Leaving VMware: the guide to migrating to Proxmox after Broadcom
Price hikes, forced bundles, uncertainty: why companies are leaving VMware after the Broadcom acquisition, and how to migrate to Proxmox without downtime, explained simply.
Since Broadcom acquired VMware in late 2023, the same scenario keeps playing out in server rooms: the renewal invoice arrives, it has doubled or tripled, perpetual licenses are gone in favour of per-core subscriptions, and the products you used are now sold in forced bundles. Many companies are finally asking the question they’d been putting off: what if we left VMware?
The good news: the alternative exists, it’s mature, and migrating is easier than you’d fear. Here’s how to approach leaving VMware for Proxmox VE, with confidence.
Why so many companies are leaving VMware
The problem isn’t technical: vSphere is still an excellent hypervisor. The problem is commercial and strategic.
- Exploding costs. The shift to per-core subscriptions, combined with the end of perpetual licenses, has multiplied bills by 2 to 5 times for most SMBs.
- Forced bundles. You only wanted vSphere? You now often have to buy a full suite, most of which you’ll never use.
- Loss of control. Unpredictable renewals, changing terms, an uncertain roadmap. Hard to plan a three-year IT budget under those conditions.
The result: what was a comfortable standard has become a financial risk. Hence the sudden interest in alternatives.
Proxmox VE: the serious alternative
Proxmox VE is an open-source virtualization platform built on the Linux kernel (KVM for virtual machines, LXC for containers). It’s no hobby project: it runs in production at hosting providers, universities and companies around the world.
What it offers, with no per-core license:
- High availability (automatic VM failover if a node goes down);
- Live migration of VMs between nodes, with no interruption;
- Distributed storage built in (Ceph) or on SAN/NFS, your choice;
- Native backup via Proxmox Backup Server (deduplication, immutable backups);
- A centralized web interface to manage everything.
On that last point, one question comes up often: “what about the vCenter equivalent?” Proxmox’s web console natively manages an entire cluster from a single screen: create, clone, migrate, snapshot, access rights. No separate management server to license: centralized management is included.
On maturity, the field results speak for themselves: providers have migrated more than 1,000 virtual machines from vSphere to Proxmox in production, with less than a minute of downtime per VM.
VMware vs Proxmox: the real comparison
| VMware (post-Broadcom) | Proxmox VE | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Per-core subscription, bundles | Open source, optional support |
| Cost | Rising sharply | 70 to 90% savings on licenses |
| HA / live migration | Yes | Yes |
| Backup | Add-on | Proxmox Backup Server included |
| Control / roadmap | Depends on Broadcom | Open, predictable |
Proxmox doesn’t tick every exotic box of the full VMware suite, but for the vast majority of enterprise workloads, it does the job, at a fraction of the cost.
How to migrate without downtime
A successful VMware exit comes down to four steps:
- Audit what you have. Inventory of VMs, dependencies, storage, availability needs. This is the step that avoids nasty surprises.
- Choose the target. On-premises, at a sovereign host, or in a managed private cloud: depending on your compliance and budget constraints.
- Migrate the virtual machines. Proxmox imports VMware disks directly; migration happens VM by VM, off-peak, with minimal downtime (often under a minute per VM).
- Validate and secure. Boot tests, immutable backup and a recovery plan.
The most common pitfall isn’t technical: it’s trying to do everything in-house, on top of daily operations. Hence the value of a partner.
Leaving VMware without re-tooling on your own
Migrating a virtualization estate takes expertise few internal teams have time to build. That’s precisely a partner’s role: at Rēzau, we operate Proxmox and VMware daily, which lets us migrate you at your own pace. You can even stay temporarily on VMware during the transition.
Two Quebec-specific advantages come along for the ride:
- Sovereignty. Your data stays hosted in Quebec and Ontario, beyond the reach of the U.S. Cloud Act, compliant with Law 25.
- Zero egress fees. Unlike hyperscalers, no egress charges: your data comes in and out at no extra cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is Proxmox really production-ready? Yes. It has run in production at hosts and companies for years, with high availability, live migration and built-in backup.
Can you migrate without shutting everything down? Yes. Migration happens machine by machine, off critical hours. Downtime per VM is generally under a minute.
Do you have to switch everything at once? No. A gradual approach (VMware / Proxmox coexisting during the transition) is not only possible, it’s recommended.
How much can you save? On licensing, savings commonly run from 70 to 90% versus a post-Broadcom VMware renewal.
Evaluating a VMware exit? We can audit your estate and propose a clear migration plan, at your pace. Explore our leaving VMware approach or create your account to see our managed private cloud pricing.