[German]A small addendum to the never-ending topic of VMWare by Broadcom, which is constantly unsettling users with changes to their product licenses. A few days ago there was an announcement that VMware ESXi 8 is once again free to download.
VMware had killed the free ESXi Server
The problem has been addressed several times here in the blog (see article links at the end of the post). Since Broadcom bought the virtualization provider VMware and took over control at the end of 2023, no stone has been left unturned. All on-premises products have been discontinued and customers are being switched to subscription solutions and cloud contracts for VMware virtualization products.
I mentioned in the blog post Broadcom ends perpetual licenses for VMware products – End of the free ESXi server? that the free version of the VMware ESXi server has been abandoned. For me, this meant that VMware ESXi Server was dead as a product – existing customers will only receive security updates.
On the other hand, VMWare by Broadcom is always good for surprises. For example, VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion were first released free of charge for private users and then also for business users. I reported on this in the article Will VMware Workstation be free soon also für business user?.
Is the free ESXi 8 server back for free?
This topic has been on my mind for a while as I was away for a few days. Back on April 11, 2024, blog reader Manuel B. contacted me by email and pointed out the latest release notes for ESXi 8.0 Update 3e.
Manuel has recognized the passage "Broadcom makes available the VMware vSphere Hypervisor version 8, an entry-level hypervisor. […] You can download it free of charge from the Broadcom Support portal." in the "What's new" section.
This can be interpreted to mean that VMware by Broadcom is once again making the VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 3e hypervisor available free of charge on the Broadcom Support portal. Manuel wondered whether the note refers to the pure download (the ESXi can be downloaded free of charge), or has Broadcom also quietly and secretly backtracked on the free hypervisor? Manuel had not found any reference to the "free of charge" in the old release notes.
On April 15, 2025, blog reader Hartmut F. also contacted me with the same information and was asking whether the move would still be of any use after the Broadcom disaster? Most of his customers (all SMEs) want to move away from VMWare and Hartmut is migrating his customers to Proxmox.
I see it similarly to blog reader Hartmut F., who has already been quoted above. After the whole Broadcom disaster, it can only mean: "Migrate away from this provider as quickly as possible and towards Proxmox or an alternative virtualizer". Or how do you see it?
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I can confirm that VMware vSphere Hypervisor 8.0U3e is now available for download under the free products section of the Broadcom portal.