VMware Fusion Pro license

[Mantas Simkunas]

Fusion Pro is free for personal AND commercial use, according to a blog post in VMware's website.

Are there any license terms that clearly state this product is free for commercial use?

[a_p_]

Please see e.g. VMware Fusion and Workstation are Now Free for All Users

André

[Mantas Simkunas]

Yes, this is the blog post I was referring to. 

However, while a blog post is not nothing, it is not the same as a legal document, such as a license. I am looking for clear and unambiguous license terms that state that Fusion Pro is free to use for commercial purposes.

How is it possible that such a thing cannot be found?

[Technogeezer]

i did some digging for Broadcom software legal agreements and found this site

https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/legal-notices-external

On that page is a SPD (specific program documentation) for the VMware Desktop Hypervisor Pro (which is Fusion and Workstation). This has the official legalese you are looking for.

https://ftpdocs.broadcom.com/cadocs/0/contentimages/VMware_Desktop_Hypervisor_Pro_SPD_November2024.pdf

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Mantas Simkunas]

Thanks! It's incredibly frustrating how difficult it is to find these documents on Broadcom's website.

This document, however, is a bit unclear. It states: "VMware Desktop Hypervisor Pro is subscription software licensed on a per Computer license metric."

Except there's no longer a way to buy a subscription? This document indicates that the hypervisor can be used for commercial purposes but the wording suggests that a subscription is required, when in fact it is no longer possible to buy Fusion Pro.

[Technogeezer]

I didn't catch that one - sorry. They definitely need to clean that up.

All I can say at this time is that there are enough public statements by Broadcom to indicate that Fusion and Workstation are no longer being sold, are available for free, and can be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes. That, coupled with the lack of licensing - if you were going to enforce commercial use, you would need a license document/key saying that commercial use was part of the license key. But there's no license.

And if you read through the EULA that's provided as part of the product (VMware Fusion > About VMware Fusion, then click the License Agreement" button), there are references to use limitations and meter in a transaction document - but there's no transaction document for Fusion and you could argue that since those documents don't exist, they don't apply. But I am not a lawyer...

That being said, I do fully understand the need to have this kind of legal document to keep the license compliance auditors satisfied. I will communicate through the moderator back-channel, though, that this document has to be fixed given the current state of licensing. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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