VMware customers reevaluate virtualization strategies due to rising costs and support concerns

VMware customers are rethinking their virtualization strategies due to rising costs and concerns about support for perpetual license holders.

A recent survey conducted by Rimini Street found that 90% of VMware users are exploring alternative options because of the company's high licensing fees. The survey involved 300 organizations worldwide and was independently researched by Unisphere Research, providing an unbiased perspective on the issue. This trend is not isolated to one specific group or region.

The main reasons for this shift in strategy appear to be costs associated with VMware licenses. Many customers have reported significant price hikes since Broadcom acquired the company, with some even experiencing increases of up to 1,000%. Others have seen more modest price rises of around 100-300%.

Cost savings are a top priority for many organizations, and 73% of survey participants cited this as a key consideration in their virtualization roadmap decisions. As VMware users reassess their relationships with the company, it remains to be seen how this shift will play out and what alternatives they will choose instead.

The survey results align with other recent reports on VMware customers facing significant costs associated with licensing fees and changes to support policies.

Organizations exploring virtualization options face significant barriers to progress, according to a recent survey by Rimini. The most cited obstacles include operational complexity and multi-vendor management challenges. Securing the increased attack surface and team skills requirements also pose considerable hurdles.

These findings suggest that while companies are actively seeking change, they are also looking for ways to minimize risk and avoid unnecessary disruption. This sentiment echoes previous statements on the importance of vendor diversity in IT environments.

The Broadcom takeover has highlighted the risks associated with being overly reliant on a single vendor. Many clients now view this development as a wake-up call to reassess their dependence on a single provider. As a result, they are seeking more diverse on-premises environments that support both operational and financial goals.

Rimini's survey indicates growing interest in flexible, mixed environments that combine multiple virtualization platforms. A significant proportion of respondents, 60 percent, are considering a multi-hypervisor strategy to achieve this goal. Furthermore, 47 percent favor a hybrid IT environment featuring hypervisors and containers for workload placement.

The majority of respondents, 48 percent, do not plan to move their assets to VMware's Cloud Foundation platform. This trend suggests that companies are exploring alternative solutions to address their virtualization needs, driven in part by concerns over licensing costs and support policies.

As companies continue to explore alternative solutions to virtualization, a clear trend is emerging: enterprises are diversifying their strategies and transitioning towards bespoke IT environments that combine on-premises infrastructure, private cloud, public cloud, and multiple hypervisors.

This shift is driven by the need for workload flexibility, operational efficiency, and cost control. Organizations are no longer content with relying on a single provider or vendor, but instead are seeking to reduce their dependency on any one company. This trend suggests that companies are reevaluating their paths to modernization and adopting approaches that meet their unique business requirements.

Gartner's recent report, the "Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure," predicts that by 2029, 55 percent of enterprises will have developed proofs of concept for alternative distributed hybrid infrastructure products to replace their VMware-based deployments. This is a significant increase from 25 percent in 2026 and highlights the growing interest among companies to move away from traditional virtualization solutions.

The survey reflects a broader effort by enterprises to modernize at their own pace, maintain continuity for mission-critical systems, and improve resilience, security, and scalability over time. By embracing hybrid cloud infrastructure delivery and balancing support for existing environments with new investments, organizations are positioning themselves for long-term success in an increasingly complex IT landscape.