End of perpetual licenses
Broadcom has ended sales of new perpetual licenses. Existing perpetual licenses can still be used, but once support ends the customer loses updates and technical support.
TCO analysis · July 2026
Proxmox VE vs. VMware vSphere
A business comparison: licensing costs and the return on switching
Model cluster:5 nodes160 cores1.28 TB RAM5 TB usable storage~50 VMs
Why look at an alternative right now
After acquiring VMware, Broadcom fundamentally changed its licensing
Billed per core, not per socket
The new model charges for every physical core, with a minimum of 16 cores per CPU and 72 cores per order.
End of the original editions
The original perpetual editions were discontinued or replaced by subscription offerings. Smaller environments can still buy a vSphere Standard subscription, but it lacks vSAN and DRS; a hyper-converged cluster like our model one is therefore steered towards VVF or VCF.
2–5×
higher renewal quotes reported in licensing advisors' analyses for some VMware customers after moving to the new model
Source: licensing advisory analyses, 2025–2026
The model environment for the comparison
A typical production virtualization cluster of a mid-sized company
5
virtualization nodes
1 CPU socket per node
160
physical cores
32 cores per socket
1.28 TB
total RAM
256 GB per node
5 TB
usable storage
shared usable capacity (raw is higher, per redundancy)
~50
virtual servers
production workload
3
years – typical horizon
TCO computed for 1 / 3 / 5 years
Identical hardware in both scenarios – only software and support costs are compared.
Three licensing worlds
What customers used to pay, what they pay today, and what Proxmox offers
No longer available or renewableofficial price list
VMware before (perpetual)
- One-time license per CPU socket
- vSphere Ent+ ~$3,600 / CPU
- vSAN and vCenter licensed separately
- Annual SnS support ~20–25% of list price
Our cluster: ~€9,600 / year (SnS)
Estimated prices before discountmarket estimate
VMware today (subscription)
- Subscription for every physical core
- VVF: $135–190 / core / year
- VCF: ~$350 / core / year
- Minimums: 16 cores / CPU, 72 / order
Our cluster: €26.6–48.9k / year
Software is free, you pay for supportofficial price list
Proxmox VE
- Subscription per CPU socket (unlimited cores, RAM and VMs)
- 3 tiers: €370–1,100 / socket / year
- Ceph, HA, SDN and built-in backup included
- Open-source licensing – reduces single-vendor dependence
Our cluster: €1.9–5.5k / year
Annual license and support costs
Model cluster (160 cores / 5 sockets), VMware prices per third-party market estimates, thousand EUR per year
VMware VCF48.9
VMware VVF26.6
Legacy perpetual – SnS only*9.6
Proxmox Premium5.5
Proxmox Standard2.8
Proxmox Basic1.9
k€ / year
5–9×
lower annual costs with Proxmox VE Premium compared to VMware VVF / VCF
* SnS = annual support for previously purchased perpetual licenses (Ent+ / vSAN Adv. / vCenter). FX: 1 USD = 0.874 EUR, 1 EUR = 24.27 CZK.
Proxmox VE support tiers
Price per CPU socket per year (excl. VAT) – the software is identical across all tiers
| Tier | € / socket / year | Cluster / year (5 sockets) | Tickets / year | Response time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | €370 | €1,850 | 3 | 1 business day (Austria) |
| Standard | €550 | €2,750 | 10 | 4 hours on business days (Austria) + SSH support |
| Premium | €1,100 | €5,500 | unlimited | 2 hours on business days (Austria) + SSH support |
Swipe the table sideways →
Recommendation for production: Standard or Premium – access to the stable enterprise repository and guaranteed first-response times for critical requests (on Austrian business days).
Storage: VMware vSAN vs. Proxmox Ceph
Both solutions are hyper-converged (HCI) – disks live directly in the nodes, no external array
| Aspect | VMware vSAN | Proxmox Ceph |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Only partially included: VVF 0.25 TiB / core, VCF 1 TiB / core (raw capacity); beyond that ~$350 / TiB / year market estimate | Fully part of the solution, no capacity-based licensing |
| Our scenario (5 TB usable) | Covered by the entitlement – 5 TB usable ≈ 10–15 TiB raw at common redundancy, VVF includes 40 TiB raw calculated | Covered, €0 extra |
| Hardware | Certified vSAN ReadyNodes / HCL | Commodity servers and SSD/NVMe of your choice |
| Redundancy | RAID-1 / erasure coding (RAID-5/6) | 3× replication / erasure coding |
| Scaling and repairs | By adding nodes, managed by vCenter | By adding nodes / disks, self-healing |
Swipe the table sideways →
Other supported storage options: VMware – FC/iSCSI SAN, NFS, NVMe-oF (external array required). Proxmox – ZFS with replication, LVM-thin, NFS/iSCSI/FC SAN. An existing storage array can therefore also be used with Proxmox.
TCO over 1, 3 and 5 years
VMware prices per third-party market estimates (Broadcom publishes no public price list); Proxmox includes a one-time migration – an indicative €20,000 (services and training)
| 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 5 years (CZK) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VMware VVF | ~€26.6k | ~€79.7k | ~€132.8k | ~CZK 3.2M |
| VMware VCF | ~€48.9k | ~€146.8k | ~€244.7k | ~CZK 5.9M |
| Proxmox Premium(incl. migration) | ~€25.5k | ~€36.5k | ~€47.5k | ~CZK 1.2M |
| Proxmox Standard(incl. migration) | ~€22.8k | ~€28.3k | ~€33.8k | ~CZK 0.8M |
| Proxmox Basic(incl. migration) | ~€21.9k | ~€25.6k | ~€29.3k | ~CZK 0.7M |
Swipe the table sideways →
5-year total-cost difference depending on the chosen support tier: roughly €85–105k vs. VVF (~CZK 2.1–2.5M) and €195–215k vs. VCF (~CZK 4.8–5.2M).
Key assumptions:VMware prices per market estimates, without negotiated discountsmarket estimateProxmox incl. one-time migration – €20,000 estimateestimate – validate in pilotCNB FX 07/2026: 1 USD = €0.874; €1 = CZK 24.27official price listAll assumptions and sources
Table values are rounded – the inputs are estimates, so euro-level precision would be misleading. Detailed calculation for your own environment:TCO calculator
Total cost development over time
Cumulative costs in thousand EUR (Proxmox includes the migration in year 1)
Chart data as a table
| k€ | start | year 1 | year 2 | year 3 | year 4 | year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VMware VCF | 0 | 48.9 | 97.9 | 146.8 | 195.8 | 244.7 |
| VMware VVF | 0 | 26.6 | 53.1 | 79.7 | 106.3 | 132.9 |
| Proxmox Premium | 0 | 25.5 | 31 | 36.5 | 42 | 47.5 |
| Proxmox Standard | 0 | 22.8 | 25.5 | 28.3 | 31 | 33.8 |
| Proxmox Basic | 0 | 21.9 | 23.7 | 25.6 | 27.4 | 29.3 |
A VMware subscription is a recurring annual operating cost; the Proxmox migration cost is incurred once, up front.
Return on the migration investment
Indicative one-time investment of €20,000 (analysis, cluster build, moving 50 VMs, training) – the exact price comes from a quote
~10–12 months
payback vs. VMware VVF (depending on the Basic–Premium support tier)
calculated
~6 months
payback vs. VMware VCF (depending on the Basic–Premium support tier)
calculated
~CZK 2.1–5.2M
saved over 5 years depending on the support tier and VMware variant
calculated
How to read these numbers
The annual subscription savings pay back the one-time migration cost in roughly 6–12 months; every following year of operation is pure savings. A negotiated VMware discount extends the payback – yet even with a 40% discount off VVF it stays under 2 years.
Technical comparison for operations
Both platforms cover the key enterprise features
| Feature | VMware vSphere / VCF | Proxmox VE |
|---|---|---|
| High availability (HA) and live VM migration | ||
| Software-defined storage | vSAN (capacity-based licensing) | Ceph, ZFS – included |
| Software-defined networking (SDN) | NSX (VCF only) | SDN module included |
| Containers | Tanzu / vSphere IaaS | LXC natively + VMs for Kubernetes |
| Backup | 3rd party (Veeam etc.) | Built-in backup + Proxmox Backup Server (separate product, support sold separately); Veeam supports PVE (own licensing) |
| Central multi-cluster management | vCenter (bundled) | Datacenter Manager (free) |
| API and automation (Ansible, Terraform) | ||
| Source code and independence | Proprietary | Open source (AGPL) – lower single-vendor dependence |
Swipe the table sideways →
In the model scenario (~50 VMs on 5 nodes), the assessed requirements appear technically achievable with Proxmox VE, subject to a pilot and validation of specific integrations.
Migration risks and how to address them
Openly: what needs to be handled so the migration has no impact on operations
Team know-how
Administrator training is part of the migration budget; the concepts (HA, live migration, snapshots) are similar and day-to-day administration happens in a single web UI.
Third-party ecosystem
Veeam officially supports Proxmox VE (since v12.2) and Zabbix provides an official template; for Ansible and Terraform there are actively developed community integrations. Specific integrations are verified during the pilot.
Enterprise support
A subscription with guaranteed first-response times – from 2 hours for critical requests during Austrian business days – directly from the vendor + a network of local partners for 24/7 monitoring.
The VM migration itself
Built-in import from ESXi; smaller VMs see downtime in the range of minutes, large disks or complex systems take longer – the pilot determines the exact figures. The procedure includes a rollback plan, with VMware running in parallel until the end.
When staying on VMware makes sense
Applications certified only for vSphere, deep existing integrations and automation, team know-how tied to VMware, or a requirement for global-scale support. These are exactly the points the initial analysis and pilot examine.
Migration plan: ~3 months
A gradual transition without big-bang risk – VMware runs in parallel until the very end
- 12–3 weeks
Analysis and design
VM inventory, dependencies, cluster and Ceph design, migration plan
- 23–4 weeks
Pilot
Proxmox cluster build, test migration of selected VMs, backups, monitoring
- 34–6 weeks
Production migration
Gradual migration of ~50 VMs in waves; the pilot validates per-VM downtime (typically minutes for smaller VMs)
- 41–2 weeks
Stabilization
Monitoring, training, switching VMware off and ending the VMware subscription costs
Ideal timing: 3–6 months before your current VMware support / subscription expires.
Summary and recommendation
65–80% savings
on annual virtualization software costs compared to current VMware prices
Payback < 12 months
the one-time migration investment pays for itself within a year, even against the cheapest VMware option
Key capabilities remain
HA, live migration, shared storage (Ceph), backups and support with guaranteed first-response times are all available after the switch
Recommended next steps
- 1
Request a current renewal quote from Broadcom (real numbers instead of estimates).
- 2
Calculate your own scenario in the TCO calculator.
- 3
Approve a Proxmox VE pilot (3 nodes, test VMs, 1 month).
Appendix: assumptions and sources
Calculation assumptions
- VMware prices per third-party market estimates (Broadcom does not publish an official price list), without negotiated discounts: VVF ~$190, VCF ~$350 per core/year; billed for 160 cores (min. 16 cores/CPU, 72 per order).
- vSAN: the entitlement is counted in raw TiB – VVF includes 0.25 TiB/core, VCF 1 TiB/core. The required 5 TB of usable capacity corresponds to ~10–15 TiB raw at common redundancy and is covered (VVF entitlement 40 TiB raw); add-on ~$350/TiB/year.
- Legacy VMware perpetual model: vSphere Ent+ $3,595/CPU + vSAN Adv. $3,995/CPU + vCenter $5,995; annual SnS ~$10,989 (€9,600). No longer available.
- Proxmox VE: Basic €370 / Standard €550 / Premium €1,100 per socket/year; TCO computed for all tiers (€1,850–5,500/year per cluster), conservative headline scenario = Premium.
- Migration: one-time €20,000 – an indicative estimate (analysis, implementation, moving 50 VMs, training); the exact price comes from an implementation partner's quote, parameters adjustable in the calculator.
- The TCO covers the Proxmox VE subscription; built-in backup ships with the platform. Proxmox Backup Server (a separate product with its own support subscription) and Veeam licensing are not included in the model.
- Czech National Bank FX rates as of 14 Jul 2026: 1 EUR = 24.27 CZK; 1 USD = 21.22 CZK (USD ≈ 0.874 EUR). Prices excl. VAT.
Sources
- proxmox.com – Pricing for Subscription Plans (Proxmox VE price list) ↗
official price listofficial price list · continuously updated · verified 07/2026
- knowledge.broadcom.com – KB 313548: Counting Cores for VCF/VVF and TiBs for vSAN ↗
official price listofficial Broadcom KB · continuously updated · verified 07/2026
- atonementlicensing.com – VMware Subscription Pricing 2026 ↗
market estimatethird-party market estimate · 2026 · verified 07/2026
- redresscompliance.com – VMware Cloud Foundation Licensing: 2026 Buyer Guide ↗
market estimatethird-party market estimate · updated Jun 2026 · verified 07/2026
- helpcenter.veeam.com – VBR 12.2 Release Notes (Proxmox VE support) ↗
official price listofficial documentation · GA Aug 2024 · verified 07/2026
- pve.proxmox.com – Migrate to Proxmox VE (ESXi import) ↗
official price listofficial documentation · updated May 2026 · verified 07/2026
- Czech National Bank – FX rates ↗
official price listofficial FX rates · daily rates · verified 07/2026
How figures on this page are labelled:official price listmarket estimatemodel assumptioncalculatedestimate – validate in pilot