• Some enterprises are dropping VMware, just not all at once Two years after its acquisition by Broadcom, VMware is shedding customers but maximizing value from those who remain, says a CloudBolt survey. • While the predicted mass exodus from VMware hasn’t materialized, many enterprises are actively reducing their VMware footprint, a new survey shows. • Broadcom’s 2023 acquisition of VMware prompted forecasts that enterprises would rethink their virtualization strategies amid fears that VMware license costs would triple. • So far, though, only 14% of enterprises questioned have so far seen prices double, while 59% saw prices rise by more than 25%, according to a survey commissioned by cloud cost optimization and management firm CloudBolt. • However, 88% are worried about VMwarelicense price increasesin the future, and as a consequence, 86% are reducing their use of VMware, according to the survey, conducted in January 2026 among 302 IT decision-makers in North American enterprises with 1,000 or more employees. • That the license price increases are less than initially feared is little consolation, CloudBolt wrote ina blog post discussing the survey results: “When the bully only takes half your lunch money instead of all of it, you don’t feel grateful.
Article Summaries:
- A recent CloudBolt survey of 302 North American IT leaders shows that VMware’s customer base is shrinking, but not in a wholesale exodus. While 86 % of respondents are scaling back VMware use and 88 % fear future price hikes, only 14 % have seen costs double and 59 % report increases above 25 %. Enterprises are moving workloads incrementally-72 % to public‑cloud IaaS, 43 % to Hyper‑V/Azure stack, and 34 % to SaaS alternatives-rather than abandoning VMware entirely. Broadcom’s 2023 acquisition has prompted a “calculated retreat” rather than a mass departure, and the perceived disruption is easing, though price and support remain top concerns.
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