VMware Workstation and Fusion are Desktop Hypervisor products used by millions of people every day to run virtual machines on their Windows, Linux and Mac computers for demo, develop, testing and learning purposed.

Those products 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.

In May 2024, VMware has announced that VMware Workstation and Fusion Pro were free for personal use, but now there is a huge announce: VMware Fusion and Workstation are now free for all users!

Starting November 11, 2024, these powerful desktop hypervisor products will be available for free to everyone—commercial, educational, and personal users alike.

Effective immediately, both VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation will transition away from the paid subscription model, meaning you can now utilize these tools without any cost. The paid versions of these offerings – Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro – are no longer available for purchase. 

I would say finally, condering that there are a lot of good free desktop hypervisors available, but still Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro have some unique features.

For many in the virtualization 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. For example, Workstation was the fist virtualization able to virtualize other hypervisors (including VMware ESXi) making possible to have nested virtualization!

For new users joining us under the free model, VMware is providing a robust support ecosystem:

• Community Access: Join a growing community of users to share insights, tips, and solutions.
  • Workstation: https://community.broadcom.com/communities/communityhomeblogs?CommunityKey=fb707ac3-9412-4fad-b7af-018f5da56d9f
  • Fusion: https://community.broadcom.com/communities/communityhomeblogs?CommunityKey=0c3a2021-5113-4ad1-af9e-018f5da40bc0
• Extensive Product Documentation: Our detailed documentation ensures you have all the information you need to maximize the use of our tools.
  • Workstation: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/index.html
  • Fusion: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Fusion/index.html
• Knowledge Base Articles: Access a rich library of articles covering everything from troubleshooting to advanced features.
  • Link here: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=80807