VMware has announced VMware Workstation 17 Pro and VMware Fusion 13 Pro would be free for personal use! The news, delivered by Michael Roy, Product Line Manager for VMware’s Desktop Hypervisor products, is huge for the tens of thousands of students, hobbyists, and casual users of these two incredible products.
VMware Workstation is a type 2 hypervisor for x64 Windows or Linux computers that allows you to run virtual machines on them. It was VMware’s first product and the first virtualization product that I and many others have used. The latest release supports Windows 11, OpenGL 4.3, and other features like 32 vCPU VMs with up to 128GB of RAM.
VMware Fusion is a type 2 hypervisor for macOS systems. It allows Macs with Intel or Apple M series chips to run virtual machines with guest operating systems within the host macOS operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Summary
Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro will have two license models: Free Personal Use and Paid Commercial Use subscriptions. VMware Workstation Player and VMware Fusion Player are discontinued and unavailable for purchase. These two products are striped-down versions of Workstation and Fusion.
Existing customers will continue to receive support based on their existing EOL and EOGS dates. The new Desktop Hypervisor app subscription can be purchased from any Broadcom Advantage partner or the new reseller, Digital River. The VMware Desktop Hypervisor subscription is sold for $120/year and provides continued product updates for the life of the subscription.
According to Roy, the only difference between the free and paid versions is the text “This product is licensed for personal use only” within the product user interface; otherwise, there are no functional differences.
VMware Fusion Pro can be downloaded here.
VMware Workstation Pro can be downloaded here.
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