Businesses exploring VMware alternatives have several alternative platforms to choose from. The right choice for your enterprise will depend on factors such as licensing costs, your in-house IT skills, and migration complexity.
The main options include Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, Microsoft Hyper-V, OpenStack and XCP-ng. However, switching platforms isn’t the only option for businesses with perpetual VMware licences. This article compares the top five VMware alternatives and explains how third-party VMware support can help businesses maintain existing infrastructure without the cost and disruption of an immediate migration.
Check out our VMware introductory guide for a full explanation of what VMware is and how virtualization works.
Key points:
- Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, Microsoft Hyper-V, OpenStack and XCP-ng are strong VMware alternatives, but not all are suitable for every business use case.
- Migrating from VMware platforms can imply complexity, hidden costs and risk.
- Evernex offers specialized third-party VMware support, backed by VMware-certified L3 engineers.
Why are businesses looking beyond VMware?
Since Broadcom’s 2023 acquisition of VMware, the shift towards subscription-based licensing and bundled offerings, as well as the end of support for perpetual licences, have prompted many businesses to reassess their virtualization strategy. Rising costs and ongoing support concerns driving the search for alternatives. You can find out more about these challenges in our article Regaining control of VMware licensing & costs: A guide for businesses.
These changes have left many IT teams weighing up their options beyond moving to a subscription licence. Generally, businesses are taking one of the following three routes:
- Migration to alternative platforms in the hope of greater control and lower costs
- Remaining on VMware and manage support independently
- Continuing to use their VMware perpetual licence, backed up by third-party VMware support
Third-party support helps businesses maintain their existing environments without relying on official vendor support or rushing into a complex migration.
Let’s explore the options out there for businesses looking at changing platforms.
VMware alternatives: a breakdown
See below for an overview of the top five competitors of VMware, as well as a handy table if you don’t have time to read the whole comparison.
Proxmox VE
Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) is an open-source virtualization platform combining KVM virtual machines and LXC containers, managed through a web interface.
It supports clustering, high availability, live migration, and Ceph or ZFS storage. Its built-in ESXi import wizard can help migrate VMware workloads.
The platform is free to use, with optional paid subscriptions providing enterprise repository access and support.
Compared to VMware: The open-source model and optional per-socket subscriptions can reduce hypervisor licensing costs, but businesses may need to adapt management processes, integrations, and support arrangements.
Nutanix AHV
Nutanix AHV is an enterprise hypervisor included with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and managed through Prism.
Features include high availability, live migration, disaster recovery, and integrated security capabilities. Nutanix Move supports migration from VMware ESXi and other environments, helping organisations transition workloads to AHV.
AHV is not sold as a standalone product, and pricing depends on the NCI licence and deployment.
Compared to VMware: Offers an integrated alternative for busineses seeking virtualization alongside Nutanix’s wider infrastructure management. However, the bundled licensing model and platform requirements may not suit every environment.
Microsoft Hyper-V
Microsoft Hyper-V is a hypervisor available as a role in Windows Server and in supported Windows client editions. Features include failover clustering, live migration, and Hyper-V Replica.
Microsoft’s Windows Admin Center VM Conversion extension supports VMware-to-Hyper-V migration. However, it is currently a prerelease product. System Center Virtual Machine Manager also offers VM conversion, subject to compatibility and storage limitations.
Windows Server licensing determines the applicable virtualization rights.
Compared to VMware: A strong alternative for enterprises already using Microsoft technologies. However, migration planning must account for differences in management tools, licensing, and infrastructure dependencies.
OpenStack
OpenStack is an open-source cloud infrastructure platform that coordinates compute, networking, and storage through APIs and a dashboard.
Its services can provision virtual machines and bare-metal servers, making it suited to large-scale private, public, and edge clouds. Migration from VMware depends on the chosen distribution, tooling, and environment.
The software has no license fee, but deployment and ongoing operations do require internal expertise.
Compared to VMware: Provides the flexibility to build customized cloud infrastructure. However, it can require engineering and operational expertise to deploy and manage.
XCP-ng
XCP-ng is an open-source, Xen-based hypervisor designed for server virtualization. It supports live migration and can be managed through Xen Orchestra, which also provides backup capabilities.
The hypervisor is free to use, with commercial support available from Vates. Xen Orchestra supports VMware-to-XCP-ng migration from accessible ESXi hosts, although compatibility and infrastructure dependencies should be checked before cutover.
Compared to VMware: Open-source alternative with optional commercial support. However, assessing ecosystem integration, management workflow, and third-party tooling differences is critical.
Comparison table: VMware alternatives cheat sheet
This table breaks down the key aspects to compare when considering a shift from VMware.
| Platform | Key features | Licensing costs | Migration complexity | Migration help | Best fit use case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proxmox VE |
|
|
Moderate | Includes an import feature for VMware ESXi guests. | Virtualizing Linux and Windows workloads, from single servers to high-availability clusters. |
| Nutanix AHV |
|
|
Moderate to high | Free Nutanix Move tool migrates VMs from VMware ESXi, Hyper-V and public clouds. | Data center, edge and hybrid multicloud environments, including business-critical applications |
| Microsoft Hyper-V |
|
|
Moderate | Microsoft provides migration guidance for VMware-to-Hyper-V conversion through Windows Admin Center and System Center VMM. | Server consolidation and hybrid cloud with Azure, especially in Windows and Active Directory environments |
| OpenStack |
|
|
High | External tools can help convert VMware VMs for KVM/OpenStack environments. | Building private, public or edge cloud infrastructure at scale. |
| XCP-ng |
|
|
Moderate |
|
Turnkey server virtualisation with optional commercial support |
IMPORTANT: Prices and licensing terms can change, so be sure to verify current vendor pricing, support entitlements and any minimum purchase requirements before budgeting.
The lowest licencing costs do not necessarily mean the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). Factors such as migration tooling, staff training, infrastructure changes, and commercial support can all affect the final budget.
Before choosing an alternative, assess whether it is capable of supporting your existing workloads and operational requirements, alongside the costs and risks of migrating.
What does a VMware migration really involve?
Switching platforms can offer benefits such as higher flexibility and lower upfront costs. However, before migrating their virtualized environment, enterprises need to weigh the complexity, costs, downtime and risks implied by executing such a change. Let’s explore some of the key factors to bear in mind when considering migrating from VMware.
Hidden costs
License savings can reduce CAPEX, but that is only one part of the picture. A migration project can also involve the operational costs of:
- Parallel running: Keeping both environments live during the transition means paying for both at once.
- Retraining: Administrators need to learn a new management interface, tooling and operating procedures. This may require specialist training.
- Tooling and integration changes: Automation scripts, monitoring, backup and orchestration tools may need replacing or reconfiguration.
Downtime planning
Downtime can lead to lost productivity and, as a result, missed revenue. If temporary configurations or rushed changes leave gaps, it can also expose an enterprise system to security risks. The longer a service is unavailable, the greater the potential cost.
Migrations should therefore be planned to keep disruption as low as possible. This can mean scheduling cutovers in agreed maintenance windows, migrating in stages, and preparing a rollback plan.
Compatibility
Some applications and integrations, including data backup tools, rely on hypervisor-specific interfaces. This means they may need reconfiguration, new licenses or replacement after migration.
Before migrating, it is important to confirm compatibility with the target platform, confirm that critical workflows will continue to function, and test backups, restores and application dependencies before decommissioning the existing environment.
Cloud migration success story
Find out how Evernex helped this business extend its IT equipment lifecycle throughout a multi-year cloud migration.
Skills and tools required
A new platform also brings new operational demands. Your IT team may need training and additional tools to manage the environment, troubleshoot issues and maintain security.
If your team lacks the required skills, you may need to hire external specialists, such as MSPs, or new internal hires. Depending on the platform and the expertise required, experienced administrators may be difficult or expensive to recruit.
Before committing to a migration, consider the availability of skilled personnel and the ongoing costs of managing the new environment.
Complexity of migrating business-critical workloads
Business-critical workloads carry the highest risk, often implying strict uptime requirements and complex dependencies on networking, storage and other systems.
Losing these workloads can have a severe impact on business continuity. Therefore, lower-risk workloads should always be moved first, with critical systems migrating only after validation and with a tested rollback plan in place.
To find out how to plan a smooth transition from one platform or site to another, check out our step-by-step data center migration guide.
When third-party VMware support is a better fit than switching
For companies that don’t want to shift to a VMware subscription, migrating to a different platform is not the only option, nor necessarily the best, option. If your business is running on a perpetual license and your current VMware environment continues to meet your operational needs, it is worth considering third-party support.
Scenarios where staying on VMware makes sense
Some situations in which keeping your current VMware license may be the most cost-effective, strategic option include:
- Large or complex estates where migration risk outweighs CAPEX savings.
- Stable workloads that do not require new features.
- Businesses with tight timelines or limited in-house capacity, that cannot support the downtime, training and new tools implied by migrations.
- Regulated or validated environments where re-platforming triggers re-certification.
What Evernex third-party VMware support offers
Evernex’s certified third-party VMware support helps businesses maintain the stability, security and performance of their virtualized IT environments. This service is especially valuable for companies running on perpetual licenses no longer eligible for official VMware support, and which don’t benefit either from migration or switching to a subscription-based license.
Our third-party support is backed up by VMware L3 resources and expertise, as well as a global network of engineers across 165+ countries. This means we can provide on-demand, onsite assistance covering both hardware and your virtualized VMware systems.
Evernex’s expert VMware support includes:
- System optimization and configuration assistance
- Complete visibility over your environment
- Proactive follow-up
- SLA-based expert support, with up to 24/7 coverage
Other benefits of leveraging Evernex support for your VMware environments include:
| Benefit | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Control over your IT estate | You decide how long to preserve your perpetual licenses, and if or when to migrate. |
| Reduced costs | Maintaining your current licenses avoids the CAPEX of new tools, platforms and licensing, while Evernex‘s cost-effective support also minimizes OPEX. |
| Flexible SLAs | We tailor our contracts to your infrastructure requirements and situation. This avoids overspending on unnecessary services, while ensuring your environment receives the support it needs. |
| Up to 24/7 support | We provide up to 24/7 coverage and 4-hour response time options for your mission-critical infrastructure and workloads. |
How to decide between migrating and extending support
When it comes to migrating or retaining your license, the correct choice depends on your business IT environment and priorities. Here are some questions to help you make that decision with confidence:
- Are your workloads stable, or likely to scale or change significantly soon?
- Can you absorb the downtime, risk and costs of migration?
- Do you need features that only newer VMware subscription releases provide?
- Would migrating trigger recertification or revalidation, and can you take that on?
- Do you have the skills in-house to run a new platform?
- How will you get security patches and technical support for your current version?
- What dependencies are connected to your current platform?
Migrating and keeping your VMware license are not mutually exclusive options, and neither choice is necessarily permanent. Retaining your license and maintaning the availability and performance of your environment lets you decide whether and when to migrate on your own timeline, rather than the vendor’s.
FAQ
What are the best alternatives to VMware?
Five strong VMware alternatives are Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, Microsoft Hyper-V, OpenStack and XCP-ng. As each offers different licensing models, management capabilities and migration requirements, the best fit depends on your infrastructure, budget and in-house expertise.
Is Proxmox a good replacement for VMware?
Proxmox VE can be a cost-effective alternative, offering open-source virtualization, clustering and high availability. However, migration may require changes to storage, networking, backup tools and management processes, so it is important to assess workload compatibility and support requirements before switching.
How difficult is it to migrate away from VMware?
Some migrations can be relatively straightforward, while others require extensive testing, retraining and downtime planning. The difficulty of a migration depends heavily on your workloads, infrastructure, integrations and target platform.
Do I have to switch platforms to avoid rising VMware costs?
Not necessarily. If you already have a perpetual license, you can continue to use it, supported by third-party VMware maintenance vendors such as Evernex. However, official vendor support and updates may no longer be available.
What is the cheapest VMware alternative for a small business?
The cheapest alternative depends on your existing infrastructure, licensing, support needs and in-house expertise. While open-source platforms can reduce software licensing costs, CAPEX does not show the full picture. It is also necessary to consider the ongoing costs of implementation, training and ongoing maintenance.