VMWare announced on Monday that Workstation Pro for Windows and Linux and Fusion Pro for Mac are now free for personal use.

The cloud and virtualization business, now a Broadcom subsidiary, will have two license models for its Pro apps – a “Free Personal Use” or a “Paid Commercial Use” subscription for organizations. Depending on the use case, users can decide whether or not they require a commercial subscription. 

Pro Apps are now Free for Personal Use

“VMware Desktop Hypervisor products Fusion and Workstation are used by millions of people every day to run virtual machines on their Windows, Linux, and Mac computers. They give users the ability to quickly and easily build ‘local virtual’ environments to install other operating systems, learn about technology, build and test software, complex systems, browsers, apps, games, and more,” VMWare’s Michael Roy wrote in an official blog post while announcing the change. 

“For many in our community, Workstation and Fusion are the first VMware products that they’ve ever used, and it’s an important tool for understanding Virtualization as well as the fundamentals of vSphere. Going beyond that, commercial organizations get value from VMware Desktop Hypervisor apps for a number of reasons including development and testing of apps and systems and interacting with their vSphere environments.“

Besides this, VMWare is discontinuing its VMware Workstation Player and VMware Fusion Player products, which will no longer be available for purchase. Further, users of Personal Use Player products can upgrade to the more full-featured Pro versions at no cost.

However, Workstation Player for Windows and Linux and Workstation Pro require a new download and installation but are licensed for Personal Use by default. Users will need a customer account at support.broadcom.com to access downloads. 

With the new commercial model, VMware has reduced its product group offerings to a single SKU called Desktop Hypervisor for users who require commercial use licensing. This simplification removes 40+ other SKUs and makes quoting and purchasing VMware Desktop Hypervisor apps, Fusion Pro, and Workstation Pro much easier.

The new Desktop Hypervisor app subscription, which costs $120 per year, provides access to VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro products. 

The company also said it has brought on a new reseller, Digital River, to support customers without needing a pre-existing commercial account. Commercial customers can purchase the new paid subscription through an authorized Broadcom Advantage partner or from the new online store: https://store.cloudvista.com.