VMware customers are still weighing their options three years after Broadcom acquired the virtualization software vendor, according to a report published this month by managed services firm Rimini Street. Roughly one-third of more than 250 VMware user organizations surveyed by Unisphere Research plan to move all their assets onto competing hypervisors within three years, while 48% indicated they are not adopting the VMware Cloud Foundation private cloud bundle.
Broadcom's shakeup of VMware's partner ecosystem, along with licensing costs and product changes, are driving migrations and VCF adoption hesitancy, Rimini Street found.
Nearly half of respondents said they expect to run some workloads on VMware alternatives in three years and 82% foresee using a competing solution for at least some assets.
Unisphere Research surveyed 269 VMware users from December 2025 through February 2026, just over two years after the Broadcom acquisition. The study did not disclose recruitment methods or response rates. Only 31% of respondents were primary virtualization decision-makers. The final report's three-year figures describe intentions, not completed migrations.
“VMware users need flexibility to control costs and evaluate alternatives without forcing an immediate platform decision,” Rimini Street EVP and COO Keith Costello told Channel Dive.
Nine in 10 respondents cited higher licensing costs as a reason to migrate. More than half pointed to a shift from perpetual licenses to a subscription model. Another 18% cited reductions in the VMware partner ecosystem.
According to Costello, customers are taking three routes: retaining VMware perpetual licenses with outside support provided by an IT services firm, moving selected workloads to rival hypervisors and combining VMware with container platforms.
“A full migration may not be operationally or financially practical,” Costello said. “For years, most companies standardized on a single virtualization stack and largely left it untouched … Organizations using alternatives as a temporary bridge are typically focused on maintaining stability while they evaluate their options.”
Longer-term decisions involve weighing individual workloads, business objectives, regulatory requirements and geographical factors, Rimini Street found. Nearly three-quarters of primary virtualization decision-makers cited cost savings as a goal, while 64% identified scalability and flexible capacity.
Total cost of ownership has been a major factor. As part of a lawsuit filed in 2024, AT&T claimed Broadcom proposed a 1,050% price increase in its annual VMware bill. The case was settled out of court.
For channel partners, shifting VMware strategies generates work on two fronts: helping customers migrate to competing platforms and supporting those retaining existing VMware installations. Migration planning and implementation topped the Rimini Street report's write-in responses about where organizations need assistance.
On the support side, the survey found 18% of respondents already use third-party virtualization support.
Even partial migrations can be a heavy lift. Among primary decision-makers, 40% named operational complexity as a barrier to virtualization goals. Nearly the same proportion said multi-vendor management is a concern.
Costello cautioned that decisions about support arrangements carry security implications.
“Extending support for VMware on-premises environments and introducing additional hypervisors raises two primary risks: losing access to Broadcom security patches and increasing operational complexity,” Costello said.
After Broadcom support for existing VMware deployments expires, customers lose routine patch access. Outside support does not restore full manufacturer entitlements, even when providers offer security services.
Managing multiple platforms puts demands on already strapped IT teams.
“Adding another hypervisor can increase labor, integration, testing, coordination, resiliency, security and ongoing management costs,” Costello said.
Broadcom declined to comment on the Rimini Street findings.
