9.0 17 Jun 2025 | 9.1.0 12 May 2026 | 9.1.1 03 Sep 2026
S07 Microsoft, Windows Server 2025 Pricing and licensing
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Suggested MSRP: $6,771 | Suggested MSRP: $1,176 | $33.58 per CPU core / month; $0.046 / hour
S08 Microsoft (Commercial Licensing), Windows Server 2025 Licensing Guidance
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
subject to a minimum of 8 core licenses per physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses per server. | Core licenses are sold in 2-packs and 16-packs.
S09 Microsoft Learn (Microsoft Lifecycle), Windows Server 2025 - Microsoft Lifecycle
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2024-11-04
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Windows Server 2025 11/1/2024 8:00:00 AM 11/14/2029 6:59:59 AM 11/15/2034 6:59:59 AM
S10 Microsoft Learn (Microsoft Lifecycle), Hyper-V Server 2019 - Microsoft Lifecycle
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2024-05-20
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Hyper-V Server 2019 11/13/2018 8:00:00 AM 1/10/2024 6:59:59 AM 1/10/2029 6:59:59 AM | Mainstream support for Hyper-V Server 2019 has ended.
S11 Microsoft Learn, VM Conversion Extension in Windows Admin Center (Preview)
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2025-08-13
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
The VM Conversion extension is currently in PREVIEW.
S12 Microsoft, Azure Local pricing overview
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2026-10-11
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Azure Local offers a free trial for the first 60 days after registration.
S13 Microsoft (Azure Retail Prices API), Azure Retail Prices, serviceName Azure Stack HCI (the Azure Local meters)
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2025-04-01
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2026-10-11
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"currencyCode":"USD","tierMinimumUnits":0.0,"retailPrice":0.33,"unitPrice":0.33 ... "meterName":"Standard Monthly Service Fee" ... "unitOfMeasure":"1/Day"
S14 Microsoft Learn, Azure Local billing and payment
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2026-06-25
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Billing is based on a flat rate per physical processor core in an Azure Local instance | There's no minimum, no maximum | local storage and support up to 16 nodes
S15 Microsoft Learn, Azure Local release information
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2026-10-01
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2026-10-11
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12.2609.1003.7 Availability date: 2026-09-11 | Each Azure Local release is supported for six months | 23H2 OS (OS version 25398.xxxx) reached end of support in April 2026
S16 Microsoft Learn, Use Azure Migrate to move VMware VMs to Azure Local
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2026-09-24
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
This article provides an overview of how to migrate VMware virtual machines (VMs) to your Azure Local instance using Azure Migrate.
S18 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, Pricing for Subscriptions Plans - Proxmox Virtual Environment
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2026-10-11
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€ 1,100 / year per socket €1,100 estimated annual total | €120 / year per CPU socket | A subscription is required for every occupied physical CPU socket.
S19 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH (Proxmox VE wiki), FAQ - Proxmox VE
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2026-05-21
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Proxmox VE code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3. | Proxmox VE versions are supported at least as long as the corresponding Debian version is supported by the Debian Security Team, i.e. approximately 3 years after its initial release
S20 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH (Proxmox VE wiki), Roadmap - Proxmox VE
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2026-09-23
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Proxmox VE 9.2 Released 21. May 2026: See Downloads Based on Debian Trixie (13.5)
S21 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH (Proxmox VE wiki), Migrate to Proxmox VE
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Published
2026-05-27
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
At time of writing (November 2024), VMware ESXi and OVAs/OVFs are supported as import source | Import was tested from ESXi version 6.5 up to version 8.0. | Importing a VM with disks backed by a VMware vSAN storage does not work.
S22 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, Proxmox Virtual Environment - Open-Source Server Virtualization Platform
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
It tightly integrates the KVM hypervisor and Linux Containers (LXC), software-defined storage and networking functionality, on a single platform.
S23 Nutanix, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) datasheet
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
NCI is priced on a per core basis and licensing must cover the entire number of cores for full capacity of the cluster being licensed. | All SKUs deliver term licenses, and are configurable for any duration between 6-60 months. Licenses must be renewed for continued access to software and support.
S24 Nutanix, Nutanix Licensing and Cloud Platform Software Options
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2026-10-11
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Licenses are portable across hardware platforms and are available in 1 through 5-year term options.
S25 Nutanix, Nutanix Move
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Migrate from diverse environments with support for flexible source infrastructures like vSphere, Hyper-V, AWS, and more
S26 Nutanix, Nutanix Community Edition
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Join and Download at No Cost
S27 Nutanix, Support Policies (End of Support Life policy, Nutanix versioning)
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
At the end of the fifteen (15) month Maintenance period, each Upgrade family is entitled to receive Troubleshooting only for a subsequent nine (9) months. | Log in to the Nutanix Support Portal to view End of Life Support Information .
S28 Vates SAS (Grenoble, France), Pricing and support (Vates Virtualization Management Stack: XCP-ng and Xen Orchestra)
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2026-10-19
Verbatim
ESSENTIAL 3 hosts max 2000 2000 /year | PRO 3 hosts min 1000 1000 /host/year | Type-1 Xen-based hypervisor: no limits, no license fees.
S30 XCP-ng project (Vates), documentation, Releases | XCP-ng Documentation
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2026-10-11
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8.3 LTS 2024-10-07 Full support, LTS 2028-11-30
S31 XCP-ng project (Vates), documentation, Migrate to XCP-ng
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
This method doesn't require any direct access to the VMware storage, only an HTTP access to the ESXi API.
S32 XCP-ng project, XCP-ng - XenServer Based, Community Powered
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2026-10-11
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XCP-ng is a Xen Project incubation project hosted by the Linux Foundation
S33 Red Hat, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Engine
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Get a straightforward, per-node licensing model for bare-metal deployments
S34 Red Hat, Self-managed Red Hat OpenShift subscription guide
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2026-10-11
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A physical node is 1 server regardless of the number of CPU sockets in the server, or cores in the CPUs. This subscription option is available for all self-managed OpenShift editions, and is the only option for OpenShift Virtualization Engine. | Available with Standard 8x5 or Premium 24x7 support SLA. | No third-party hypervisor is allowed.
S35 Red Hat, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Life Cycle Policy
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2026-10-11
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Extended Update Support - Long Life Add-on - Additional Term 1 is included with all Premium subscriptions and available as an optional add-on to Standard subscriptions for OpenShift Virtualization Engine
S36 Red Hat, Migration Toolkit for Virtualization 2.12 documentation
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Migrating virtual machines from VMware vSphere, Red Hat Virtualization or OpenStack platforms, or other platforms to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization by using the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization
S41 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), Licensing overview | XenServer 8.4
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2026-10-11
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XenServer is licensed on a per-socket basis. | Trial Edition showcases our Premium Edition feature set on a restricted size pool (maximum three hosts) for up to 90 days.
S43 Platform9 Systems, Contact Us | Platform9 (the /pricing URL redirects here)
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Contact Us
S44 Platform9 Systems, Migrate VMs from VMware to PCD
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2026-10-11
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vJailbreak is tested with and supports vCenter version 6.7 or greater today.
S48 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), XenServer Pricing and License Tiers
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2026-10-11
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Currently XenServer is only available as an entitlement of a Citrix subscription. For Citrix pricing, please contact your Citrix Sales representative or Citrix channel partner. | Premium Unit Type * CPU Socket Term Subscription Maintenance Included †
S49 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), XenServer Features and Editions | XenServer 9
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
XenServer 9 is available as Premium Edition and the Trial Edition. | The Xen Project hypervisor upon which all workloads run.
S50 Oracle, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager: What's New (Release Notes)
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Release 4.5 of Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager is based on oVirt community release version 4.5.5 .
S51 Oracle, Oracle Linux Product Life Cycle: Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager
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2026-10-11
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Release 4.5 on Oracle Linux 9 (N) August 2026 Yes | Release 4.5 on Oracle Linux 8 (N-1) December 2023 Available until March 2027
S54 Red Hat (Product Life Cycles API), Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform life cycle data (API response)
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2026-10-11
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{"name":"General availability","start_date":"N/A","end_date":"2026-06-09T00:00:00.000Z" | {"name":"Maintenance support","start_date":"2027-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","end_date":"2027-12-31T00:00:00.000Z"
S55 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), XenServer Lifecycle - Simplified Release Stream
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2026-10-11
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XenServer 8.4 is supported until November 2028 and XenServer 9 is now supported until July 2031.
S56 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), Conversion Manager | XenServer 9
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2026-10-11
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Transform your VMware ESXi/vCenter VMs to XenServer® quickly and easily with the Conversion Manager virtual appliance. | Conversion Manager virtual appliance cannot convert VMware ESXi/vCenter Windows VMs with four or more disks into XenServer VMs.
S57 XenServer (Cloud Software Group), What's new | XenServer 9
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2026-10-07
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
XenServer is now an entitlement of the Citrix for Private Cloud, Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud, Citrix Universal MSP, and Citrix Platform License subscriptions for running your Citrix workloads.
S59 Platform9 Systems, PCSP Program - Deploy Now
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2026-10-19
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After 90 days, transition to transparent pricing at $13.52 per core/month | Transparent pricing at $10.40/core per month
S60 Platform9 Systems, Enterprise-grade Virtualization & Container Management | PCD
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Run Private Cloud Director Community Edition in your own environment for free, fully featured for one single region, with no time limits and community support on Reddit .
S61 Platform9 Systems, Your Cloud. Your Rules. (Private Cloud Director landing page)
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2026-10-11
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Per-core pricing. One SKU. Your cost maps directly to the infrastructure you own. | No bundle shock, no 16-core minimums, no forced upgrades at renewal.
S62 Platform9 Systems, Community Edition (Private Cloud Director docs, 2025.10)
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Community Edition is not for production workloads. Use it for labs, evaluation, and learning only.
S73 Microsoft Learn, Hyper-V virtualization in Windows Server and Windows
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2025-07-28
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Hyper-V is Microsoft's enterprise-grade hypervisor technology built into Windows Server and Windows. | Hyper-V also is a key component of Azure Local
S78 Broadcom TechDocs, VCF 9.0 licensing model (VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 documentation)
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Published
2026-09-29
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Most products have a minimum consumption rule of 16 cores per physical CPU.
S80 Broadcom, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Specific Program Documentation (SPD), June 2026 (PDF)
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Published
2026-06
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
License Metric. Software is subscription software licensed on a per Core license metric with a minimum licensing requirement of 16 Cores per Processor.
S83 Oracle, Automate Using virt-v2v with Oracle Linux Automation Manager
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
You can combine the virt-v2v tool with Oracle’s automation solution, Oracle Linux Automation Manager.
S92 Microsoft Learn, Configure Windows Server Pay-as-you-go with Azure Arc (applies to Windows Server 2025)
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Published
2025-06-27
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Verbatim
Azure Arc's Pay-as-you-go subscription licensing option is an alternative to the conventional perpetual licensing for Windows Server 2025. | You can install a traditional perpetual license by entering a product key.
S94 Microsoft (Evaluation Center), Hyper-V Server 2019 (Evaluation Center)
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2026-10-11
Verbatim
Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a free product that delivers enterprise-class virtualization for your datacenter and hybrid cloud. | It is a stand-alone product that contains only the Windows hypervisor, a Windows Server driver model, and virtualization components.
S96 Platform9 Systems, August 2026 Release | Release Notes (Platform9 Private Cloud Director documentation)
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2026-10-11
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August 2026 Release

Figures marked ^derived are computed from the sourced figures beside them; the formula is stated in the text and rounding is stated once in the methodology.

Cite this page

Data on this page is published under CC BY 4.0. Use any figure, chart or table with a link back to this page.

Plain text: Sysprobs Data (2026). VMware Alternatives Compared 2026: Licence, List Price, Free Tier and End of Support. https://sysprobs.com/data/vmware-alternatives-compared/ (updated 19 October 2026).
HTML: <a href="https://sysprobs.com/data/vmware-alternatives-compared/">VMware Alternatives Compared 2026: Licence, List Price, Free Tier and End of Support</a>, Sysprobs Data, updated 19 October 2026.
APA: Sysprobs. (2026, October 19). VMware Alternatives Compared 2026: Licence, List Price, Free Tier and End of Support. Sysprobs Data. https://sysprobs.com/data/vmware-alternatives-compared/

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<iframe src="https://sysprobs.com/data/vmware-alternatives-compared/embed/lifecycle-timeline/" width="100%" height="1440" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%" title="Release and end of support of the current major version, VMware and 9 alternatives, as of 2026-10-11"></iframe>
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Changelog

2026-10-19: First published, data version 3. Version 3 (2026-10-19): Platform9's service-provider page now shows two per-core rates, 13.52 and 10.40 USD per month, and both are listed. Four derived per-core figures for Windows Server and Azure Local are no longer in data.csv. VVF licensing now cites Broadcom's VVF documents. Version 2 (2026-10-11): Changes since the first build, which was not published: Platform9 release (August 2026 Release) added. Windows Server licence model (perpetual, with pay as you go through Azure Arc) added from Microsoft. Free Hyper-V Server 2019 added from Microsoft. Nutanix 1 through 5-year term options added. Microsoft end-date wording corrected.