Enterprises Rethink Virtualization Roadmaps as VMware Pricing Fears Persist

The anticipated mass departure from VMware never materialized, but the industry is now experiencing a strategic shift as organizations reassess their virtualization roadmaps. Broadcom’s sweeping changes have prompted IT leaders to steadily diversify their infrastructure choices.

CloudBolt Software released a report dubbed “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning.” This survey gathered insights from 302 IT decision-makers at North American organizations with at least 1,000 employees in January 2026.

Broadcom completed the acquisition of VMware in November 2023. The company acquired VMware as part of a major strategic shift that reshaped the virtualization and cloud‑infrastructure landscape. Following the deal, organizations experienced notable operational disruptions that prompted many to reassess their dependence on VMware and gradually adjust their cloud and virtualization strategies.

Pricing pressures and licensing shifts

According to the survey, 88% of the respondents mentioned that this change was disruptive. It pointed to several major sources of disruption, with rising prices topping the list at 89 percent. Close behind were concerns about Broadcom’s future direction (85 percent), support quality concerns (78 percent), the transition from perpetual licenses to subscription models (72 percent), changes to the partner program (68 percent), as well as forced bundling of products (65 percent).

In 2024, 79 percent of IT decision-makers expected VMware costs to more than double. However, only 14% actually experienced price increases above 100% by 2026. Survey results showed that 12 percent of respondents experienced price hikes between 50 and 99 percent, while 33 percent reported increases ranging from 24 to 49 percent, and another 31 percent saw rises below 25 percent.

According to CloudBolt’s survey, 85% of IT leaders remain concerned about future pricing and this concern is shaping current decisions. Many organizations are planning to build optionality to reduce dependency on VMware before pricing tightens further.

SMB challenges in the new VMware era

Broadcom’s recent adjustments to VMware licensing and programs have created significant challenges for small and mid‑sized businesses. It reinforces earlier Gartner expectations that more than a third of VMware workloads could migrate elsewhere by 2028.

In response to these pressures, many organizations have already started moving portions of their infrastructure away from VMware. CloudBolt’s survey shows migrations ranging from small fractions of the environment to substantial portions, while a small minority has not started migrating at all.

VMware customers still actively reducing their footprint

Most of the workloads that have been moved are landing in public cloud IaaS platforms, which account for 72 percent of migrations, followed by Microsoft’s Hyper‑V and Azure stack at 43 percent. The data indicates that 86% of organizations report actively reducing their VMware footprint.

“As organizations diversify away from VMware, they inherit the operational burden of managing multiple platforms with different operational and governance models,” CloudBolt explained.
“Their strategy was never to keep every customer. It was to maximize value from those still on the platform while the market slowly diversifies. The model assumes churn and it’s built to make the economics work anyway. Broadcom has done the math—and they’re fine with it.”

Organizations are encouraged to proactively build alternatives to VMware rather than waiting for pricing pressures to worsen. The report suggests that teams should start reducing their dependency on VMware now so they maintain leverage and avoid being locked into increasingly expensive commitments.