What's Happening with VMware?

Recently, after acquiring VMware, the manufacturer Broadcom made several changes to licensing and maintenance models that have set off alarms in the virtualization world.

• There are reports of license renewal increases from 5x to 10x for some customers. 

• Some European customers report facing increases of up to 1,500% in licensing and support costs. 

• The changes aren't just about price, but also the model: in many cases, perpetual licenses are being phased out in favor of more expensive subscriptions. 

• For small to medium-sized businesses (like many SMEs or even you, managing services for clients), these price hikes can become a real budgetary problem. 

In short: the trend indicates that maintaining VMware may no longer be "just another expense" but rather "a cost that limits what you can do."

So... Why Consider Proxmox VE?

With this scenario of rising costs in mind, Proxmox emerges as a very interesting alternative. Here are my reasons, from the technical to the practical:

1. Open Licensing / Reduced Cost
   Proxmox VE is open-source software, licensed under AGPLv3, which means you can install it without any license fees and opt for support when you need it. 
   This allows for cost predictability: a more stable infrastructure in terms of spending, without unexpected renewal "surprises" that jump 300-500%.

2. Good Performance / Efficiency
   In technical comparisons, Proxmox has shown it can outperform VMware in certain scenarios. For example, in storage IOPS/latency tests, Proxmox achieved ~50% better peak performance and ~30% lower latency in some tests. 
   In other words: less hardware overhead for good performance, which matters a lot to a systems administrator.

3. Stack Flexibility and Openness
   Proxmox allows you to use KVM for virtual machines, LXC for containers, and integrate Ceph, ZFS, multiple storage options, and software-defined networking (SDN) in recent versions… 
   This fits well if, in your homelab and the services you offer, you want something "under your control" that you can adapt and automate, without depending on restrictive proprietary licenses.

4. Suitable for Multiple Use Cases
   While VMware remains strong in "pure enterprise" environments with thousands of hosts, demanding roadmaps, and huge ecosystems, Proxmox VE is perfectly suitable for professional services, VPS, hosting, automation, medium-sized clusters, etc. 
   Since your ForgeNEX project includes offering hosting, VPS, automation, and managed services, this flexibility works in your favor.

What Are the "Buts"? Because Not All That Glitters Is Gold

Of course, I'm not saying that migrating to or adopting Proxmox is a "set it and forget it" solution. Some points to consider:

• The learning curve can be steeper in certain aspects if you're coming from VMware or very "plug-and-play" solutions. For example, configuring advanced distributed storage, geo-distributed clusters, etc., may require more hands-on work.

• The ecosystem of commercial support, "out-of-the-box" integrations, partners, and extensions for VMware is still more mature (for certain extreme scenarios). If you have mission-critical requirements or super-strict compliance needs, VMware might still be the right choice.

• Migrating from VMware to Proxmox is not trivial: it involves planning, compatibility checks, downtime, disaster recovery provisioning, etc. There is a migration cost that must be weighed against future savings.

How We See It in Practice at ForgeNEX (and for your clients)

Imagine this scenario adapted to your services:

• You have two Proxmox servers in your homelab/infrastructure that form the basis of your VPS and hosting offerings. You configure them as a cluster and set up shared storage (for example, Ceph or replicated ZFS).

• For new hosting or fast web clients (sites, landing pages, small stores), you use Proxmox with LXC containers or lightweight VMs, avoiding expensive licenses and keeping costs under control.

• For more demanding clients requiring greater isolation, multi-tenancy, automation, billing, or an API — Proxmox can scale to that level without licensing costs eating into your profit margin.

• In your communications, you can offer: "An open stack, without proprietary licenses that increase without warning" → a key differentiator from providers who depend on VMware and may pass those costs on to the client.

In short: now that VMware is becoming increasingly expensive, switching to an alternative like Proxmox VE makes a lot of sense, especially for a project like yours in Seville, Spain, focused on systems services, hosting, and automation. It's not just about "saving for the sake of saving," but about having control over your costs, your infrastructure, and your ability to scale without suffering from "license surprises."