Remember when small shops were told vSphere Standard was gone? Well… entry-level vSphere is back!
On Nov 4, Broadcom introduced VMware vSphere Express which is a vSphere 9 subscription for smaller environments.
What’s Included?
- Components: ESX Standard and vCenter Standard
- Features Broadcom lists: vMotion, HA, vCenter Quick Patch, Virtual Distributed Switches, TPM 2.0/vTPM 2.0
What’s Not Included?
- vSAN
- DRS
- Storage vMotion and FT aren’t on Broadcom’s list yet, but could be possibly included (TBD)
The Licensing Fine Print
- Cap: 128 cores per customer or site ID, according to Broadcom
- Default license only: no splitting, no sharing across sites
- No add-ons
- v9 and later only: no version 8 keys
- Still required: VCF Operations (licensing only) plus a license server
- Management: discrete instances, no central management
Doing the Math
TD Synnex (distributor, not Broadcom) lists SKU VCF-VSP-EXP at $9,600/yr MSRP for up to 128 cores, on a one-year term.
2 hosts x 2 CPUs x 16 cores = 64 cores → same $9,600
4 hosts x 2 CPUs x 16 cores = 128 cores → same $9,600
8 hosts x 1 CPU x 16 cores = 128 cores → same $9,600
Does the usual 16-core-per-CPU minimum apply? Yes.
Bottom Line
From my perspective, vSphere Express is a great option for small organizations that need need basic virtualization stack.
Agree or disagree?
More information from Broadcom directly:
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-1/vsphere-express.html
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/11/04/broadcom-vcf-portfolio-updates/
