Licensing is now strictly subscription-based; perpetual licenses from previous versions (like ESXi 8.0) are not compatible.
If you need to use ESXi for home labs or professional development, consider these official paths: vmware esxi 9 license key github hot
Many "hot" lists on GitHub still only provide keys for older versions (e.g., Workstation 17 Licensing is now strictly subscription-based
Broadcom has not released a free standalone edition for ESXi 9.0 as of April 2026. Users requiring a free hypervisor are restricted to ESXi 8.0 Update 3e or earlier. vmware esxi 9 license key github hot
Enhances security via hardware-based trusted execution environments to protect sensitive VM data.