The Broadcom acquisition of VMware fundamentally reshaped the virtualisation and cloud infrastructure landscape, compelling cloud service providers, enterprises, and hosting companies to reassess their technology strategies and actively seek alternatives to VMware. Significant licensing changes, product realignments, and growing uncertainty surrounding the future of the VMware ecosystem accelerated demand for reliable, scalable, and future-proof solutions.
This period of disruption has fueled a marked increase in interest toward open-source technologies, as organisations seek greater control, flexibility, and cost transparency.

In this article, we explore the top VMware alternatives, including powerful open-source options. You’ll discover the key drivers behind the growing shift away from VMware, a side-by-side comparison of leading platforms across critical factors like scalability, performance, support, and cost, and strategic insights to help you choose the right solution for your organisation.

If you’re looking for a reliable VMware alternative, you’re in the right place. We make it easy to understand your options and make an informed decision that ensures the long-term reliability, scalability, and cost-efficiency of your IT infrastructure.

 

Why Look for a VMware Alternative?

The growing interest towards VMware alternatives is a direct response to Broadcom’s acquisition strategy, which has created fear, uncertainty, and doubt across the ecosystem. Many long-time customers are seeing their support agreements discontinued, while partners are being pushed toward complex, costly bundles they never asked for. Organisations are reassessing their dependence on VMware and actively seeking alternatives. Several key factors are driving this shift:

• Rising Licensing Costs: VMware’s pricing has steadily increased, especially following its acquisition by Broadcom, putting pressure on IT budgets
• Vendor Lock-In Risks: VMware’s ecosystem often ties organisations into proprietary technologies and long-term contracts, limiting flexibility and innovation.
• Broadcom Acquisition Uncertainty: The recent acquisition raised concerns about VMware’s future direction, product roadmap, and potential changes in customer support and licensing models.
• Demand for Open-Source Solutions: Organisations are seeking more transparent, community-driven platforms that offer greater control without vendor dependency.
• Shift to Cloud-Native Architectures: As companies move toward containers and Kubernetes, they need virtualisation solutions that align better with modern cloud-native environments.
• Performance and Scalability Requirements: Businesses need solutions that scale efficiently and deliver high performance without the steep costs often associated with VMware.
• Compliance and Data Sovereignty: Companies increasingly require full control over their infrastructure to meet regulatory requirements and ensure data sovereignty, which open-source and alternative platforms better support.
• Need for Greater Innovation and Agility: Open and emerging platforms often adopt new technologies faster, offering organisations a competitive edge in innovation and operational efficiency.

 

This hostile shift in vendor relationships is driving even the most loyal VMware customers to seek alternatives that provide control, predictability, and long-term sustainability.

 

Key Criteria for Evaluating VMware Alternatives

When evaluating an alternative to VMware, service providers and enterprises should consider several critical factors:

• Open-source vs proprietary: Open-source platforms provide transparency, flexibility, and community-driven innovation.
• Ease of migration: Can existing workloads be migrated smoothly?
• Feature parity: Does the platform offer comparable virtualisation, orchestration, and networking features?
• Community and commercial support: Is there a strong ecosystem around the platform?

 

At ShapeBlue, we work overwhelmingly with organisations who recognise that open-source technologies are the most secure path towards achieving such reliability and profitability. We focus on Apache CloudStack so we have made a side-by-side comparison between the old VMware offerings, VMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere Foundation and Apache CloudStack and KVM. We did a VMware Alternatives Comparison Matrix: Side-by-side comparison with CloudStack as an open-source VMware alternative.

In this comparison, we embark on a detailed exploration of the features offered by VMware’s suite of products in comparison to those provided by CloudStack’s open-source platform, which leverages KVM for virtualisation purposes. It is important to recognise from the outset that the comprehensive range of functionalities available through VMware’s offerings might not be entirely matched by the open-source CloudStack suite, but, in the meantime, it adds other features without additional costs that can make a difference to organisations and unleash the potential of vendor lock-in businesses.

 

A Closer Look at Apache CloudStack as a VMware Alternative

Apache CloudStack is a robust, mature, open-source cloud orchestration platform that has gained significant momentum in the wake of VMware’s instability. It is a strong fit for organisations that want to:

• Control their infrastructure without vendor lock-in.
• Build public or private cloud environments.
• Scale elastically while maintaining simplicity.

 

Why choose Apache CloudStack as a VMware alternative?

Apache CloudStack stands out as a VMware alternative for its comprehensive features that meet flexibility and long-term reliability needs. In light of the long-term uncertainties in the virtualisation market, following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Apache CloudStack has emerged as a serious open-source VMware alternative and a competitor for organisations of all sizes seeking viable alternatives.

• Open-source governance: No single company controls the project.
• Rich feature set: Includes UI, APIs, multi-tenant networking, multy-hypervisor support.
• Proven in production: Used by global service providers like BT, KDDI, US Signal, Leaseweb and many more.
• Metering and Usage: Accurate metering and usage tracking are essential for service providers. CloudStack includes sophisticated metering tools to monitor resource usage, helping with billing and capacity planning.
• Advanced Networking Capabilities: The platform has advanced networking capabilities, including complex network topologies, network-as-a-service options, and fine-grained network control. CloudStack provides VPC networks, agnostic integration with third-party VNF (Virtual Network Function), Firewall, Load Balancer, SDN, among other network functions.
• Multi-Zone Management: CloudStack excels at multi-zone management, improving data centre resource utilisation and providing geographic redundancy for your users.
• Elastic Load Balancer: The elastic load balancing feature in CloudStack ensures efficient distribution of network traffic across multiple servers, improving application responsiveness and availability.

Read the full overview of Apache CloudStack and its architecture.

 

Top 5 VMware Alternatives

When evaluating VMware alternatives, it’s important to focus on several critical dimensions that directly impact an organisation’s infrastructure strategy. These factors provide a framework for comparing platforms like Apache CloudStack, OpenStack, Proxmox, and Nutanix to determine their suitability for various use cases.

Based on our analysis of licensing models, technical capabilities, operational complexity, and cost-efficiency, here’s how the Top 5 VMware alternatives compare:

1. Apache CloudStack

Apache CloudStack ranks highest for its versatility, multi-hypervisor support, and ability to fit businesses of all sizes, including Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and Telecom Providers. Its robust networking and storage integration, combined with open-source flexibility, make it an excellent choice for private and hybrid cloud deployments. CloudStack’s API-driven orchestration enhances usability and simplifies automation, making it particularly appealing for service providers managing complex, multi-tenant environments.

2. OpenStack

OpenStack excels in modularity and scalability, making it well-suited for large-scale deployments. Its flexibility allows organisations to customise configurations for compute, networking, and storage. However, OpenStack is notoriously complex to deploy, often requiring large, skilled teams and resulting in higher operational costs. Managed distributions, such as those offered by Red Hat or Canonical, can simplify deployment but add to overall costs.

Discover a technical comparison between Apache CloudStack and OpenStack here.

3. Nutanix

Nutanix offers a streamlined hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) solution with tightly integrated storage, networking, and compute capabilities. Its simplicity and performance are appealing, but its reliance on proprietary hardware and vendor lock-in may limit flexibility for some organisations.

Discover a technical comparison between Apache CloudStack and Nutanix here.

4. OpenNebula

OpenNebula is well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), edge computing, and hybrid cloud use cases. Its simplicity, lightweight architecture, and cost-effectiveness make it a strong option for organisations seeking basic orchestration without high complexity. OpenNebula’s integration with public cloud providers for hybrid deployments is a standout feature. However, its limited advanced networking and orchestration capabilities compared to OpenStack or CloudStack place it behind in the ranking for large-scale or complex cloud environments.

5. Proxmox

Proxmox is a straightforward, cost-effective alternative to VMware for SMBs and labs. While it lacks cloud-like features, its support for lightweight containerised workloads (LXC) and simplicity make it an attractive option for on-premises virtualisation needs. However, its limited advanced orchestration features place it lower in the ranking for larger or more complex environments.

When evaluating VMware alternatives, it’s crucial to see the whole picture—compare feature sets, total cost of ownership, and support ecosystems.

Download our comprehensive guide now to make an informed decision!

 

Apache CloudStack vs. Nutanix as VMware Alternatives

Nutanix and CloudStack emerge as two leading options for virtualisation and cloud management. With VMware’s pricing changes and evolving licensing models, IT teams are exploring solutions that offer flexibility, cost efficiency, and robust performance. In this article, we compare Nutanix vs VMware and CloudStack vs Nutanix, analysing key factors such as storage, networking, automation, and overall use cases to help you choose the right virtualisation platform.

Both technologies share the common goal of simplifying infrastructure management and supporting modern virtualisation technologies, yet they diverge significantly in their implementation and use cases. Apache CloudStack, widely adopted by CSPs, MSPs, Telecom Providers and organisations operating private and hybrid clouds, excels in its flexibility, multi-hypervisor support, and seamless integration with software-defined storage (SDS) solutions. Conversely, Nutanix, primarily focused on private, multi and hybrid clouds, is renowned for its simplicity, high performance, and tightly integrated HCI capabilities underpinned by its proprietary model.

 

Feature	Apache CloudStack	Nutanix
Open-source	✅	❌
Hypervisor flexibility	✅ (KVM, Xen, VMware, others)	❌ (AHV preferred)
Licensing cost	Free	High
Multi-tenant support	✅	❌
Public cloud compatibility	✅	Limited

View the full comparison here.

The takeaway? Apache CloudStack stands out for its openness, flexibility, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO), making it an ideal choice for service providers and enterprises seeking freedom from lock-in.

 

Apache CloudStack: A Robust Open-Source VMware Alternative

Apache CloudStack is a mature, open-source cloud management platform designed to deploy and manage large networks of virtual machines. It offers a comprehensive set of features, making it a compelling choice for organisations seeking a VMware alternative.​

Key Features of Apache CloudStack

• Multi-Hypervisor Support: CloudStack supports multiple hypervisors, including KVM, Citrix Hypervisor, and VMware vSphere. This flexibility allows organizations to integrate CloudStack into existing infrastructures seamlessly.​
• Advanced Networking: It provides advanced networking features, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), load balancing, and firewall capabilities, facilitating the creation of complex network topologies.​
• Scalability: Designed for scalability, CloudStack can manage thousands of hosts in multiple data centers, making it suitable for both small and large-scale deployments.​
• User-Friendly Interface: The platform offers an intuitive web interface and a robust API, simplifying cloud management tasks for administrators and users alike.​
• Open-source and commercially friendly licence (Apache 2.0): allowing unrestricted use, modification, and commercial redistribution.
• Low operational complexity: quick to deploy, easy to manage, with a low learning curve for administrators.
• Feature-rich: supporting advanced networking (SDN, VPC, BGP), storage integrations (Ceph, NFS, ZFS), high availability, and hybrid cloud extensions.
• Built-in self-service and automation: enabling true multi-tenancy, scalability, and integration with IaC tools like Terraform and Ansible.
• Strong community and vendor ecosystem: with regular releases, commercial support options, and active development under the Apache Foundation governance.

 

For organisations considering a migration from VMware, Apache CloudStack provides features that facilitate this transition. Its compatibility with VMware environments ensures a smooth migration process, minimising downtime and preserving existing investments.

 

Open-Source VMware Alternatives: Why They Matter

Many organisations are actively seeking open-source solutions to gain greater control, flexibility, and resilience. Several key factors are driving this move:

• Cost Efficiency: Open-source software eliminates expensive licensing fees and subscription costs, providing a more predictable and sustainable financial model, especially important during periods of economic uncertainty.
• Avoiding Vendor Lock-In: Open-source platforms offer full transparency and flexibility, allowing businesses to avoid being tied to a single vendor’s pricing, roadmap, or proprietary ecosystem.
• Security and Transparency: With open-source, the code is publicly available for review and improvement, which many security experts consider safer than relying on closed systems with hidden vulnerabilities.
• Innovation and Agility: Open-source communities are often faster to adopt new technologies and standards, enabling companies to innovate quicker and stay competitive.
• Customization and Control: Organisations can adapt open-source software to their specific needs, unlike commercial products that often impose rigid frameworks and limitations.

 

In the USA specifically, the technology sector has faced significant economic headwinds over the past few years, driven by rising interest rates, economic uncertainty, and tighter IT budgets that have increased scrutiny on software spending. The Broadcom acquisition of VMware has further fueled market volatility, raising concerns about pricing increases, service changes, and a potential shift toward a more enterprise-exclusive model. At the same time, a broader move toward digital sovereignty, data compliance, and infrastructure resilience is prompting many U.S. enterprises to seek solutions they can fully control — leading to a growing preference for open-source alternatives. The rapid rise of cloud-native technologies such as Kubernetes, OpenStack, and Apache CloudStack has also made open-source solutions more attractive and viable at an enterprise scale. As a result, open-source adoption in critical areas like virtualisation, cloud management, and networking is accelerating quickly among startups and large enterprises alike.

Apache CloudStack is the only truly open-source VMware alternative with a mature feature set and real-world deployments at scale.

 

Real-World Use Cases: Who’s Switching?

Many cloud providers and managed service providers are making the switch from VMware to open-source alternatives. According to ShapeBlue, some are:

• Migrating thousands of workloads from VMware to KVM using Apache CloudStack.
• Cloud Service Providers – as businesses demand agile, cost-effective hybrid, geo-distributed, and edge cloud services beyond hyperscaler offerings, Apache CloudStack seamlessly leverages existing infrastructure to deliver a simple, scalable multi-tenant IaaS platform—public, private, or hybrid—without heavy operational overhead..
• Managed Service Providers  –  Apache CloudStack provides an open-source, multi-tenant IaaS platform that integrates with existing infrastructure to simplify management, optimize resource allocation, ensure cost predictability, and avoid vendor lock-in.
• Telecom Cloud Services Provisioning – Telecom operators can leverage Apache CloudStack—with virtual network functions, IaaS, and Edge zones—to simplify network management, deliver low-latency, tailored cloud and edge services across regions, and unlock new revenue streams.
• Enterprise Private Cloud  – Apache CloudStack enables organisations to build and manage custom enterprise private clouds that deliver cloud-like agility and scalability, streamline provisioning, optimise costs, and maintain full control, security, and sovereignty over data and infrastructure.
• Software as a Service Solutions  – By leveraging CloudStack’s efficient resource management, SaaS platforms can optimise operational costs while delivering high-performance services to their users.
• Financial Technology  – CloudStack’s environment supports rapid development and deployment of applications that require high levels of data encryption and security.

 

These stories underscore a growing trend: freedom, flexibility, and lower cost are winning over vendor loyalty.

 

Next Steps: Get Started with Apache CloudStack as a VMware Alternative

If you’re ready to explore your options and break free from VMware, start by:

1. Reading the CloudStack as a VMware alternative overview.
2. Compare platforms with the VMware Alternatives Matrix.
3. Test drive Apache CloudStack.
4. Book a consultation with ShapeBlue to understand what a tailored migration strategy might look like.
5. Download our Apache CloudStack Proof of Concept Guide and install Apache CloudStack on your own infrastructure.
6. Training and Workshops: Join our training sessions and workshops to get in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience with Apache CloudStack.

 

ShapeBlue has also developed a step-by-step video guide to speed up your journey with the CloudStack Demo. Explore the playlist on YouTube, which covers:

• Apache CloudStack Key Terminology and Quick Overview
• CloudStack Dashboard Overview
• Essential Operations
• CloudStack Autoscaling
• CloudStack Disk and Instance Snapshot

 

Conclusion

The post-Broadcom VMware world is turbulent, but it’s also a unique opportunity to re-evaluate the foundations of your cloud and virtualisation strategy. Whether you’re a service provider, enterprise, or IT leader, there has never been a better time to explore open-source VMware alternatives like Apache CloudStack.

At ShapeBlue, we help organisations across the globe successfully migrate from VMware and build agile, open, and scalable cloud environments. If you’re feeling the pressure of licensing changes and strategic uncertainty, let us guide you toward a future that puts you back in control.

 

Further Reading

🔗 VMware Alternatives Hub

🔗 VMware Alternatives Comparison Matrix

🔗 CloudStack vs Nutanix as VMware Alternatives

🔗 OpenStack Alternatives

🔗 Why CloudStack?