Date:
7 Sept 2026
Author:
PREO AG
Used software
A market in upheaval: why so many IT decision-makers are turning their backs on VMware
Since Broadcom acquired VMware, the virtualisation world has been through a profound shake-up. Scrapping perpetual licences in favour of expensive, bundled subscription models such as VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) has put CIOs and software asset managers under considerable pressure to act. For many companies, the licensing changes have brought a huge increase in their existing licence costs, with no immediate added value to show for the jump in price.
To escape the cost trap and regain control of their IT infrastructure, a growing number of organisations are planning to leave VMware altogether, or at least to cut their subscriptions back sharply. Some well-known companies have already completed the switch to alternatives such as KVM/Proxmox or Nutanix AHV in record time.
In this blog post we show that the move away from VMware is not a short-lived trend and looks set to continue. But what happens to the licences that are no longer needed once a migration is complete? We explain how companies and public administrations can sell their unused VMware licences on the secondary software market in a legally compliant way and recoup at least part of their original investment.
The migration trend: recent research findings and real-world examples from around the world
Switching hypervisor is a major intervention in an IT architecture and often takes years. Even so, the price increases are forcing even long-standing major customers and public authorities with complex virtualisation estates to act. Recent market analyses and a long list of examples make clear that these are not isolated cases but a sustained movement:
Market analyses and studies
In a CloudBolt survey carried out in North America in January 2026 among 300 IT decision-makers at large enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, 86 per cent said they were actively reducing their use of VMware. Almost 60 per cent of respondents had seen price rises of more than 25 per cent, and for 14 per cent costs had actually doubled. Unsurprisingly, 88 per cent voiced serious concern about further price increases.
A SUSE study from April 2026, which surveyed more than 120 IT leaders at European companies, paints the same picture. Two findings stand out: 90 per cent have seen their licence costs rise since the acquisition. As a direct result, 55 per cent of decision-makers are currently looking at alternatives or have already committed to a migration.
A corporate example from North America
Many large US corporations are deliberately cutting their vSphere deployments by 50 per cent or more as part of cloud migrations and moves to open-source hypervisors such as KVM/Proxmox or Nutanix AHV. US telecoms giant AT&T, for instance, took legal action against Broadcom as early as autumn 2024. According to court documents, AT&T was presented with a proposed price increase of 1,050 per cent. The company insisted on its existing support contracts and refused to accept the new terms. It then launched a multi-million-dollar migration project to break away from VMware for good.
European examples: a corporation and a public body
The British supermarket chain Tesco has consolidated its VMware infrastructure dramatically as part of its own switch, pulling around 40,000 servers out of the VMware ecosystem.
Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch agency responsible for running critical national infrastructure such as locks, bridges and tunnels, faced a cost increase of 85 per cent, which would have pushed its annual spend from €2.1 million to almost €4 million. It took Broadcom to court and won before a Dutch judge in June 2025: Broadcom was ordered to carry on providing technical support at the old price for two years while the agency migrates to different software.
A corporate example from the DACH region
Austrian cloud and IT services provider Anexia pulled the plug early in the face of the strategic risks and soaring prices. The company carried out one of the largest known switches in the DACH region, successfully migrating 12,000 virtual machines from VMware to its own open-source KVM platform by the start of 2025.
PREO tip: sell your used VMware licences now
Have you also moved from VMware to another provider, or are you planning a partial or complete migration over the coming months? PREO's licensing experts will be happy to put together a no-obligation offer to buy your used VMware licences, based on your current inventory.
Profit through software remarketing: selling unused licences legally and securely
Migrating or scaling back VMware infrastructure creates an opportunity that is repeatedly overlooked: the perpetual VMware licences previously in use, for products such as vSphere or vSAN, are no longer needed once the system changes or the estate shrinks. Rather than simply writing these valuable assets off, companies can sell them in full compliance with the law on the secondary software market.
Selling used perpetual licences offers tangible financial benefits:
Immediate liquidity
Depending on the size of the company, the proceeds quickly run into five or six figures – money that can go straight into funding new migration projects, cloud initiatives or hardware upgrades.
Fewer misallocations and better use of residual value
As a business changes and develops, large volume licence agreements easily end up with surplus capacity, which is nothing other than misallocated capital. By selling licence packages you no longer need, you can recover at least part of that capital.
Supporting a sustainable circular economy
Turning past purchases back into cash makes sense for more than just practical and financial reasons. A sustainable circular economy has long been standard practice for hardware such as laptops and printers. With software it is particularly worthwhile, because software does not wear out and is therefore ideally suited to second or repeated use.
Why PREO is the ideal partner when you sell your used software licences
Trading in used software demands complete legal and audit security. As one of Europe's leading dealers in used software licences, PREO meets the highest standards for licence transfers when it comes to security, transparency and compliance.
100 per cent legally secure and audit-proof
PREO guarantees that every licence is checked to audit standard, with no gaps, and makes sure that all sales comply with current legal requirements.
Transparent, secure handling
From checking the licences through valuation to payment, PREO manages the entire process in a structured, transparent and fully compliant manner. PREO customers also benefit from the Safe3 system, which adds further safeguards such as complete documentation of the chain of rights and supplementary financial loss liability insurance.
More than 20 years of experience and expertise
For more than 20 years we have helped shape the trade in used software licences, with a specialism in European licensing law. More than 5,000 customers have already optimised their licence portfolios with us, sustainably lowering their running costs or freeing up additional liquidity. You can find our customer references here.
In summary: don't let the IT capital you already own go to waste. Treat the VMware transformation as an opportunity and, by selling your used VMware licences to PREO, secure valuable financial resources for your company's IT future.
