Leaving VMware After the Broadcom Changes: Hyper-V, Azure Local or Azure for a Two-to-Four-Host Cluster
Since Broadcom closed its acquisition of VMware, the license behind it has become subscription-only, per-core with minimums, sold through fewer partners, and stripped of the small-deployment editions it was bought under. This article gives the dated list of what changed, then works through the three exits open to a two-to-four-host estate: Hyper-V on the Windows Server licenses you already own, Azure Local for a cluster that stays on-premises but is managed and billed from Azure, or Azure itself. No VMware or Azure prices appear here; they change too often.
What changed for a small VMware customer, with dates
We could not open Broadcom's announcements or the trade press, so every item below is as reported; confirm with your reseller before budgeting.
- 11 December 2023: Broadcom announced the end of sale of perpetual VMware licenses and their support renewals, moving to subscription (VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation) (as reported by Redmond Magazine, 13 December 2023, and ITAM Review, 12 December 2023).
- Subscriptions are priced per core with a minimum of 16 cores per CPU (as reported by Licenseware, 2025).
- Late 2024: the vSphere Essentials Plus kit, the bundle most small clusters were bought under, was withdrawn (as reported by Sikich and TechTarget).
- April 2025: distributor memos described a 72-core minimum per order effective 10 April 2025, reported withdrawn within days, with Broadcom saying it had not announced a price change (as reported by Born's Tech and Windows World, 30 March 2025, and Licenseware).
- 31 July 2025: vSphere Standard reached end of sale; vSphere 9 ships only inside VVF or VCF, and vSphere 8 general support is reported to end on 11 October 2027 (as reported by ESX Virtualization and AceMQ).
- 31 October 2025: the VMware partner program became invitation-only (as reported by The Register, 16 July 2025).
- 25 August 2026: public downloads of the Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK), which most migration and backup tools use to read VMware disks, were removed (as reported by Virtualization Howto, September 2026, and Platform9).
The product is now packaged for large estates, and the last item means waiting makes leaving harder.
Exit one: Hyper-V on Windows Server 2025, the license you already own
Most small VMware clusters already hold Windows Server licenses for their guests. Microsoft's Windows Server 2025 licensing guidance (opened 27 September 2026) states that Datacenter, with every physical core licensed (minimum 16 per server, 8 per processor), allows unlimited operating system environments on the host; Standard allows two per full set of core licenses. Hyper-V is a role of Windows Server, so a Datacenter-licensed host runs as many Windows VMs as it can hold with no hypervisor license. Our Windows Server 2025 licensing article covers the rest; the Windows Server licensing calculator prices Standard against Datacenter.
Failover clustering and live migration are built in; storage is your SAN or Storage Spaces Direct; management is Windows Admin Center (no charge) or System Center (licensed separately); Linux guests need Hyper-V integration drivers before conversion. Windows Server 2016 hosts are not a target: support ends 12 January 2027 (Windows Server 2016 end of support), so migration and host upgrade are one project. Our Hyper-V Failover Cluster Upgrade to Windows Server 2025 service ($1,250 per server plus a $2,950 tenant fee, three weeks) builds the target cluster.
Exit two: Azure Local, the on-premises cluster billed from Azure
Azure Local is the product Microsoft renamed from Azure Stack HCI on 19 November 2024 (Microsoft Learn rename page, not opened; as summarized in search results; verify there). It is a Hyper-V-based cluster on validated hardware, registered with Azure Arc, managed from the Azure portal, and billed to an Azure subscription per physical core per month rather than bought as a Windows Server license.
It fits a business that wants data on-premises but operations in Azure, and has a hardware refresh due, since validated nodes usually rule out reusing the current hosts. It is the wrong choice if the goal is to stop paying a monthly fee; the fee moves from Broadcom to Microsoft, and attached Azure resources are metered and are your charge. Our Azure Local Design and Deployment service (from $9,500, six weeks) covers hardware, Arc registration and first workloads.
Exit three: Azure, and retiring the hosts
The third exit is to stop running hosts. Microsoft's Azure Migrate documentation (ms.date 18 May 2026) describes discovery, assessment and migration of VMware, Hyper-V and physical servers from one appliance, with agentless VMware replication and no charge for the service itself; the Azure resources you create are metered and are your charge. Sizing, reservations and the Azure Hybrid Benefit decide the monthly bill; our Azure reservations and savings plans and Azure Hybrid Benefit articles explain both; the benefit needs core licenses with active Software Assurance or a qualifying subscription.
Microsoft's Azure Migrate documentation states that agentless VMware replication needs VDDK 8.0 or 9.0 on the appliance and that organizations without a supported VDDK should use agent-based migration; after August 2026 plan for that fallback. An Azure exit without a landing zone produces the sprawl described in What is an Azure landing zone. For the last three servers, Moving the last on-premises servers to Azure is the step-by-step companion to this article.
The tooling that moves a VM off ESXi
Three Microsoft tools cover the three exits.
- Windows Admin Center VM Conversion extension. Microsoft's documentation (ms.date 13 August 2025; what's-new page ms.date 16 January 2026) describes an agentless extension at no extra cost that migrates VMware VMs from vCenter 6.x, 7.x and 8.x to Hyper-V with online replication, in batches of up to ten. Every release through February 2026 is marked preview, so test on a non-critical VM first.
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Microsoft's VMM documentation (ms.date 22 August 2025) covers VMware-to-Hyper-V conversion from VMM 2019 UR3 onward, with limits: offline conversion only, VMware Tools uninstalled first, no IDE-bus disks or vSAN sources, and no more than ten conversions at a time per ESXi host. Use it if you already own System Center.
- Azure Migrate, for the Azure exit, with the VDDK caveat above.
Backup-and-restore is the fourth path: most backup products can restore a VMware backup as a Hyper-V or Azure VM. The per-VM checklist: uninstall VMware Tools, record MAC and IP addresses, note boot type (BIOS to Generation 1, UEFI to Generation 2), convert, install integration services, re-join the domain if needed.
What to keep on-premises, and a timeline for thirty VMs
In a typical thirty-VM estate we keep on-premises anything that talks to shop-floor equipment, the print server until Universal Print replaces it, a file server whose users are all in one office, and any application whose vendor supports only one hypervisor. Everything else, including SQL Server after a check with the SQL Server licensing calculator, is a candidate; the Azure Arc article covers the ones that stay.
A realistic timeline for thirty VMs on three hosts:
- Weeks 1 to 2: Azure Migrate discovery (it assesses Hyper-V targets as well as Azure), a licensing review, and the keep-or-move decision per VM.
- Weeks 3 to 4: build the target cluster or landing zone, convert two low-risk VMs, run them for a week.
- Weeks 5 to 9: waves of six to eight VMs, each with a rollback window, domain controllers last.
- Weeks 10 to 11: decommission the hosts, let the VMware subscription lapse, archive the last backups.
The dates that force the schedule are your VMware renewal and Windows Server 2016 end of support on 12 January 2027 if any host or guest is still on it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hyper-V included with Windows Server?
Yes. Hyper-V is a role of Windows Server, covered by the host's Windows Server license with no separate charge. A host licensed with Datacenter edition runs unlimited Windows Server VMs; Standard covers two per full set of core licenses.
Can a three-host shop still buy VMware?
Only through an invited partner, as a subscription, and only as VVF or VCF now that vSphere Standard and the Essentials Plus kit are gone, as reported.
How long does a VMware to Hyper-V migration take?
For thirty VMs on two to four hosts, about three months from inventory to decommission, mostly in waves of six to eight VMs with a rollback window each.
What happens to our perpetual vSphere licenses?
They keep working but stop receiving updates and support when the support term ends, and Broadcom no longer sells renewals. Running unsupported ESXi is a risk decision to time-box.
Sources
- Broadcom announcement of 11 December 2023 ending perpetual licenses (not opened; as reported by Redmond Magazine, 13 December 2023, and ITAM Review, 12 December 2023)
- 16-core minimum and the April 2025 72-core episode (as reported by Born's Tech and Windows World, 30 March 2025, and Licenseware; not opened)
- Essentials Plus kit retired late 2024 (as reported by Sikich and TechTarget; not opened)
- vSphere Standard end of sale 31 July 2025, vSphere 9 only in VVF and VCF, vSphere 8 support ending 11 October 2027 (as reported by ESX Virtualization and AceMQ; not opened)
- Partner program invitation-only from 31 October 2025 (as reported by The Register, 16 July 2025; not opened)
- Public VDDK downloads removed 25 August 2026 (as reported by Virtualization Howto, September 2026, and Platform9; not opened)
- Microsoft, "Windows Server 2025 Licensing Guidance" (opened 27 September 2026)
- Microsoft Learn, opened via the MicrosoftDocs GitHub source: VM Conversion Extension overview (ms.date 13 August 2025) and what's new (ms.date 16 January 2026); VMM VMware conversion (ms.date 22 August 2025); Azure Migrate overview (ms.date 18 May 2026) and the VDDK include
- Microsoft Learn, "Renaming Azure Stack HCI to Azure Local" (not opened; 19 November 2024 as summarized in search results; verify on Microsoft Learn)
- IT Partner blog: windows-server-2025-licensing-what-changed; azure-hybrid-benefit-explained-windows-server-sql-server-2026
- IT Partner engineering notes, September 2026
| Question | Hyper-V on Windows Server 2025 | Azure Local | Azure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hypervisor license | Included in the Windows Server host license; Datacenter for unlimited VMs | Per physical core per month through an Azure subscription | None; you pay for VMs, storage, networking |
| Hardware | Reuse current hosts if supported | Validated nodes, usually new | None on-premises |
| Reuses Windows Server licenses you own | Yes | Yes, or subscription through Azure | Yes, with Software Assurance, through Azure Hybrid Benefit |
| Fits when | No monthly infrastructure fee wanted | On-premises data, Azure operations, refresh due | Hosts due for retirement, latency allows |
| IT Partner service | Hyper-V Failover Cluster Upgrade ($1,250 per server plus $2,950) | Azure Local Design and Deployment (from $9,500) | VMware to Azure Migration (quoted); Hyper-V to Azure (from $4,950) |
Key takeaways
- VMware is subscription-only and per-core with minimums, the small kits and standalone vSphere Standard are gone, partners are invitation-only, and public VDDK downloads ended in August 2026, all as reported; confirm with your reseller.
- Hyper-V is a role of Windows Server: a host fully licensed with Datacenter runs unlimited Windows VMs, so most small clusters already own their next hypervisor.
- Azure Local keeps the cluster on-premises with Azure management and monthly per-core billing; Azure retires the hosts, and sizing, reservations and the Azure Hybrid Benefit set the bill.
- Microsoft's VM Conversion extension (preview, no extra cost) and SCVMM handle VMware to Hyper-V; Azure Migrate handles the Azure path, with agent-based migration as the fallback now that the VDDK is not public.
- Thirty VMs on three hosts is about a three-month project in waves of six to eight VMs, timed against your VMware renewal and Windows Server 2016 end of support on 12 January 2027.
Start with the Azure Migrate Datacenter Discovery and Assessment ($1,950 per project, two weeks), which inventories the estate and prices all three exits. For the Azure path, VMware to Azure Virtual Machine Migration is quoted per estate over six weeks, Hyper-V to Azure Virtual Machine Migration starts from $4,950, and a single box moves with Windows Server Migration to Azure from a Physical Server ($850, five days). On-premises, Hyper-V Failover Cluster Upgrade to Windows Server 2025 ($1,250 per server plus a $2,950 tenant fee, three weeks) and Azure Local Design and Deployment (from $9,500, six weeks) build the target. Then book a call.
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