VMware has quietly brought back a popular free product over a year after killing it off

When it comes to virtualization software, VMware is arguably the biggest name in the space. But since being bought out by Broadcom, there have been many questionable moves that didn't sit right with its users.

One of these was the decision to discontinue the free version of its hypervisor, ESXi, back in early 2024. But now, that has been reversed (hat tip to our pals over at TechRadar Pro). The latest version of ESXi has quietly reinstated the free tier for community use.

If you're not familiar, the simple version is that ESXi is a hypervisor that you install on a bare metal machine, and then use this to build virtual machines. It replaces something such as Windows 11 entirely on the hardware.

VMware is a juggernaut in enterprise, but always offered a free version of its hypervisor. That is, until the move to a subscription-only model last year. Version 8.0 Update 3e brings the free one back.

All you need now is a Broadcom account to access the portal to download ESXi. I dabbled with ESXi some years ago, you know, when we were mostly indoors a lot, and enjoyed playing around with it and learning some new skills.

VMware, or rather its new parent company, Broadcom, has cheesed off plenty of its users in recent times. But there is some good, such as the free use of its previously Pro VM app for Windows, and now this.

The removal of the free version sent many looking elsewhere, such as to Proxmox. But at least now, maybe Broadcom can start repairing its relationship with those folks and get them back.