vSphere Hypervisor is the free edition of VMware ESXi: a bare-metal hypervisor that installs directly on a server, with no operating system underneath it. You manage it from a browser and run virtual machines on hardware dedicated entirely to that job.
Its recent history is worth knowing. Broadcom discontinued the free edition in February 2024, then brought it back in April 2025. It exists today, it is free, and it comes with clear conditions — the most important being that the vendor permits it for non-production use only.
vSphere Hypervisor at a glance
| Free edition version | ESXi 8.0 Update 3e, released April 2025 |
|---|---|
| Licence | Free, for non-production use — home labs, development and testing |
| Support | None from the vendor |
| Hardware minimum | 2 processor cores, 8 GB RAM, a 32 GB boot disk, a supported network adapter |
| Free edition limits | Up to 2 physical processors per host, up to 8 virtual processors per virtual machine |
| Download | From Broadcom’s support portal — registration and sign-in required |
What you get
- A type-1 hypervisor — it runs on the hardware itself, not inside another operating system, which is why it is efficient.
- Browser-based management through the built-in Host Client.
- VMFS, VMware’s own file system for virtual machine storage.
- Snapshots and USB or PCI device passthrough.
- NFS and iSCSI datastores for shared storage.
- Quick Boot to restart the hypervisor without a full hardware reboot.
- Wide guest support — Windows, Linux and BSD.
- ESXCLI on the host for command-line work.
The limits of the free edition
These are the vendor’s own, and they decide whether it fits:
- Non-production use only. The vendor describes it as suited to home labs and development or testing environments.
- It cannot be managed by vCenter Server, so no central management of several hosts.
- No vMotion, no DRS, no high availability. Virtual machines do not move between hosts.
- The management API is not supported, which means backup products that rely on it — Veeam among them — do not work. Plan your backups around this before you build anything.
- Two physical processors per host, eight virtual processors per virtual machine.
- No vendor support, and the free edition is frozen at version 8 — the newer version 9 line has no free edition.
Installation in outline
- Click the Download button at the top of this page and unpack the archive.
- Check the hardware compatibility list first. ESXi is strict about network and storage controllers; consumer hardware often lacks drivers, and this is the most common reason an installation fails.
- Write the image to a USB stick and boot the server from it.
- Install to a disk of at least 32 GB. The installer erases the target disk.
- Set a static address, then open the host’s web interface from another machine.
- Upload an operating system image to a datastore and create your first virtual machine.
What to use instead for production
Since the free edition is licensed for non-production use and has no backup API, a company running real workloads needs either a paid VMware subscription or a different hypervisor:
| Alternative | Why |
|---|---|
| Proxmox VE | Free and open source, KVM and containers, clustering, high availability and working backups |
| XCP-ng | Open-source hypervisor with a familiar management console; closest in spirit to the old free ESXi |
| Hyper-V | Included with Windows Server, fits naturally in a Microsoft environment |
| KVM with libvirt | The Linux standard, no licensing questions at all |
FAQ
Is vSphere Hypervisor still free?
Yes. It was discontinued in early 2024 and brought back in April 2025, as version 8.
Can I use it in my company?
The vendor licenses it for non-production use — home labs, development and testing. Production workloads need a paid subscription.
Can I back up virtual machines with Veeam?
No. The free edition does not support the management API those backup tools use.
Can I manage several free hosts centrally?
No, vCenter Server cannot manage the free edition.
Is there a free version of ESXi 9?
No. The free edition remains at version 8.
Why does the installer not see my disks or network card?
ESXi only includes drivers for hardware on its compatibility list. Check the list before buying or repurposing a machine.
