VMware makes Workstation and Fusion free for everyone

VMware this week announced that the virtualization company’s hypervisor products, VMware Workstation and Fusion, will be completely free for both personal and commercial users, as well as for educational purposes. The move follows a decision last May, when VMware made both Workstation and Fusion free for personal use; those who wanted to use the software for commercial purposes still had to sign up for a paid subscription.

The free versions will have the same functionality as the paid products, but VMware owner Broadcom will not offer troubleshooting support. The old paid versions Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro are no longer available.

“If you currently have a commercial contract, you can rest assured knowing that your contract will continue to apply until the end of your contract term,” Himanshu Singh, Broadcom product marketing director, said in a blog post. “You will continue to receive full service and enterprise-grade support as per your agreement.”

Broadcom bought VMware in 2023 and then decided to make major changes to the product portfolio. Among other things, by removing all perpetual licenses, which received a lot of criticism from several quarters.