An Ars Technica report describes a survey of organisations reconsidering VMware. The findings concern that sample, while Proxmox’s release documentation explains one tool available for importing VMware guests.
Market Trends in Virtualization Strategy
Ars Technica reports that the 2026 Rimini Street survey covered 300 organisations worldwide using VMware and was conducted by Unisphere Research. In that sample, 90 percent said higher VMware licensing costs were a reason for exploring alternatives, while 73 percent named cost savings as a top priority. Rimini sells third-party support, including for VMware, and therefore has a commercial interest in this market. These figures describe the surveyed organisations; they are not a measured percentage of all UK VMware customers.
Technical Considerations for VMware Licensing Cost Alternatives
The same report describes operational complexity, managing multiple vendors, security and skills as barriers reported by respondents. A survey can help identify issues to investigate, but it does not establish the cost or feasibility of migrating a particular organisation. The presence of an import tool is likewise separate from testing application compatibility, operational procedures and the target environment.
Tools for Migrating Virtual Machines
Proxmox’s April 2024 announcement for Virtual Environment 8.2 describes an integrated VM importer presented as a storage plugin in the API and web interface. It supports importing VMware-based guests from ESXi and vCenter, with most original configuration settings mapped to the Proxmox model. This is a description of the feature introduced in that release, rather than a claim that version 8.2 is the current release or that every workload can migrate unchanged.
Sources and further reading
Licensing costs driving 90 percent of VMware users to explore options: Survey - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/10/operational-complexity-a-top-barrier-for-vmware-migrations-survey/
Proxmox Virtual Environment 8.2 with Import Wizard released
https://www.proxmox.com/en/about/company-details/press-releases/proxmox-virtual-environment-8-2