Broadcom broadens access to this virtualisation staple

VMware Workstation is Now Free for Commercial Use Too

Back in the spring, VMware did something unexpected: it made its desktop hypervisor software free to download and use on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

No trial period, no in-app purchases, no feature limitations; the full version of VMware Workstation Pro (Windows, Linux) and Fusion Pro (macOS) for free.

The “catch” was that it was only free for personal use.

Businesses, educators, freelancers, and developers who planned to use the software for so-called ‘commercial’ purposes were asked to be honest and pay for a license.

Now, that’s no longer needed.

Why is VMware Workstation Pro Now Free?

Both VMware Workstation Pro and Mac equivalent Fusion Pro are free to for everyone to use for whatever they want to use it for, be it personal or commercial. And with the change, VMware Workstation Pro or Fusion Pro are no longer available to purchase.

Customers with a commercial license can’t get a prorated refund—though if the purchase was only made in the past 30 days, I’d suggest asking for one—but will continue to benefit from human ticketed support, something non-license users won’t get.

Does VMware Workstation Pro being free for everyone who needs it means the app is now, in effect, abandoned?

No. VMware stresses it plans to continue “investing in new features, usability improvements, and other valuable enhancements” going forward.

But if VMware is not charging for its desktop product, how will it continue to invest in them?

The majority of VMware’s revenue comes from selling virtualisation tech designed for businesses, enterprises, and cloud services – big scale IT infrastructure – and the ongoing technical support contracts that come along with it.

Much like Canonical, in a sense.

Freeware ≠ FOSS

Although VMware Workstation Pro is free to use on Linux it is not open-source software.

The proprietary nature could be a rub for some, but to others, not so much. Lots of Linux users install Steam, Spotify, Google Chrome, Discord, proprietary NVIDIA GPU drivers, etc without compunction.

There is plenty of open-source virtual machine software available now, with capable, open-source efforts like Qemu, Proxmox, and Oracle’s VirtualBox catering the breadth of potential use-cases.

VMware Workstation has its own pros, including robust networking, including VLAN support, multiple virtual NICs, and network simulation tools; snapshots, cloning, and machine templates; remote connectivity features, and more.

Want to download VMware Workstation Pro for Linux? You need to sign up for a Broadcom account then sign-in to a support page to access a download link. The Linux version comes as a .bundle file – give it permission to run, then launch from a terminal to install it.

Once done, you can launch the app from the app launcher, and start exploring how well it handles your chosen guest OS.