Virtualization Cost Comparison Calculator

Compare 3-year licensing costs (and optional backup offsets) across six virtualization platforms. Enter your environment details below — results are shareable via URL.

Your Environment

Number of physical hosts
CPU cores per host (per socket)
- 8 cores
- 12 cores
- 16 cores
- 24 cores
- 32 cores
- 48 cores
CPU sockets per host
- 1 socket
- 2 sockets

Calculation

16 cores × 1 socket = 16 physical cores per host
VMware bills at a 72-core minimum per host (16-core minimum per socket). Your 16-core/socket × 1-socket host (16 total cores) will be billed as 72 cores.

Total number of VMs
How many VMs run Windows Server?

Windows Server licensing is required for each Windows VM on open-source hypervisors (Proxmox, XCP-ng) and must be purchased separately. This is included in the comparison below.

Model HA failover VM density

Calculates Windows licensing for worst-case host density during failover: ceil(windows_vms / (hosts - 1)). Conservative approximation for clusters with HA/failover.

Your Licensing Situation

Do you own Windows Server Datacenter licenses covering your hosts?
If Yes: Windows guest OS = $0 for all platforms
Do you have active Software Assurance on those licenses?
Enables Azure Hybrid Benefit ($10/core/mo instead of $23.30)
VMware tier to evaluate
- VVF (~$190/core/yr)
- Standard (~$50/core/yr)
- VCF (quote required)
Does your organization have an active Azure subscription?
If No: a note will appear alongside Azure Local results

Current Backup Spend (Optional)

Annual spend on third-party backup software ($)
Used to show potential offset with Proxmox Backup Server or Xen Orchestra built-in backup.