The end of availability of VMware perpetual licensing is the set of commercial changes that followed Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, under which VMware software stopped being sold as perpetual licenses and Support and Subscription (SnS) renewals for perpetual offerings ended. The change was announced on December 11, 2023 and restated in a January 22, 2024 VMware blog post that replaced the original knowledge base article KB 96168.[1][2] VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) became the two principal offers, “available as subscription software only”, licensed on the per Core metric described in VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation licensing.
Perpetual licenses already purchased were not revoked. Broadcom documentation distinguishes the perpetual right to run a version of the software from the separate SnS contract that supplies support, patches and upgrades.[3] Current Specific Program Documentation (SPD) also limits how far legacy perpetual licenses may be upgraded while SnS remains active.[4][6]
Editions
The January 2024 announcement applied to “all licensing options, including Perpetual, Support & Subscription (SnS), SaaS/hosted and other subscription types”, and to “every edition, suite, and pricing metric for each product including affected academic SKUs”.[1] Products in its End of Availability table stopped being sold as standalone offers. Some capabilities continued inside VCF, VVF or an add-on, while others had no replacement.
| Former standalone offer | Status in the January 2024 table |
|---|---|
| vSphere Enterprise Plus | Included in VCF and VVF |
| vSphere Standard (non-subscription) | Replaced with the new vSphere Standard subscription |
| vSphere Essentials Plus (non-subscription) | Replaced with the vSphere Essentials Plus Kit subscription |
| vSphere Enterprise, ROBO, Scale Out, Desktop, Acceleration Kits, Essentials Kit, Hypervisor (free edition) | No replacement listed |
| vSAN | Included in VCF and VVF, or the vSAN add-on |
| vSAN ROBO, vSAN Desktop, vSAN+, HCI Kit | No replacement listed |
| Site Recovery Manager | SRM add-on service (later VMware Live Recovery) |
| NSX editions and firewall add-ons | VCF and VMware Firewall (later vDefend) |
| VMware Advanced Load Balancer | Avi Load Balancer add-on (also standalone) |
| Aria Suite, Aria Operations, Aria Operations for Logs | Included in VCF and VVF |
| Aria Automation, Aria Operations for Networks, HCX, SDDC Manager | Included in VCF |
| VMware Cloud Director | Included in VCF for cloud service providers only |
| vCloud Suite, Cloud Editions and Cloud Packs | Replaced with VCF or VVF |
Source: VMware End of Availability blog, January 22, 2024.[1]
The same announcement ended availability of the Aria SaaS services. Existing SaaS subscribers kept service until the end of their term and then had to move to VCF or VVF; the services were placed in maintenance mode with security and critical updates only.[1] The blog advised customers who were not yet due for renewal that “there is no immediate action required at this time”, with support continuing for the duration of existing contracts.[1]
Metrics
Legacy perpetual vSphere keys used the per-CPU model that vSphere 8 documentation still describes (see the VCF and vSphere article). The replacement subscriptions use the per Core metric with a 16-Core-per-Processor floor, and the vSAN add-on uses per TiB of raw claimed storage; both metrics and their counting rules are documented on the VCF and vSphere article. Retrieved Broadcom documents publish no formula for converting a perpetual per-CPU entitlement into Core subscriptions, so a move from perpetual to subscription is a new purchase sized by physical Core count rather than a conversion.
Counting / floors
What continues after SnS expiry
Knowledge base article KB 429208 (dateModified 2026-02-12) states that “The expiration of the SnS does not revoke the underlying software entitlement.”[3] When SnS on a perpetual license expires:
- ESXi hosts and vCenter Server continue to operate, with no automated shutdown or disconnection.
- Running virtual machines stay powered on, and power operations, vMotion and snapshots remain available.
- All features entitled by the licensed edition (for example Enterprise Plus) remain unlocked.
The same article lists what stops. Downloads of “new patches, security updates, and major/minor version releases” are restricted to accounts with active SnS, and the ability to open technical support requests ends. Broadcom advises against adding ESXi hosts or attempting major version upgrades (for example 7.x to 8.x) during a coverage gap, because those actions require active SnS for license conversion.[3]
Upgrade ceilings for legacy perpetual licenses
Current SPDs cap the version to which a legacy perpetual license with active SnS may be upgraded:
| Legacy perpetual product | Upgrade entitlement while SnS is active | Source |
|---|---|---|
| vSphere Standard | Up to 8.x, until the earlier of SnS end or end of support of 8.x | vSphere Standard SPD, February 2026[4] |
| vSAN | Up to 8.x, on the same terms | vSAN SPD, May 2026[5] |
| VMware Cloud Foundation | Up to 5.x, until the earlier of SnS end or end of support of 5.x | VCF SPD, June 2026[6] |
The vSphere Standard SPD states that “Customers do not have an entitlement to upgrade Legacy Perpetual Software to any version of Software above 8.x”, and the VCF SPD uses the same wording for 5.x.[4][6] Version 9 of VCF and VVF is therefore reachable only through a current subscription, which also brings the mandatory 180-day Compliance Report required by the VCF SPD for versions 9 and above.[6]
Virtualization & partitioning
The end of perpetual sales did not introduce a partitioning policy. Counting for replacement subscriptions follows the per-Server physical Core rules of the current SPDs. One transitional right concerns storage: the vSAN SPD allows the per-TiB vSAN add-on to be used with “licenses to legacy vSphere and VCF products sold prior to December 13th, 2023” for which the customer has valid SnS. That right “will cease and cannot be renewed” when the SnS agreement expires or terminates.[5]
Cloud / BYOL
The January 2024 announcement described a planned “Bring Your Own License” capability for buying VCF subscriptions from Broadcom and deploying them to VMware-validated hybrid cloud endpoints and on-premises data centres.[1] The current form of that right is VCF License Portability, limited to Broadcom’s list of Certified Cloud Services and described on the VCF and vSphere article. Perpetual licenses carry no portability right in the retrieved SPDs.
Programs
Portal migration and license keys
On May 5, 2024 the VMware Customer Connect portals were redirected to the Broadcom Support Portal. KB 282163 records that “Only license keys that have an active support contract will be brought over to Broadcom systems”; keys tied to expired support contracts are not accessible in Broadcom systems. The portal also renamed key operations: “divide” became “split” and “combine” became “merge”.[7] Owners of perpetual licenses whose support had lapsed before the migration should therefore hold their own records of license keys and entitlements.
Upgrade of earlier per-core subscriptions
Not all pre-acquisition VMware licenses were perpetual. For customers who bought per-core subscription offerings (VCF+ and VCF-S in all editions, and VCF Cloud Packs+/-S Advanced and Enterprise) before February 2024, an April 2024 VMware blog described an upgrade by Zero Dollar Order (ZDO). The ZDO placed “the equivalent quantity of License Keys as the original subscription purchase” in the customer’s portal while keeping the original term; at term end, customers repurchase the current VCF offering.[8] The VCF SPD calls these Qualified Legacy Offerings (purchased prior to February 4, 2024). It keeps their original vSAN metric until expiry or an upgrade to version 9, and excludes non-Enterprise upgrades from License Portability.[6] The catalog records this path as VCF per-core upgrade by Zero Dollar Order.
Add-on transitions
Point products withdrawn in 2024 have their own transition terms. The VMware Live Recovery FAQ (January 2026) states that Site Recovery Manager subscribers may use the product until the end of their term and must then buy VMware Live Recovery. A legacy SRM term license and a Live Recovery subscription cannot be mixed on one SRM server, although both may exist on different SRM servers under one vCenter.[9] Current add-on metrics are covered in VMware Cloud Foundation add-on licensing.
Out of scope
- Current subscription counting rules (16-Core floor, vSAN TiB entitlements, Compliance Report): see VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation licensing.
- Security patches for perpetual licenses outside SnS. KB 429208 states that patch downloads require active SnS; no retrieved Broadcom document grants a general exception, so none is recorded here.
- Conversion credits or trade-in pricing from perpetual to subscription: not published in retrieved vendor documents.
- VMware End-User Computing products (Horizon, Workspace ONE), which are not in the January 2024 End of Availability table; see the archived Horizon gallery.
- Cloud service provider transition from perpetual rental keys: see VMware Cloud Service Provider Program.