VMWare Fusion 12 update for macOS Big Sur has free personal tier

Credit: VMWare

VMWare on Thursday announced Fusion 12, the next major update to its virtualization software with support for macOS Big Sur and a host of other changes.

The virtualization software maker originally announced a "tech preview" of its platform in June, and suggested that a future version of its app could be compatible with ARM-based chips. Among other changes, macOS Big Sur lays the groundwork for a switch to Apple Silicon.

Fusion 12 doesn't add support for Apple Silicon chips yet, but the update phases out VMWare's use of kernel extensions by using new Apple APIs to support its containers and virtual machines. VMWare Fusion 12 will continue to use extensions on macOS Catalina, but will use the hypervisor and other APIs on macOS Big Sur — allowing support for the operating support as both guest and host machines. Apple is also currently in the midst of phasing out kernel extensions.

Additionally, Fusion 12 introduces compatibility with eGPUs, support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1, and support for Kubernetes containers. There are also improvements in sandbox security and accessibility controls, among other changes.

The company is also changing how it charges for VMWare Fusion, opening up the base tier version of Fusion 12 to make it free for personal use. A commercial license now costs $149, or $89 as an upgrade from Fusion 10 or 11. Fusion 12 Pro will cost $199 for a new license, or $99 as an upgrade.

VMWare hasn't announced a firm release date for Fusion 12, but said that the update will debut later in 2020.

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9 Comments

rob53 3255 comments · 13 Years

About 3 years ago

The free version is because VMWare knows they’ll lose most Mac customers because X86 won’t be supported and Microsoft will take forever to have an ARM version. The only use will be for free versions of Linux software that run on ARM.

djames4242 651 comments · 14 Years

rob53 said:

The free version is because VMWare knows they’ll lose most Mac customers because X86 won’t be supported and Microsoft will take forever to have an ARM version. The only use will be for free versions of Linux software that run on ARM.

I so hope you’re wrong, even though I suspect you may not be. So many of us are able to use a Mac because of its x86 support. My days of running Windows in a VM are much less frequent after changing jobs this year, but I’m almost always now running at least one container for tools that are unlikely to be ported to ARM. If there’s no easy and performant method to run x86 software, I’ll have little choice but to switch to Linux.

sflocal 6097 comments · 16 Years

rob53 said:

The free version is because VMWare knows they’ll lose most Mac customers because X86 won’t be supported and Microsoft will take forever to have an ARM version. The only use will be for free versions of Linux software that run on ARM.

Perhaps, perhaps not. I think so long as x86 Macs are sold, people needing Windows will continue to buy them. I think there will be a big rush to buy the very last x86 Mac refresh. VMware will continue having my business. I hope they don’t stop improving it after the AR macs arrive. There will still continue to be millions of x86 macs out there for the foreseeable future.

I went big for my last x86 IMac for this reason. Waiting for my 10-core i9 128GB, 8TB IMac to arrive soon!

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

rob53 said:

The free version is because VMWare knows they’ll lose most Mac customers because X86 won’t be supported and Microsoft will take forever to have an ARM version. The only use will be for free versions of Linux software that run on ARM.

Microsoft has had ARM versions of Windows since at least 2017 and they've iterated every successive year. The Surface Pro X using the MS/Qualcomm SQ1 chip is already on offer. Other vendors are slowly offering devices. MS still has a loooooooong way to go with getting ARM devices up to snuff imo, but it won't take forever for them to have an ARM version. They've had one for a while now.

I said it before on a different article; I think MS and Apple have been working behind the scenes for a while to ensure ARM based bootcamp will be a viable thing.

marc g 65 comments · 17 Years

I to will be buying this final version of the iMac as I want to make sure that everything I need for doing my job in the Covid 19 era will continue to work. I’ll be going with i7, a single terabyte, and only 8GBs of RAM that I can upgrade myself for a much more reasonable price. There was a time I would have been first in line for Apple Silicon but I need a machine now.