Since Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, it has significantly adjusted product offerings and licensing fees. This change directly impacts corporate virtualization strategies and has led many companies to re-evaluate their virtualization environments and IT investment decisions.
Many enterprises are forced to continue using VMware due to existing equipment architecture and business constraints; however, at the same time, an increasing number of companies are starting to look toward other platform service providers in search of new virtualization strategies. Most importantly, the core concern shared by enterprises has shifted from simply choosing a platform to how to achieve cost optimization, performance enhancement, and architectural flexibility in long-term operations.
Rethinking how workloads and infrastructure are built not only effectively optimizes IT investments, but also helps businesses gradually complete their modernization transformation, redirecting saved resources toward business innovation and service development rather than merely keeping existing systems running.
Upgrade, or not upgrade? Enterprises are facing a difficult choice
However, the migration of virtualization platforms cannot be completed overnight. Depending on the scale of the enterprise environment and the architectural complexity, it will take at least 18 to 48 months, or even longer. Therefore, during the migration process, there will be a transition period where VMware and the new virtualization solution coexist.
The change in VMware's licensing model also serves as a reminder to enterprises of the risk of putting all their "eggs in one basket." Despite this, many IT teams continue to use VMware because it has been long-proven in mission-critical enterprise environments and has accumulated mature and stable operational experience.
The reality, however, is that many enterprises' VMware environments have gradually become outdated. Limited by existing systems and legacy architectural designs, they struggle to meet the demands of modern workloads for flexibility and scalability. In addition, many companies continue to run older platforms such as vSphere 5.x to 6.x, versions that have long since ceased receiving security updates and technical support. Therefore, as businesses prepare to upgrade to newer versions, alongside the challenges of system upgrades and migration, they must also bear the skyrocketing costs brought on by the new subscription licensing model.
Many companies are asking, "Should we stay in the VMware ecosystem?", this is actually an imprecise question; enterprises should instead ask: "How do we build a flexible architecture that can adapt as our strategy evolves?" And the answer might exceed your imagination and expectations.
Proxmox VE: A New Choice for Enterprise Virtualization
In recent years, Proxmox VE has become a new choice attracting significant attention in the market. Proxmox VE adopts the Linux KVM architecture, integrating virtual machines (VMs), LXC containers, cluster management, and a Web UI management interface. It features high deployment flexibility and supports distributed storage, meeting the virtualization needs of most enterprises.
The greatest advantage of Proxmox VE lies in its extremely high system openness, allowing for customized integration, an active open-source community, and a relatively diverse selection of packages. Although the initial learning curve is high, the overall system costs are stable, which can significantly reduce licensing and maintenance expenses, enabling enterprise IT teams to regain control over virtualization and storage architectures.
Starting in 2024, VMware introduced a new vSphere Foundation (VVF) subscription model: billed per core, with a minimum of 16 cores billed per CPU (even if the actual core count is fewer than 16), and a minimum purchase threshold of 72 cores per order (channel restriction). Although the new plan integrates features such as vCenter, Aria Operations, and Tanzu, licensing costs have also increased significantly, leading a growing number of enterprises to begin re-evaluating virtualization platforms other than VMware.
Differences between VMware subscription plans and Proxmox VE subscription plans
As shown in the table below, although the overall cost difference between Proxmox VE and VMware is only about 26%, this is primarily due to the higher one-time costs associated with implementing Proxmox VE and migrating the VMware environment. From a long-term operational perspective, as migration costs are amortized year by year, enterprises can expect to save more than 60% in annual licensing expenses, significantly reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).
| Expense items | VMware solution | Proxmox VE Solution (PVE + PBS) | Cost difference and savings rate compared to VMware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software license / Subscription fee | Approx. NT$1,000–5,000, 3.6 million / 3 years 16 cores x 2 sockets x 5 units = 160 cores 160 x 22,500 (3-year plan) = 3,600,000 | NT$ 0 (Community Edition) ~ Approximately NT$ 1.32 million / 3 years (Enterprise Edition) 2 Socket solution = 88,000 88,000 x 5 units x 3 years = 1,320,000 *Adopting the highest PREMIUM plan, the cheapest BASIC plan 2 Socket plan = 29,600 29,600 x 5 units x 3 years = 444,000 | Save 63% ~ 88% |
| Centralized Management and HA Licensing | Included in the subscription | Native built-in clustering and HA, no extra cost | Same |
| Distributed Storage (vSAN vs. Ceph) | An additional plan must be purchased, with a single storage license costing approximately NTD 800,000, or via capacity add-ons starting at approximately USD 210 per TiB. | Native integration with Ceph / ZFS, no extra charge | Save 100% |
| Backup software (e.g., Veeam vs. PBS) | Approx. NT$1,000–NT$5,000 748,500–2,598,600 / 3 years, depending on the plan selected * Assuming the Foundation plan billed by workload: 4,990 x 50 VMs x 3 years = 748,500 Advanced plan billed by CPU Socket 86,620 x 10 Sockets x 3 years = 2,598,600 Since Veeam does not offer a Socket-based plan for the Premium edition, the Advanced Socket-based plan is used as the highest-tier option. | Approx. NT$1,000–5,000 672,000–2,688,000 / 3 years (PBS), depending on the plan selected *Billed per server using the Basic plan: 44,800 x 5 servers x 3 years = 672,000 Premium plan billed by server count 179,200 x 5 servers x 3 years = 2,688,000 | Mid-to-low tier: Save 10% to 30% High-tier: 3% ~ 4% |
| One-time migration and training costs | VMware Certified Administrator Training NT$ 120,000 per person Recommended for 1 to 3 trainees | Proxmox Certification Training NT$ 100,000 per person Recommended for 1 to 3 trainees Migrating a single ESXi host costs about 100,000. Migrating one VM is about 20k. Total migration cost: 100k + 20k x 50 VMs = 1.1 million | one-time expense Gui 100% |
| 3-year total cost (TCO Estimate calculated using maximum costs) | Approx. NT$$ 7.4 million | Approx. NT$$ 5.45 million | Total cost savings are projected to exceed 26 % |
Whether ultimately choosing VMware or Proxmox VE, transitioning a virtualization platform is never just a matter of price comparison; it is a strategic decision that impacts whether enterprise IT can operate stably in the long run.
During the planning process, aspects such as backup and redundancy, permission control, cybersecurity defense, and future scalability are all indispensable. It is recommended to conduct a comprehensive inventory of the existing environment before official implementation, clarify future requirements, and thoroughly verify the architecture's feasibility through a POC (Proof of Concept) test environment, in order to build the optimal IT foundation for the enterprise that balances both security and growth.
The following enterprise self-assessment checklist is provided to help you find the best enterprise virtualization strategy more quickly:
| Ask yourself: | If the answer is "Yes": |
|---|---|
| Are you interested in evaluating alternatives to your current virtualization architecture? | Consider your short- and long-term application workload requirements, and evaluate the fit of various hybrid architecture options. |
| Does your infrastructure strategy include migrating more workloads to the cloud? | Now is the best time to take inventory of which workloads are suitable for cloud deployment. Ensure that your chosen migration options truly enable a lift-and-shift from on-premises VMware deployments without refactoring. |
| Would you be willing to consider alternative virtual platforms? | While other virtual platforms may save costs, please ensure you understand the administrative implications of migrating to a new platform. This will indirectly incur migration costs and employee training needs. |
| Are operational disruption and switching costs your main considerations? | Consider taking a phased approach to minimize disruption by using storage solutions that provide non-disruptive migration or true lift-and-shift cloud migration. |
| Does your enterprise prioritize innovation over risk? | Companies that can withstand higher potential disruption risks and prioritize innovation may consider adopting more aggressive open-source projects (such as Proxmox) to support cutting-edge technologies. |
Solution:Hyper-converged virtualization platform solution
Related articles:Why are more and more businesses choosing Proxmox? A comprehensive analysis of the virtualization platform's advantages
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