The landscape for underwent a tectonic shift following Broadcom's $61 billion acquisition of VMware . While the core software remains a gold standard for virtualization, the way you unlock and pay for it has moved from a "buy-it-once" asset to an "annual-rent" service . The Rebirth of the "Free" Version
It remains a "standalone" product. You cannot manage it via vCenter, you are limited to 8 vCPUs per VM, and it lacks the APIs required for professional backup software like Veeam . The Death of Perpetual Keys License key for the free edition of VMware ESXi 8.0U3e vmware esxi 8 license key