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 | 70–90% 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.