It was easy to miss between all the back and forth, but VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion are now free for all users, including for commercial use [1], and since last month, ESXi is also free, again [2].

[1] https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2024/11/11/vmware-...

[2] https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/399823/vmwar...