Broadcom's VMware acquisition has driven licence costs up 50-300%. 2026 is the year many organisations accelerate VMware to cloud migration. This guide covers options, costs and assessment.
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Broadcom acquisition drove VMware licence costs up 50-300% for many Enterprise Plus customers. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bundles previously separate products. Organisations evaluating cloud migration as more cost-effective alternative. Combined with cloud maturity, 2026 is a tipping point.
Lift and shift: move VMs to cloud VMs. Fastest, lowest risk. Replatform: move to managed PaaS (databases to RDS/Azure SQL). Replatform: Higher effort, better long-term cost. Re-architect: containerise/rewrite for cloud-native. Most orgs: 60-70% rehost, 20-30% replatform, 5-10% re-architect.
Azure VMware Solution (AVS): Run vSphere on Azure dedicated hardware. Familiar environment, fastest migration, higher cost than native Azure. Native Azure VMs: Convert VMs using Azure Migrate. More planning required, better long-term economics. Strategy: AVS first to stop VMware licence bleeding, then gradual modernisation to native VMs.
AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN): continuous block-level replication from VMware to AWS. Automated cutover. FREE. VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC): VMware SDDC on AWS bare metal. Premium pricing. Recommendation: AWS MGN for best balance of speed and economics.
100-VM VMware environment: On-prem with new VMware licencing $180-250K/year. Azure with 3yr RI + AHB: $90-120K/year. AWS with 3yr RI: $95-125K/year. Saving: 40-55% over 3 years plus eliminating VMware renewal risk. TCOIQ calculates from your RVTools export.
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