Why Leave VMware in 2025? Alternatives, Comparison and Migration Guide

If you’re here, you’ve probably felt the sting of VMware’s price hikes and the need to look for alternatives, before the next contract also demands your firstborn (and another ton of gold). That’s why we’ll explore the main alternatives to VMware.
We’ll thoroughly analyze the situation and what to expect from other options, comparing them and providing a roadmap for that migration.

The shift in enterprise virtualization

Since VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom in November 2023, users have faced repeated price hikes. And we’re not talking about the usual inflation adjustments…
Customers in Europe have seen increases of up to 1500% (yes, fifteen hundred, not a typo), and even giants like AT&T have experienced hikes of 1050%. A quick look at VMware communities like Reddit reveals the impact and shocking price escalations, regardless of company size.
In many cases, these increases are unsustainable and put business continuity at risk, hence the urgency to seek alternatives.

Why so many companies are migrating from VMware in 2025

The first reason is obviously that Broadcom/VMware has decided to grab its customers by the ankles and shake them upside down to see how much cash falls out. Fully aware of their dominant position, they know many companies can’t afford to change infrastructure, or not in the short term.
But it’s not just about price.
VMware used to offer perpetual licenses for vSphere/ESXi, but in line with the trend of charging more while owning less, they now only offer subscription-based licensing. This comes with larger bundles, longer terms, and higher costs.
And the features? Exactly the same.
No support improvements, no innovations, no added value.
Moreover, price hikes are frequent, so even if a company hasn’t yet been hit hard or can afford it, there’s total uncertainty about the next shakedown increase.
As we can see, the price surge is due to classic empire behavior—abusing market dominance, focusing on large clients and pushing out smaller, less profitable ones.
For example, the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), part of their Ministry of Infrastructure, saw its bill jump from €2.1 million to almost €4 million.
So RWS did what we’re going to discuss here: look for alternatives and migrate. At least, a court forced VMware to provide critical support during the migration when Broadcom initially refused to uphold its support contract.
With this context, it’s best to follow RWS’s lead and review the top VMware alternatives.

Top VMware alternatives in 2025

To avoid turning this into The NeverEnding Story, I’ll focus on virtualization (VMware vSphere, ESXi as hypervisor and vCenter Server for management), although many of the options we’ll cover also include “equivalents” of other VMware services so you can more closely replicate your current environment.
For example, VMware’s vSAN solution has a functional counterpart in Ceph when talking about Proxmox (with technical and requirement differences, of course), or in S2D when we refer to Hyper-V.
And as usual, the correct answer to the question: “Which is the best one?” is the same as for every important question: “It depends.”
I know how anticlimactic (and disappointing) that is, but saying anything else without knowing an organization’s infrastructure and needs is simply not professional.
Let’s take a look at the candidates.

Proxmox

In August 2025, Proxmox launched version 9.0 of its Virtual Environment, based on Debian 13 and open source (which scores points with Pandora, and even more with me for using Debian).
In general, Proxmox is the first option to consider for organizations that are not huge and for those who don’t immediately dismiss Open Source in enterprise environments.

Advantages of Proxmox over VMware:

• Being open source, you can download and try it out right now. As we’ll see in the disadvantages, this can be a double-edged sword.
• It includes integrated migration tools for VMware ESXi. You’ll need to consider decryption or whether the disks are backed by VMware SAN, but you won’t be starting from scratch.
• As for features, it will depend on your specific needs, but Proxmox usually performs well and after some adaptation, it is a very solid alternative.

Disadvantages of Proxmox compared to VMware:

• Support level. Proxmox is “free,” so it lives off support. It offers several subscriptions, from the Community level that gives you access to repositories (but you depend on the wisdom and goodwill of the community), to the Premium one, which promises fast response times, especially for critical incidents. However, that support may be insufficient for many, especially in organizations with high demands.
• It’s often hard to find people experienced with the tool, and there is a learning curve.
• It’s difficult to match the breadth and depth of VMware’s ecosystem if you’re deeply invested in it.

Microsoft Hyper-V

The virtualization technology developed in Redmond is the next option to consider, especially if your organization is of a certain size and your IT infrastructure is already full of Windows stickers.
Hyper-V itself is “free,” in the sense that it’s included with your Windows Server 2022 license.
The Standard version, for instance, allows for 2 virtual machines, so depending on how many you need, you’ll have to buy the corresponding Windows licenses (if you need 5 virtual machines, you’ll need 3 licenses and “waste” one VM slot), in addition to hardware costs, of course.

Advantages of Hyper-V over VMware:

• Depending on your infrastructure and needs, price. Advanced features will obviously require additional investment.
• If you’re already in the Windows ecosystem, setup isn’t very difficult, using the Hyper-V console and PowerShell.
• Performance, scalability, and the ecosystem have improved significantly recently, including encryption, secure boot, and network microsegmentation for security.
• As part of Windows Server, Microsoft offers standard support, but there are higher-level options for those who need them.

Disadvantages of Hyper-V compared to VMware:

• VMware has the edge in core features (slightly better performance, broader ecosystem…). That said, this will always be the case when comparing VMware with any other option, since it has been the enterprise virtualization leader and standard.
• If you’re used to VMware, you’ll need to get familiar with the Hyper-V console, but it’s actually not that difficult and becomes intuitive after the initial adjustment.

Nutanix AHV

Specialized in cloud solutions, and with a hyperconverged infrastructure focus, combining storage, compute, and network subsystems into a unified solution can help achieve the long-standing goal of reducing complexity while improving scalability.
Acropolis (AOS) is their core platform and includes the key components needed to operate (storage, hypervisor…).

Advantages of Nutanix over VMware:

• Simplicity of hyperconvergence, paying for a complete platform (compute, storage, and networking) instead of separately for the hypervisor.
• Price (maybe). Nutanix uses a different licensing model, charging per cluster node regardless of processor or core count. This can make cost estimation more predictable.
• Performance can be better. Thanks to its hyperconverged approach and keeping data close to the VMs that use it, performance can be higher and management easier. Again, as always, it depends on the organization and infrastructure. Some may find Nutanix to be their ideal match, others may not.
• Nutanix is known to be easy to deploy and manage, especially in hyperconverged environments.

Disadvantages of Nutanix compared to VMware:

• VMware’s ecosystem is much broader, and while Nutanix has done a great job ensuring compatibility with major apps, you’ll need to evaluate whether Nutanix meets your specific requirements.
• Prism is Nutanix’s management tool and the basic version comes with Acropolis, but some capabilities and automation features require Pro editions, which cost more.

These three options form the Holy Trinity of VMware alternatives, especially for companies deeply tied to it. But I’ll also mention a couple of others that often come up in these discussions.

Red Hat Virtualization (OpenShift)

With the deprecation of Red Hat Virtualization, Red Hat now offers OpenShift as another alternative, including migration tools.
If you only need virtualization, and depending on your VM workload and requirements, it’s an interesting option. However, let’s be honest: it’s not a real alternative to VMware if you’re heavily invested in its ecosystem.
OpenShift plays in a different league and doesn’t try to be a 1:1 replacement. It’s more of an application platform based on Kubernetes (more comparable to VMware Tanzu), but since it always comes up, it’s worth mentioning.

Citrix XenServer

This is another option that often comes up and, if all we need is a hypervisor, it’s a valid alternative. But again, it’s nowhere near being a robust replacement for VMware and its entire ecosystem in most cases.
Additionally, Citrix is similar to VMware in that it’s a corporation with investors and similar business practices. That means we might be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Yes, I know I said that and still listed Microsoft earlier, but that’s because Hyper-V is currently a real alternative to what VMware offers—and let’s be honest, we all know how Microsoft works, for better or worse.

How to choose the right alternative to VMware

To make the right choice, we need to take an honest look at our budget, our infrastructure, and our soul, because migrating away from VMware isn’t something you do in a day—and it can drain what little spirit we IT folks have left.
That said, since VMware typically locks us into long-term contracts, even if we’re stuck with high prices for a while, we at least have time to plan our escape from Alcatraz.
Here are the recommended steps when selecting an alternative.

1. Analyze your IT infrastructure and organizational needs

Why are we using VMware? Could we, while we’re at it, explore other technologies like containers?
That may rule out some older applications we still rely on, or maybe we don’t know anything about Kubernetes and the like. However, this is a good time to broaden our perspective to see if our needs can be met more efficiently.
This infrastructure and sizing analysis will already hint at the most likely solution:

• A small or mid-sized business with limited resources might find Proxmox a low-cost option.
• If our tech kingdom is filled with Microsoft temples, Hyper-V is probably the way to go.
• If we’re a large enterprise with HCI infrastructure or we believe in hyperconvergence as a future strategy, Nutanix should be our top consideration.

2. Check compatibility

Until Star Trek’s universal translator becomes a reality, IT infrastructures remain a Tower of Babel where every component needs to work together. That’s why compatibility is a key part of our migration plan.
Maybe our infrastructure depends on specific tools (like a certain backup solution) or legacy machines with old drivers and a sticky note saying “Do not unplug” since 2003.
So it’s essential to identify what we absolutely cannot do without and verify whether our alternative solution supports it.
Sadly, VMware’s ecosystem is far more extensive than most competitors’. That’s why we need to identify those critical touchpoints and ensure compatibility.

3. Evaluate built-in migration tools

Some alternatives offer built-in migration tools—especially now, as VMware’s actions have created a wave of potential transitions.
For example, OpenShift has a virtual machine migration option, while with Hyper-V you can convert a VMware VM into a Hyper-V machine after importing it into the console.
So in this step, we assess those tools to see which one can make our life easier. Not everything will be automatic, far from it—but it can save us part of the journey.

4. Determine costs

Once all the above is reviewed, it’s time to face the reality of money and estimate the costs—not just monetary.
We need to factor in licensing, but also possible support, our familiarity with the new tool, and how much effort it will take to adapt.
So, the costs to consider include:

• Monetary.
• Time.
• Human effort and sanity.

5. Evaluate support options

Support is going to be essential, so it’s a good idea to assess it before making a move.
You can contact each vendor with your questions and situation to see how quickly they respond, how helpful they are, and whether they show genuine interest and knowledge.

6. Start a pilot test and transition

Sooner or later, you have to take action—and at this point, you have two options:

• Dive headfirst into the pool (and maybe discover there’s no water).
• Dip your toe in to test the temperature first.

The second option means starting with a pilot test, and it’s always recommended—even if it means dealing with a messy transition or managing a Frankenstein setup where part of your environment is still on VMware and a few test VMs are running on Proxmox, for instance.
It’s better than switching horses midstream and realizing the new one can’t handle the current.
Ideally, you should select a few non-critical machines with different workloads (e.g., one with many network services, another with high CPU usage…). This gives insight into how the new tool performs under various scenarios.
Set a fixed testing period and clear performance goals—if the test goes well, proceed with migrating the rest.

Virtualization and cloud: a strategic duo

Nowadays, it’s rare to have an infrastructure that isn’t hybrid, combining on-premise and cloud environments. When it comes to virtualization and cloud (AWS, Azure, etc.), the VMware alternatives vary.
Broadcom’s VMware offers integrated solutions with major cloud platforms—such as Google Cloud VMware Engine, Azure VMware Solution, or VMware Cloud on AWS—but these are costly and meant for organizations already tied to VMware.
If your budget allows and compatibility is critical, they’re an option, but they’re neither the most affordable nor the most flexible solution. The same applies to alternatives.
First, installing alternatives directly in the cloud typically requires nested virtualization (since most clouds are virtualized environments themselves), which drastically impacts performance.
That means the best approach in hybrid cloud scenarios is:

• On-premise virtualization using the chosen alternative (e.g., Proxmox)
• Use the cloud provider’s native virtualization services (such as AWS EC2, Azure VMs…)

Comparison: VMware vs Alternatives (2025)

We’ve covered a lot, and your head might be spinning, so here’s a summary table with the key points:

Feature	VMware vSphere	Microsoft Hyper-V	Proxmox VE	Nutanix AHV
Hypervisor Type	Proprietary	Proprietary	KVM-based	KVM-based
License Model	Subscription (Expensive)	Included with Windows Server / Subscription	Enterprise (Optional Support) / Free Community	Included with Nutanix platform
Main Strength	Mature ecosystem and enterprise features	Integration with Microsoft stack	Flexibility, cost, and open source	Simplicity in HCI environments
Monitoring with Pandora FMS	✅ Plugin	✅ Plugin	✅ Plugin	✅ Plugin

How Pandora FMS Enhances Virtualized and Multicloud Environments

As shown in the table above, migrating from VMware does not mean losing control or fragmenting IT management with Pandora FMS.
At Pandora, we’ve always aimed to fulfill the dream of managing all IT operations with a single ring to rule them all. That includes virtualization monitoring.
So, no matter what solution you migrate to, Pandora FMS has plugins for Proxmox, Nutanix, Hyper-V, or Citrix XenServer, meaning that if you used our VMware option, you’ll have no issues continuing with your new environment.
This provides a huge advantage, both in monitoring performance and migration behavior, and in ensuring continuous operations.
Migration is always a tough decision—it carries opportunity, financial, performance, and mental health costs. But VMware’s policies leave many with no alternative, and fortunately, alternatives do exist.
It won’t be easy if you’re deeply invested in its ecosystem, but good planning following the steps we’ve outlined can help you finally break free from Broadcom’s tightening grip.