Based on our research and analysis, we recommend the following:

If you are looking for a "portable" or home lab solution, your primary options are: Announcing VMware vSphere Foundation 9.0 - VMware Blogs

If a free hypervisor is essential for your use case, ESXi 8.0U3 is still available. Broadcom restored the free edition for version 8 after initially removing it, and it remains a fully supported option for those who don’t require the new features of version 9. The free version of ESXi 8 has limitations—no vCenter integration, limited backup API support, and a cap on physical CPUs—but it is stable, secure, and production-ready.

In the context of VMware ESXi, portability refers to the ability to move virtual machines (VMs) or the ESXi host itself between different environments, such as from a physical server to a cloud provider or another on-premises location.

Leaked keys found online are frequently blacklisted by Broadcom in subsequent patch releases. When an ESXi host connects to vCenter or attempts an update, the key may be revoked, causing:

The free version of ESXi has been discontinued.

Use vCenter to centrally manage licenses

Using unauthorized keys can lead to security vulnerabilities, unstable environments, and legal issues. Many keys found on GitHub Gists or repositories are already blacklisted by Broadcom.

The most critical change, and the primary reason searching for a "vmware esxi 9 license key" is futile, is the complete overhaul of VMware's licensing by its new owner, Broadcom. Starting with version 9.0, the traditional 25-character license keys (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) are gone.

The term "portable" in this context usually refers to two distinct community efforts: VMware ESXi - endoflife.date