The Great Unwind: 86% of Firms Are Quietly Ditching VMware

ROCKVILLE, MD – February 17, 2026 – Two years after Broadcom's seismic acquisition of VMware, the predicted mass exodus of customers has not materialized. Instead, something more deliberate and potentially more consequential is underway: a great unwinding. A new report from CloudBolt Software reveals that an overwhelming 86% of enterprises are now actively reducing their VMware footprint, not in a panic, but in a measured, strategic retreat from a vendor that once formed the bedrock of corporate data centers.

The report, “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning,” surveyed 302 North American IT leaders and paints a picture of a market shifting from initial fear to pragmatic action. While the initial panic over massive, immediate price hikes has subsided—with only 5% of companies seeing costs double—a new, more pressing reality has set in. A staggering 88% of IT leaders are concerned about future price increases, and that concern is now dictating strategy and forcing a slow, methodical decoupling from a deeply embedded technology partner.

The Anatomy of the Squeeze

At the heart of this strategic shift are the sweeping changes Broadcom has implemented since finalizing its $61 billion acquisition. The company has aggressively moved to streamline its new asset and maximize returns, a strategy that has left many longtime customers feeling squeezed. The most significant change was the abrupt end of perpetual licenses, forcing all users into a subscription-based model.

Beyond the subscription mandate, Broadcom dramatically consolidated VMware's sprawling portfolio into a few core bundles, primarily the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). This 'all-or-nothing' approach often forces customers to pay for a suite of products, even if they only need a fraction of the functionality. Compounding the issue are new licensing rules that have dramatically increased costs for some. In one widely reported instance, a European university saw its annual support costs skyrocket by 1,250%, from approximately £40,000 to £500,000, after being pushed onto the new VCF bundle. Similar stories have emerged across industries, with some small and medium-sized businesses reporting renewal fee increases of up to 10 times their previous costs.

“The process of unwinding a decade of process dependencies is taking 18-24 months,” noted one survey respondent. “This sideways abstraction is far more complex than a standard cloud lift-and-shift, leading to a significant loss of confidence in our ability to exit quickly enough to avoid the next renewal cliff.”

From Panic to Pragmatism

The market's response has been one of adaptation and recalibration. According to CloudBolt's research, 56% of companies say they have changed their VMware strategy two or more times since the acquisition, signaling a period of intense, real-time experimentation. Rather than a chaotic stampede for the exits, enterprises are adopting a more nuanced approach.

This is reflected in the finding that 54% of companies report they are staying with VMware for now, but are simultaneously and actively working to reduce their dependence. This phased transition model allows organizations to manage risk while methodically moving workloads to more cost-effective or flexible platforms.

“Two years ago, the market was dominated by knee-jerk speculation and worst-case projections,” said Mark Zembal, Chief Marketing Officer at CloudBolt, in the company's press release. “This latest study separates noise and speculation from reality. The fear has cooled, but the pressure hasn’t — and most teams are now making practical moves to build leverage and optionality.”

Charting a New Course to the Cloud

As enterprises begin to unwind their VMware estates, a clear destination is emerging: the public cloud. The CloudBolt study found that 72% of workloads being migrated are heading to public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. These hyperscalers offer the promise of scalability, pay-as-you-go pricing, and a rich ecosystem of services that can replace legacy on-premises functions.

Microsoft has particularly benefited by offering the Azure VMware Solution (AVS), a managed service that provides a smoother 'lift-and-shift' pathway, allowing businesses to run their existing VMware workloads natively on Azure. However, this is still subject to Broadcom's licensing, reinforcing the vendor's central role even in cloud migration strategies.

Alongside public cloud, other virtualization platforms are gaining significant traction. Open-source solutions like Proxmox are seeing a surge in interest for their cost-effectiveness and flexibility. Established players like Nutanix, a major competitor in the hyperconverged infrastructure space, and Red Hat, with its OpenShift Virtualization platform, are also positioning themselves as viable, enterprise-grade alternatives for running virtual machines and containers in modern hybrid environments.

A Boardroom-Level Decision

What was once a purely technical decision for IT departments has now escalated into a strategic business conversation at the executive level. CloudBolt’s research highlights that 41% of respondents have seen increased executive pressure regarding their VMware strategy since the acquisition. The volatility of pricing, concerns about vendor lock-in, and the operational burden of managing a complex, multi-platform transition have captured the attention of CIOs and CFOs alike.

The focus has shifted from simply keeping the lights on to building long-term resilience and financial predictability. This is no longer just about swapping one technology for another; it's about fundamentally re-architecting IT strategy to prioritize flexibility, cost optimization, and vendor optionality.

“Enterprises aren’t just asking what they want to do — they’re confronting what they can execute safely,” noted Rod Squires, CEO of CloudBolt. “The panic phase is over. Now it’s execution: reducing dependency, managing dual realities during transition, and building optionality before the next renewal decision tightens the window – and slams the budget.”