SaaS
Microsoft Azure
Azure VMware Solution (AVS) retires its license-included offering — the pay-as-you-go (PayGo) license-included SKUs on 15 October 2026 and all remaining license-included services (including Reserved Instance SKUs and the AV36 SKU) on 30 August 2027 — forcing customers onto the AVS VCF bring-your-own-license (BYOL) model with portable Broadcom VMware Cloud Foundation licenses
departs 30 Aug 2027
Quick answers
- Is it true that Azure VMware Solution license-included service is being retired: PayGo SKUs on 15 October 2026, all license-included services on 30 August 2027 — move to VCF BYOL?
- Yes. Microsoft Azure has officially announced it, effective 30 Aug 2027. If you run Azure VMware Solution on a license-included SKU — where the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license is bundled into the Azure price you pay Microsoft — that offering is being retired on a phased timeline, a downstream effect of Broadcom's November 2025 change requiring "bring your own" portable VCF licensing across all hyperscalers.
- When does it take effect?
- 30 Aug 2027. Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- Before your applicable date, move to the AVS VCF BYOL SKU: purchase portable VMware Cloud Foundation licenses from Broadcom and transition your AVS environment to the bring-your-own-license SKU, or plan an exit from AVS.
What this means for you
If you run Azure VMware Solution on a license-included SKU — where the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license is bundled into the Azure price you pay Microsoft — that offering is being retired on a phased timeline, a downstream effect of Broadcom's November 2025 change requiring "bring your own" portable VCF licensing across all hyperscalers. Two dates matter: the license-included pay-as-you-go (PayGo) SKUs retire on 15 October 2026, and all remaining license-included services — including the Reserved Instance (RI) SKUs and the AV36 SKU — retire on 30 August 2027. Customers on license-included RI SKUs must purchase portable Broadcom VCF licenses and transition to an AVS VCF BYOL SKU, or exit AVS entirely, before 30 August 2027 to avoid service disruption on 31 August 2027. This is not AVS itself shutting down — the service continues under the BYOL model — but the bundled-license commercial model most existing customers bought on is going away, so this is a forced re-purchasing and SKU migration with real procurement lead time, not just a config change.
Where to go
Before your applicable date, move to the AVS VCF BYOL SKU: purchase portable VMware Cloud Foundation licenses from Broadcom and transition your AVS environment to the bring-your-own-license SKU, or plan an exit from AVS. Microsoft's explicit guidance is to allow plenty of time, because the constraint is Broadcom license procurement, not an Azure-side toggle: start assessing your current AVS environment immediately and build a transition roadmap. For RI customers, Microsoft allows exchanging reservations with expiration dates beyond 30 August 2027. PayGo customers have the nearer deadline (15 October 2026), so if you are running license-included AVS on pay-as-you-go, treat that as the date on your clock. Teams evaluating whether to stay should use this as a decision point on modernization versus continuing on AVS under the new licensing economics.
- Azure VMware Solution VCF BYOL SKU — continue on AVS by bringing portable Broadcom VMware Cloud Foundation licenses purchased from Broadcom
- Exit AVS and modernize onto native Azure services, if a transition roadmap makes that viable before the retirement date
Microsoft is retiring the license-included offering of Azure VMware Solution (AVS) — the SKUs where the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license is bundled into the price you pay Microsoft. In an Azure Updates retirement notice, Microsoft says this is a direct consequence of Broadcom’s November 2025 VMware licensing change, which now requires customers to “bring your own” portable VCF license across all hyperscaler platforms.
AVS itself is not shutting down — it continues under a bring-your-own-license (BYOL) model. What is going away is the commercial model most existing customers bought on: the bundled, license-included SKUs.
The dates that matter
The retirement is phased, and one date is much nearer than the headline:
- 15 October 2026 — the license-included pay-as-you-go (PayGo) SKUs retire. If you run AVS license-included on PayGo, this is your clock.
- 30 August 2027 — all remaining license-included services retire, including the Reserved Instance (RI) SKUs and the AV36 SKU. Microsoft has also pulled the retirement of the AV36 node type itself forward to this date — it was previously 30 June 2028 — so that all AV36 SDDCs are retired after 30 August 2027, regardless of individual RI expiration, aligning the hardware retirement with the license-included retirement. The driver is the same: Broadcom ends support for the current AV36 version on vSphere 8 (30 September 2027), and the AV36 SKU is not compatible with VMware Cloud Foundation 9.
- 31 August 2027 — the day service disruption begins for anyone still on a license-included RI SKU who has not transitioned.
Who this affects
Any team running Azure VMware Solution on a license-included SKU — i.e. paying Microsoft a bundled rate that includes the VMware licensing, rather than supplying your own Broadcom VCF licenses. That is the default many AVS customers landed on, which is exactly why this is easy to miss: nothing about your running environment changes on the day, but the SKU it is billed under stops being sold and then stops being served.
What to do
Microsoft’s guidance is blunt about lead time, because the bottleneck is Broadcom license procurement, not an Azure toggle:
- Assess now. Inventory which AVS SKUs you are on (PayGo vs. RI, license-included vs. already BYOL) and identify your applicable retirement date.
- Buy portable VCF licenses from Broadcom and transition to the AVS VCF BYOL SKU — or decide to exit AVS and modernize elsewhere. Microsoft advises starting the roadmap immediately.
- RI holders: Microsoft allows exchanging reservations with expiration dates beyond 30 August 2027, so factor your reservation term into the plan.
More detail is on Microsoft’s AVS license-included retirement page. This is not legal or procurement advice — confirm your specific SKU, reservation terms, and Broadcom licensing path with your account team.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Added Microsoft's separate Azure Updates notice for the AV36 node-type retirement (id 503883), verified against the Microsoft release-communications API. Microsoft has moved the AV36 node type's own retirement forward from 30 June 2028 to 30 August 2027 to align it with the license-included service retirement, so all AV36 SDDCs are retired after 30 August 2027 regardless of individual Reserved Instance expiration. The driver is Broadcom ending support for the current AV36 version on vSphere 8 (30 September 2027) and the AV36 SKU's incompatibility with VMware Cloud Foundation 9. The entry's headline sunset date (30 August 2027) is unchanged.
- — Entry created from Microsoft's official Azure Updates retirement notice (id 569535), verified against the Microsoft release-communications API backing that page. The affected product (Azure VMware Solution license-included service), the phased dates (PayGo SKUs 15 October 2026; RI SKUs, AV36 SKU, and all license-included services 30 August 2027; service-disruption risk 31 August 2027), the Broadcom VCF licensing cause, and the required move to the AVS VCF BYOL SKU are all taken directly from Microsoft.
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