For many mid-market IT teams, VMware has been the quiet engine behind their servers for years. However, more and more of these teams are now looking around and searching for an alternative that better fits their needs, especially after the changes in licensing fees from Broadcom.

Choosing a replacement can feel like a big step, especially when your team is small and your workloads can't afford downtime. 

Below, we walk through 5 VMware alternatives, from hosted private clouds to all-in-one platforms you run yourself, and explain what each one offers in plain terms.

TL;DR

• Aptum: A migration partner that offers Proxmox, its own cloud, or managed VMware.
• Nutanix: A hybrid cloud platform built around its own AHV hypervisor.
• Scale Computing: An all-in-one HCI suite with built-in backup and self-healing automation.
• OVHcloud: Pre-installed Nutanix clusters on dedicated servers in OVHcloud data centers.
• AWS: Several paths for VMware workloads, from Amazon EC2 to third-party hypervisors.
   

	Platform Type	Where It Runs	Migration Help
Aptum	Hosted private cloud and Aptum's own cloud platform	Aptum Private Cloud in its certified data centers, Aptum's own cloud (Aptum IaaS) or public cloud	Assessment, a project team and managed services after the move
Nutanix	Software platform with AHV virtualization and AOS storage	Datacenter, edge and public clouds	Nutanix Move tool and professional services
Scale Computing	Hyperconverged virtualization suite	Data center and edge sites	A walkthrough of migration options from its solutions architects
OVHcloud	Hosted private cloud running Nutanix Cloud Platform	Nutanix-qualified servers in OVHcloud data centers	Nutanix-certified partners and OVHcloud Professional Services
AWS	Public cloud with VMware migration and modernization options	AWS global infrastructure, plus on-premises with AWS Outposts	AWS Transform, a licensing assessment, the Migration Acceleration Program and AWS Professional Services

1. Aptum

Aptum helps companies move away from VMware, or keep it, depending on what they need. 

It recommends a path, handles the move and then looks after the new setup for you. You can choose Proxmox, an open-source option that works a lot like VMware, Aptum IaaS with Shared Cloud or Dedicated Cloud, a public cloud, or VMware that Aptum runs for you. 

Moreover, Aptum has made this move itself, since it switched its own systems from VMware to Proxmox.

Key Features and Services

• Proxmox on Aptum Private Cloud: Aptum hosts and manages Proxmox as a single-tenant private cloud, which means the hardware is used by your company alone, and there's no Broadcom license to renew.
• Managed VMware: Teams that rely on features such as vMotion or vSAN can keep VMware, while Aptum takes over hosting and day-to-day operations.
• Aptum Prizm: If you move to Aptum's own cloud platform, this management tool comes included, so your team can set up and manage the environment directly.
• Phased migrations: Moves run in stages, and an assessment gives you a timeline for your environment before you commit.

Why Choose Aptum

Aptum fits mid-market companies looking for a single partner to handle the choice, the move and the running of the new platform. Because it offers VMware, Proxmox, its own cloud and public cloud, it can match each workload to a platform rather than moving everything to one place.

2. Nutanix

Nutanix is a hybrid cloud company whose platform lets you run apps and manage data across your datacenter, public clouds and edge sites from one place. 

At its core is AHV, a hypervisor, which is the software layer that lets a single machine host many virtual machines (VMs). AHV comes included with a Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure license, so there's no separate hypervisor license. 

Nutanix also offers tools for containers, databases and AI workloads, so teams can modernize step by step after they leave VMware.

Key Features and Services

• Nutanix Move: This tool helps you migrate VMs to AHV from other enterprise hypervisors and from public cloud providers.
• Nutanix Prism: A single interface manages on-premises, edge and public cloud setups, with 1-click upgrades and automated data protection.
• External storage support: You can run Nutanix with your existing enterprise storage arrays, so you get more value from the storage you already have.
• Flow security and networking: Built-in software-defined firewalls and microsegmentation, which splits the network into small zones, add protection along with automated compliance reports.

Why Choose Nutanix

Nutanix fits IT teams that want to replace VMware in their own data center today and expand to public clouds like AWS or Azure later.

3. Scale Computing

Scale Computing builds SC//HyperCore, a virtualization suite based on hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). HCI combines compute, storage and virtualization in a single system, so you don't have to juggle separate vendors for each piece. 

The hypervisor itself is KVM-based, and the platform is designed to be simple enough for small IT teams. 

Also, you can add the optional SC//Fleet Manager to manage your entire infrastructure from one central place.

Key Features and Services

• AIME: This automation engine watches the system for security, hardware and software errors, and fixes them on its own where possible.
• SCRIBE: The storage layer pools all drives in the cluster into one, so there are no LUNs or shares to create and maintain.
• Integrated backup and disaster recovery: Data protection is part of the platform, so you may not need a separate backup product.
• Built-in high availability: In multi-node clusters, VMs fail over to another node automatically if hardware fails.

Why Choose Scale Computing

Scale Computing works well for lean IT teams that run many locations, such as stores or branch offices, and want fewer moving parts.

4. OVHcloud

As a hosting company, OVHcloud includes Nutanix on OVHcloud as part of its Hosted Private Cloud range. 

It gives you a Nutanix cluster that comes pre-installed on dedicated servers in OVHcloud data centers, so you skip buying and racking your own hardware. You can take the Nutanix Cloud Platform licenses in a Starter, Pro or Ultimate pack, or bring licenses you already own. 

Clusters start at 3 dedicated servers and can grow to 32 as your needs change.

Key Features and Services

• Packaged or BYOL service: Choose included license packs, or use Bring Your Own License (BYOL) to move existing Nutanix licenses across hybrid and multicloud setups.
• Nutanix-qualified servers: The hardware is built for HCI and offers up to 50 Gbps of private network bandwidth.
• Unmetered public traffic: Public network traffic is unlimited, with up to 10 Gbps of incoming and outgoing bandwidth.
• Disaster recovery as a service: Nutanix-certified partners manage disaster recovery projects, and HYCU for OVHcloud adds backup for Nutanix workloads.

Why Choose OVHcloud

OVHcloud makes sense for IT teams that like Nutanix but would rather not buy or rack their own servers.

5. AWS

And finally, AWS offers a set of paths for moving VMware workloads to the cloud. 

You can migrate VMs to Amazon EC2, or modernize them with managed services such as Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, Amazon RDS and AWS Lambda. 

Alternatively, you can run third-party hypervisors from partners like Nutanix and Red Hat on AWS infrastructure.

Key Features and Services

• AWS Transform for VMware: This agentic AI service automates tasks across each stage of a VMware migration to AWS.
• Optimization and Licensing Assessment: This assessment helps you build a data-driven business case before you migrate.
• AWS Outposts: It brings AWS infrastructure on-premises, which helps with data residency needs.
• Migration Acceleration Program: MAP gives you tools and frameworks built for VMware migrations.

Why Choose AWS

AWS fits mid-market teams that see leaving VMware as a chance to move into the cloud for good. Its training for VMware admins also helps your current staff build AWS skills as they go.

Wrapping Up

There's no single right way to move on from VMware, and the right choice depends on your workloads, your team size and how much you want to run yourself. 

Here's a quick recap:

• Aptum recommends a platform, runs the move and manages what comes after.
• Nutanix brings one platform across your datacenter, edge and public clouds.
• Scale Computing suits lean teams that want fewer moving parts across many sites.
• OVHcloud lets you use Nutanix without buying or racking your own hardware.
• AWS helps teams move fully to the cloud and modernize along the way.

Start with an honest look at what you run today, then pick the option that matches where you want your infrastructure to be in a few years.