Free ESXi went away – But its back!
VMware has reinstated the free version of its ESXi hypervisor after discontinuing it in February 2024. This was quietly added back in the release notes for ESXi 8.0 Update 3e. But the question is, should you think about using it?
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in November 2023 brought massive changes. It included the elimination of perpetually licensed VMware products in favour of subscription-based models and the termination of existing partner programs, plus the withdrawal of the free ESXi version. These moves sparked heavy criticism from customers. These changes led many users to seek alternative virtualization solutions, such as Proxmox and Nutanix. Since the initial exodus of customers, Broadcom have relented and reversed some changes – the re-introduction of free ESXI being the latest!
The free ESXi used to be seen as a great gateway for companies to start using VMware, and it was leveraged by IT technicians to build knowledge and skills. The removal was a blow for customers and the the community so the reinstation has brought some cautious excitement.
Should you use free Esxi?
The price is right but there are some big drawbacks to consider. Firstly, it doesn’t support the backup APIs needed for tools such as Veeam which means backups would have to be done in the guest itself.
Secondly, the free ESXi doesn’t support vCentre, so there are none of the high availability features and centralised management.
It is however perfect for testing in a stand alone environment, or testing and learning VMware.
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