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2026 marks a historic transition in enterprise IT infrastructure. After Broadcom's acquisition of VMware (completed late 2023), thousands of organizations across the world began evaluating alternatives due to major shifts in licensing, pricing, product availability, support ecosystem, and partner program structure. This has led to a global movement now commonly called "VMware Replacement", especially across medium and large enterprises in manufacturing, BFSI, healthcare, government, education, and logistics sectors.
Organizations replacing VMware in 2026 are not simply cost-cutting; they are seeking enterprise-class scalability, simplified management, predictable licensing, modern HCI (hyperconverged infrastructure), improved cybersecurity integration, cloud-ready platforms, and better DR and multi-site architecture.
This guide provides a deep, enterprise-centric view of VMware replacements available in 2026, with neutral analysis and selective strong positioning supported by real performance and analyst-recognized results.
2. Why Enterprises Are Replacing VMware in 2026
The VMware replacement trend accelerated dramatically throughout 2024–2025, and it now continues into 2026 for several reasons:
2.1 Broadcom's Licensing Overhaul
Broadcom discontinued many VMware perpetual licenses and converted most products into subscription-only bundles.
Notable changes:
- Perpetual licenses removed
- Smaller SKUs (like Essentials) discontinued
- License bundling forcing customers into larger packages
- Complex multi-year subscription commitments
This shift disproportionately impacted not only SMBs but also medium and large enterprises, where renewals ballooned into millions in some cases.
2.2 Major Price Increases
Multiple industry reports (CRN, The Register) confirm:
- Price hikes ranging from 6× to 8×
- Mandatory VMware Cloud Foundation bundles
- Higher professional services requirements
- Increased subscription renewal fees
2.3 Reduced Global Partner Ecosystem
In early 2024 (mid-Dec 2023), Broadcom removed thousands of VMware partners from the ecosystem.
Consequence for enterprises:
- Fewer certified engineers
- Longer response times
- Limited procurement flexibility
- Higher dependency on Broadcom's direct support model
2.4 Enterprise Digital Transformation Acceleration
Medium and large enterprises are prioritizing:
- Multi-site resilience
- Data center modernization
- Zero-trust security
- Edge computing
- AI/ML-ready infrastructure
VMware licensing instability is making organizations rethink long-term contracts.
3. Broadcom’s VMware Restructuring (2024–2025): Enterprise Impact
As VMware undergoes major restructuring under Broadcom, businesses are facing substantial shifts in licensing, partner ecosystems, and product offerings. The table below highlights these key changes. Enterprises with dozens or hundreds of hosts felt the biggest financial impact.
| Area | VMware Before Broadcom | VMware After Broadcom |
| Licensing | Perpetual + Subscription | Subscription-Only |
| Market Target | SMB + Enterprise | Primarily Enterprise |
| Offering | Flexible modular SKUs | Large bundled suites |
| Partner Ecosystem | Large global network | Significantly reduced |
| DR/BC Options | Modular add-ons | Bundle-dependent |
| Cost Model | Granular | High commitments |
4. Core Evaluation Criteria for Choosing a VMware Replacement
When planning a VMware exit, medium and large enterprises should evaluate:
5. Top VMware Replacement Platforms in 2026
5.1 Sangfor HCI (Enterprise-Class HCI)
Sangfor HCI is one of the best VMware replacement alternatives. It is a fully integrated HCI platform with security features and has strong adoption across medium and large enterprises in manufacturing, government, BFSI, healthcare, higher education, retail, logistics, and energy. Sangfor HCI is widely chosen for VMware replacement by medium to large enterprises.
Sangfor HCI offers a unified approach to compute, storage, network, and security, delivering high-performance virtualization. It also supports multi-site DR with enterprise-grade RPO/RTO, as well as active-active data center capabilities. The platform includes an integrated cybersecurity stack, high VM density, and optimized performance, making it particularly strong for mission-critical workloads.
Industry Recognition
- Gartner Peer Insights VOC 2025 – HCI Category
- Gartner Representative Vendor – Server Virtualization 2025
- Recognized as a Sample Vendor in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Data Center Infrastructure Technologies
5.2 Nutanix AOS
A premium HCI solution typically used in large enterprises, Fortune 500 companies, and data center modernization projects. Nutanix AOS boasts a mature ecosystem, strong automation, and an AHV hypervisor, supporting large-scale multi-cluster environments. However, it has higher costs and is better suited for very large IT teams.
5.3 Microsoft Hyper-V
Still widely used in Microsoft-centric environments and smaller regional data centers. It is cost-effective and integrates strongly with the Windows ecosystem, but it lacks full enterprise HCI feature depth and has complex disaster recovery requirements without third-party tools.
5.4 Proxmox VE
Popular among development and testing environments, technical teams, and small offices. While not enterprise-grade for large, critical workloads due to limited official support and a less mature HCI storage stack, Proxmox VE is often used in less demanding setups.
5.5 OpenStack / CloudStack
Best suited for telcos, ISPs, and cloud providers. These platforms are highly scalable but require a specialist team and come with large operational overhead.
| Vendor | Best For | Strengths | Limitations |
| Sangfor HCI | Medium & Large Enterprises | Enterprise-grade DR, integrated security, high performance | Primarily APAC/EU presence |
| Nutanix AOS | Large Enterprises | Mature automation, strong ecosystem | High cost |
| Hyper-V | SMB-Mid Market | Cost-effective | Limited HCI capabilities |
| Proxmox | Small setups / labs | Open-source | Not suited for mission-critical enterprise workloads |
| OpenStack | Telcos & ISPs | Extreme scale | High complexity |
6. Sangfor HCI is emerging as the leading VMware Replacement
Across APAC, middle East, Europe and South-America, Sangfor HCI (Hyper-Converged Infrastructure) has become the preferred VMware replacement for medium and large enterprises because its enterprise-class architecture, predictable licensing, high-availability features, and integrated cybersecurity. These key differentiators allow Sangfor HCI to offer a more streamlined, cost-effective solution compared to VMware:
6.1 Enterprise-Class Architecture
Sangfor HCI unifies compute, distributed storage, network virtualization, micro-segmentation, security, cloud-native readiness, and multi-site disaster recovery. This integration of aSV, aSAN, aNet, and aSEC enables a seamless solution.
This integrated approach eliminates the multi-product complexity that VMware presents. Whether replacing vSphere with aSV or a full VMware stack with Sangfor HCI (aSV + aSAN + aNet + aSEC), Sangfor HCI offers a unified and simplified solution.
6.2 Predictable Licensing for Large Environments
Unlike VMware's bundled pricing, Sangfor provides transparent enterprise licensing without forced add-ons, per-feature upcharges, or complex bundles. This enables large enterprises to benefit from clearer total cost of ownership (TCO) planning. (Reduces at least 70% of the TCO)
6.3 High-Availability & Enterprise DR
Sangfor HCI supports active-active data centers, multi-site cross-region replication, ultra-low RPO/RTO, and built-in disaster recovery (DR) features, unlike VMware, which often requires add-on licensed modules.
6.4 Integrated Cybersecurity
A key differentiator of Sangfor HCI is its inclusion of aSEC, a Security Virtualization component supported with next-gen firewall (NGAF), endpoint protection, ransomware mitigation, micro-segmentation, zero-trust enforcement, and XDDR coordinated defense.
VMware, on the other hand, requires separate NSX and third-party security suites.
6.5 Proven Success in Large Deployments
Sangfor HCI and Sangfor aSV has proven its value in thousands of enterprise deployments across multi-node, multi-site environments, including notable companies like Berca Hardayaperkasa (Indonesia), Meyer Aluminium (Thailand), Sama S.p.A (Italy), and UNIKA Atma Jaya University (Indonesia). These reflect multi-node, multi-site enterprise environments.
7. VMware vs Sangfor HCI: Architecture Comparison
7.1 Module Comparison
| Module | Sangfor | VMware |
| Compute Virtualization | aSV | vSphere |
| Storage Virtualization | aSAN | vSAN |
| Network Virtualization | aNET | NSX |
| Security Virtualization | aSEC | NSX (SDN-centric) |
| HCI Management | Built-in HCI platform | vCenter |
| Cloud Management | Sangfor Cloud Platform (SCP) | vRealize Suite |
| Cloud-native Platform | Sangfor Kubernetes Engine (SKE) | Tanzu |
| AIOps | SkyOps | Aria |
Resource: Sangfor HCI vs VMware: A Full Comparison for SMB IT Infrastructure in 2025 | Sangfor vs. VMware: A Feature-by-Feature Comparison
7.2 Features Comparison
| Feature | VMware | Sangfor HCI |
| Disk Bad Sector Prediction | X | ✓ |
| SSD Life Prediction | X | ✓ |
| Micro-segmentation / Distributed Firewall | NSX FLOW | ✓ |
| 1-Click Health Check | X | ✓ |
| Backup with Instant Recovery | 3rd Party | ✓ |
| Continuously Data Protection (CDP) | 3rd Party | ✓ |
| Network Topology Virtualization | X | ✓ |
7.3 Network & Security
| Feature | VMware | Sangfor HCI |
| Virtual Firewall | 3rd Party | ✓ |
| Virtual WAN Optimization | X | ✓ |
| Virtual Load Balancer | 3rd Party | ✓ |
| Virtual SSL VPN | X | ✓ |
7.4 Cost, Licensing & ROI Comparison
| Category | VMware (Broadcom) | Sangfor HCI |
| Licensing | High, bundle-based | Predictable |
| DR | Add-on | Built-in |
| Security | NSX + 3rd party | Built-in |
| Support | Limited partners | Strong regional presence |
| TCO (5 years) | Very high | 40–60% lower |
8. Enterprise Replacement Strategy: How to Exit VMware Smoothly
8.1 Assessment Phase
The first step in a smooth replacement is a comprehensive assessment. This includes taking an inventory of all VMs, mapping dependencies, and identifying mission-critical workloads. Benchmarking resource consumption and identifying any licensing exposure are also crucial to understanding your current VMware setup.
8.2 Replacement Planning
Once the assessment is complete, the next step is replacement planning. This involves deciding on the cutover model, whether phased or full, and performing P2V/V2V simulations to test the replacement process. Establishing a disaster recovery (DR) staging site and validating application compatibility will also ensure that the replacement will proceed smoothly.
8.3 Execution Phase
During the execution phase, automated VM conversion tools are used to facilitate the replacement, and live data is synchronized to the new platform. It's also essential to ensure proper network/IP mapping and validate performance on the new platform to ensure everything is working as expected.
8.4 Post- Replacement Optimization
After the replacement, the focus shifts to optimization. This includes tuning hypervisor parameters, re-configuring DR policies, optimizing resource pools, and implementing micro-segmentation for better security and performance. Applying security policies ensures that your new infrastructure is both secure and efficient.
9. VMware Replacement Decision Checklist
| Do you require enterprise-class DR(Disaster Recovery)? |
| Do you need predictable multi-year TCO? |
| Are security integrations important? |
| Do you operate multi-site or multi-region environments? |
| Do you need simple scaling across dozens of nodes? |
| Do you prefer unified infrastructure & security? |
| Does your organization require high performance for ERP, databases, VDI? |
10. Frequently Asked Questions
Because of increased licensing cost, enforced bundles, reduced partner ecosystem, and more predictable alternative HCI platforms emerging.
Depends on requirements, but enterprises are choosing Sangfor HCI for VMware replacement. Sangfor HCI is emerging as one of the preferred VMware alternatives.
Yes. Tools like Sangfor Migration Tool enable near-zero-downtime transitions.
Absolutely. Sangfor supports large, mission-critical, multi-region deployments. Please refer to enterprise case studies, success stories and real customer reviews on YouTube for more details.
No. Perpetual licenses have been discontinued globally.
11. External References
IDC (Virtualization Market) Worldwide Software-Defined Compute Study 2024
