Proxmox migration check: what Broadcom's 72-core minimum costs your VMware site
For IT managers at small businesses, branch offices and edge sites with one to four ESXi hosts. Since 10 April 2025 Broadcom bills every vSphere Foundation or VCF order for at least 72 cores, and every CPU for at least 16. One host with one 8-core CPU pays for 64 cores it does not have, plus 20% if you renew after the anniversary date.
From the ESXi host summary. Broadcom counts at least 16 per CPU.
Use the per-core price on your quote. $135 is the vSphere Foundation figure reported by Redress Compliance (2026); VCF is reported at $350.
Proxmox list prices, net of VAT: Community €120 · Basic €370 · Standard €550 · Premium €1,100.
You see every result free, with your own hosts, before paying anything. The $21 is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: the same 12 results as a formula workbook you keep, re-run for each site and renewal, and attach to the budget request.
Why a vendor calculator or a chatbot gets this wrong
Vendor calculators price their own stack, and a chatbot or an older blog post may still quote the 16-core minimum from before 10 April 2025. This page applies both current Broadcom minimums to your own inventory: each CPU counts as at least 16 cores, then the order is raised to 72 cores.
Sources
Broadcom raised the minimum from 16 to 72 cores per order on 10 April 2025; late renewals carry a 20% penalty (Techzine, 28 March 2025). Proxmox VE is billed per occupied CPU socket whatever the core count, net of VAT (proxmox.com pricing). Proxmox VE, XCP-ng and Harvester are the open alternatives people move to; this calculator prices Proxmox VE.
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$21 once: the same 12 results as a live-formula .xlsx you keep, re-run for every site and every renewal, and attach to the budget request with your own inventory in it.
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Broadcom raised the VMware minimum from 16 to 72 cores per order on 10 April 2025; one 8-core CPU is billed as 72 cores, 64 of them unusable, and late renewals carry a 20% penalty (Techzine, 28 March 2025). Every CPU also counts a
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It takes your hosts, sockets and cores per CPU and applies Broadcom's two minimums: every CPU counts as at least 16 cores, and every order is billed for at least 72 cores since 10 April 2025. It then shows the cores you pay for but do not have, the VMware cost per year and over the term, and the Proxmox VE per-socket cost next to it.
Who is this calculator for?
IT managers and sysadmins at small businesses, branch offices and edge sites running one to four ESXi hosts, who have a vSphere Foundation or VCF renewal coming up. Those are the sites where the 72-core minimum bites hardest: one host with one 8-core CPU is billed for 72 cores, so 64 of the cores on the invoice do not exist.
Why not use a vendor calculator or ask a chatbot?
Vendor calculators are built to price their own platform. A chatbot or an older blog post may still quote the 16-core minimum that applied before 10 April 2025. This page applies both current Broadcom minimums to your own inventory and adds the 20% penalty for renewing after the anniversary date, so the number matches the order you are about to sign.
What is free, and what does the $21 file add?
The web calculator is free with no limit: all 12 results for one order, with your own numbers, on screen. The $21 one-time purchase is the same 12 results as a live-formula .xlsx you keep. Re-run it for every site and every renewal and attach it to a budget request. It is not a subscription.
How does the cost compare with Proxmox VE?
Proxmox VE is billed per occupied CPU socket, whatever the core count: Basic €370, Standard €550 and Premium €1,100 per socket per year, net of VAT. With one 8-core CPU, a $135-per-core quote and a 3-year term, VMware costs $21,160 against $1,298.70 for Proxmox VE Basic at 1.17 dollars per euro.
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