Broadcom has discontinued standalone product tiers. ESXi 9.0 is now bundled exclusively into macro-suites: VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) 9.0 and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 .

Searching for “ESXi 9” usually returns speculation, outdated roadmaps, or malware‑infested “keygens.” Avoid any website claiming to have an ESXi 9 download or license – it’s either fake or dangerous.

For those looking for historical keys for older versions (like ESXi 7 or 8) for a home lab, some community-maintained VMware License Key repositories

Since Broadcom acquired VMware, the licensing model has shifted dramatically. The most significant change is the

GitHub is an excellent resource for automating VMware administration – but only with your own valid licenses. Don’t fall for the “free key” myth, and never trust closed‑source keygens from random repositories.

These subscriptions provide access to official patches, security updates, and technical support, which are completely missing when using keys from GitHub.

VMware's product portfolio has been condensed from over 160 SKUs into four main tiers:

Attempting to use an ESXi 9 license from GitHub is a losing proposition. If you use a key from a public repository:

Q: What are the limitations of the free ESXi 9 license? A: The free license has limitations, including support for a single host with up to 8 CPUs and 32 GB of RAM.

I must clarify that requesting or sharing license keys, including VMware ESXi 9 license keys, on platforms like GitHub or any other public forums is not recommended and can violate software licensing agreements. License keys are typically proprietary and are meant to be used by individuals or organizations that have purchased the software or have a legitimate right to use it.