Use case · Virtualisation
VMware virtualisation
VMware is the long-established enterprise virtualisation platform — ESXi and vSphere — mature and feature-rich. Since Broadcom's acquisition it moved to subscription-only licensing in bundles with per-core minimums, raising costs and prompting many to evaluate alternatives. We host the bare-metal hardware to run VMware; the licensing is your own arrangement, and we also host open-source alternatives like Proxmox.
Key points
- VMware — ESXi and vSphere — is the long-established, feature-rich enterprise virtualisation platform.
- Since Broadcom's acquisition, it moved to subscription-only licensing in bundles with per-core minimums.
- This raised costs for many and prompted wide evaluation of alternatives.
- We host the bare-metal hardware; VMware licensing is your own arrangement with Broadcom.
- We also host open-source alternatives like Proxmox and KVM, and won't push VMware.
What is VMware virtualisation?
VMware is the long-established enterprise virtualisation platform, built around its ESXi hypervisor and vSphere management, and for many years the standard for server virtualisation in enterprises. ESXi is the hypervisor installed on servers to run virtual machines, and vSphere provides the management around it — coordinating hosts, enabling features like live migration and high availability, and managing virtualised infrastructure at scale. VMware has been mature, feature-rich, and widely deployed, so it has been the default choice in a great many enterprise environments, with a deep set of capabilities and a large ecosystem around it.
Hosting VMware means running it on capable server hardware, where ESXi is installed to virtualise the server and run virtual machines under vSphere's management. The hardware needs the compute, memory, and storage for the virtual machines, and it runs ESXi as the hypervisor. This page covers VMware honestly, including its recent, significant licensing changes and how they have changed the calculation for many organisations; other virtualisation platforms, including the open-source alternatives many are now evaluating, are covered on their own pages, while what follows attends to VMware and where it fits today.
Why VMware: maturity and enterprise features
VMware's strengths are its maturity, its extensive feature set, and its long establishment in enterprise environments, which have made it the standard many organisations built on. Over many years, VMware developed a deep and capable set of features for virtualisation — around management, availability, storage, networking, and operations — and a large ecosystem of tools, integrations, and expertise grew around it. For organisations that adopted VMware, this maturity and breadth, and the familiarity of staff and the ecosystem, are real value, and for large, complex environments already built on VMware's full stack, its capabilities remain considerable.
This established position means VMware is deeply embedded in many organisations, with infrastructure, processes, and skills built around it. For environments that use VMware's advanced capabilities heavily, and where migrating away would be a substantial undertaking, staying with VMware can be the sensible path, at least for a time. VMware remains a powerful, capable platform, and we do not dispute its strengths. What has changed the calculation for many, though, is its licensing under new ownership, which the next section addresses honestly, because it bears directly on whether VMware remains the right choice.
VMware licensing under Broadcom
It is important to be honest about VMware's licensing, which changed substantially after Broadcom acquired VMware: the model moved to subscription-only, sold in bundles, with per-core licensing and minimums, and for many organisations this raised costs, sometimes considerably. Perpetual licenses were discontinued in favour of subscriptions, products were consolidated into larger bundles that can include components an organisation may not need, and licensing shifted to a per-core basis with minimum core counts that can mean paying for more than is used. The result, for many, has been higher costs and less flexibility than under the previous model.
These changes have prompted a great many organisations to reconsider VMware and evaluate alternatives, particularly smaller and mid-sized ones for whom the new costs weigh heavily. Industry reports indicate that a large share of VMware customers are now evaluating other virtualisation platforms, and open-source options such as Proxmox and KVM are among the most commonly considered, precisely because they avoid the licensing costs VMware now carries. We are candid about this because it bears directly on the choice: VMware remains capable, but its licensing changes have made the alternatives newly attractive for many, and an honest assessment of virtualisation options now has to weigh VMware's cost against them, rather than assuming VMware by default as was once common.
VMware on bare metal
VMware's ESXi hypervisor is installed directly on a server as the virtualisation layer, so VMware runs on bare metal, turning the physical server into a host for virtual machines. ESXi is a hypervisor that runs on the hardware, virtualising the server to run virtual machines on it under vSphere's management, so a VMware host is a dedicated server running ESXi. This gives the virtual machines the hardware's performance, mediated by ESXi, and it means running VMware requires dedicated server hardware for ESXi to be installed on and to run the workloads.
So hosting VMware means providing capable dedicated servers for ESXi, sized for the virtual machines they will run. The server's compute, memory, and storage are shared among the virtual machines ESXi runs, so it must be sized for the intended workloads, and it must be hardware ESXi supports. Multiple ESXi hosts can be managed together under vSphere for larger, resilient environments. We provide dedicated bare-metal servers suitable for running VMware ESXi, sized for the virtualised workloads, so that organisations choosing to run VMware have capable, compatible hardware for it — while, as the following sections make clear, the VMware licensing itself is a separate matter that is the organisation's own arrangement.
Running VMware with us: hardware and licensing
We want to be clear about the division of responsibility for running VMware with us: we provide the bare-metal hardware, and the VMware licensing is your own arrangement with Broadcom, not something we resell or include. Running VMware requires both suitable hardware and a VMware subscription, and while we provide capable, compatible dedicated servers for ESXi, the VMware licensing — the subscription to run ESXi and vSphere — is procured by the organisation from Broadcom or its channel, under Broadcom's current terms. We host the hardware; the VMware licensing and its cost are separate and yours.
This division matters for an honest understanding of the cost. The cost of running VMware with us is the dedicated hardware from us plus the VMware licensing from Broadcom, the latter being the part that has risen substantially and that the organisation arranges directly. We are transparent that we do not control or reduce the VMware licensing cost — that is between the organisation and Broadcom — and that it is now a significant part of the total. We provide the sovereign, dedicated hardware for VMware; if you choose VMware, you bring the licensing. And, as the next section says plainly, we will honestly point out that alternatives we also host avoid that licensing cost entirely, so that the choice is made with the full picture.
VMware or open-source alternatives?
Given VMware's licensing changes, we think an honest discussion of virtualisation options must weigh VMware against the open-source alternatives, and we host those alternatives too, so we have no incentive to push VMware. Open-source virtualisation platforms — Proxmox, which is built on KVM, and KVM itself — provide capable virtualisation without licensing cost, and they have matured to the point where they are serious alternatives for many workloads, which is much of why so many organisations are now evaluating them in response to VMware's pricing. For workloads that do not need VMware's most advanced enterprise capabilities, these alternatives can deliver what is needed at far lower cost.
We will give an honest view: for organisations deeply invested in VMware's full stack and advanced features, and for whom migrating would be a major undertaking, staying with VMware may remain sensible despite the cost. For many others, especially smaller and mid-sized organisations and those whose needs the open-source platforms meet, alternatives like Proxmox or KVM now offer compelling value, avoiding VMware's licensing cost while providing capable virtualisation. We host the hardware for all of these — VMware, Proxmox, and KVM — and we will help you weigh them honestly for your situation, rather than steering you to VMware. Our interest is in hosting your virtualisation well, whichever platform genuinely suits you, and we say so plainly.
Sovereignty, and where VV Internet Hosting fits
Whatever the virtualisation platform, the virtual machines hold an organisation's workloads and data, so where they run governs sovereignty, and hosting in the EU keeps them European. VV Internet Hosting is incorporated in the Netherlands, within the EU, so virtualisation hosted with us — VMware or otherwise — runs under European jurisdiction and outside the direct reach of the US CLOUD Act, keeping the virtualised workloads and their data under European law. For organisations to whom the sovereignty of their virtualised workloads matters, running them in the EU addresses it, on whichever platform.
We host dedicated bare-metal servers suitable for VMware ESXi, sized for the virtualised workloads, in EU datacenters under European jurisdiction — and equally for the open-source alternatives. This suits organisations running VMware that want capable, sovereign hardware for it, understanding that the VMware licensing is their own arrangement with Broadcom. We are clear about our limits and honest about the choice: we provide the hardware, not the VMware licensing, which has risen substantially; and we host open-source alternatives we will fairly point you to where they suit. We are the dedicated, sovereign bare-metal infrastructure on which you run your virtualisation, VMware or otherwise — and we would rather help you choose the platform that genuinely fits than sell you a licensing model that may not.
Related use cases
Questions
VMware, answered plainly
Common questions about hosting for VMware.
How has VMware licensing changed under Broadcom?
Substantially. After Broadcom acquired VMware, the model moved to subscription-only — perpetual licenses were discontinued — with products sold in larger bundles, and licensing shifted to a per-core basis with minimum core counts. For many organisations this raised costs, sometimes considerably, and reduced flexibility, prompting a great many to evaluate alternatives.
Do you provide VMware licensing?
No — we provide the bare-metal hardware to run VMware ESXi, but the VMware licensing is your own arrangement with Broadcom or its channel, under Broadcom's current terms. The cost of running VMware with us is our dedicated hardware plus your VMware subscription from Broadcom. We're transparent that we don't control or reduce the VMware licensing cost, which is now significant.
Should I stay with VMware or move to an alternative?
It depends. For organisations deeply invested in VMware's full stack and advanced features, where migrating would be a major undertaking, staying may remain sensible despite the cost. For many others, open-source alternatives like Proxmox or KVM now offer compelling value, avoiding VMware's licensing cost. We host all of these and will help you weigh them honestly, with no incentive to push VMware.
Planning VMware infrastructure?
We host dedicated, EU-sovereign infrastructure sized to your workload — and we will tell you plainly when something else fits better. Tell us what you're building.