VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) was the enterprise IaaC and cloud automation platform that enabled private and hybrid cloud deployments on top of vSphere infrastructure. In Broadcom's post-acquisition product reorganisation, vRealize Automation was rebranded as VMware Aria Automation — part of the VMware Aria Suite (formerly vRealize Suite) — and moved exclusively to the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) subscription bundle. VCF Advanced, which includes Aria Automation, is priced at £2,100 per CPU socket per year, making the implicit cost of vRA/Aria Automation the difference between VCF Standard (£1,800/CPU) and VCF Advanced (£2,100/CPU): £300 per CPU socket per year.
For organisations that deployed vRealize Automation 7.x or vRA 8.x under perpetual licences — particularly the vRA Enterprise edition that included the lifecycle management (LCM) and network & security integration — Broadcom's rebrand and VCF bundling does not change the legal status of those perpetual licences. Your vRA 8.x perpetual licence is a valid, owned asset. Third-party support covers it at 75–80% less than the cost of a VCF Advanced subscription — without touching your automation workflows, blueprint catalogue, or infrastructure-as-code pipelines.
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vRealize Automation perpetual licences grant an indefinite right to run the software. Broadcom's commercial decision to rebrand vRA as Aria Automation and bundle it in VCF Advanced does not revoke, modify, or restrict perpetual licences already granted to customers. The obligation Broadcom can enforce: no new patches, no new support from Broadcom. The obligation Broadcom cannot enforce: forcing you to run subscription-based Aria Automation instead of your perpetual vRA. Third-party support replaces the patch and support obligation. See our VMware perpetual licence rights guide for the full contractual analysis.
VCF Advanced vs. vRA TPS — The Real Cost Comparison
Broadcom's VCF Advanced pricing bundles ESXi, vCenter, vSAN, NSX-T, and Aria Automation (formerly vRA) into a single per-CPU subscription. For an organisation that already uses vRA/Aria Automation as a private cloud orchestration layer on top of vSphere — but does not use vSAN or NSX-T — VCF Advanced is the only Broadcom product that includes Aria Automation, which means the customer must pay for the full vSAN + NSX-T + ESXi bundle to get the automation capability they already own under perpetual licence.
For a 200-CPU environment using vRealize Automation perpetual licences for private cloud automation, the VCF Advanced annual cost is £420,000 (200 CPUs × £2,100). The previous vRA Enterprise + vSphere SnS cost for this environment was approximately £180,000 per year. TPS on vRA 8.x perpetual licences costs approximately £45,000 per year — an 80% saving against VCF Advanced, and a 75% saving against even the previous separate SnS cost. The VMware/Broadcom Exit Strategy white paper provides the full four-scenario cost model across vSphere stack configurations.
VMware vRealize Automation Version Matrix — TPS Eligibility
| vRA Version | Broadcom/VMware Status (2026) | TPS Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| vRA 6.2.x (vCAC) | EOS 2019 — no support | ✓ Yes | Legacy vCAC deployments, large banking installs |
| vRA 7.0–7.3 | EOS 2021 | ✓ Yes | First-gen cloud template architecture |
| vRA 7.4–7.6 | EOS Jan 2023 | ✓ Yes — active TPS cohort | LCM-era deployments, NSX-V integrated |
| vRA 8.0–8.4 | EOS Jan 2024 — VCF/Aria only | ✓ Yes — largest perpetual TPS cohort | Cloud Assembly/Service Broker architecture |
| vRA 8.5–8.12 (LTS) | EOS — VCF Advanced only | ✓ Yes | Perpetual licences issued pre-Broadcom |
| VMware Aria Automation (SaaS) | Active — VCF Advanced subscription | N/A — SaaS subscription | Broadcom strategic product |
TPS Coverage for VMware vRealize Automation Perpetual Licences
GoVendorFree's VMware TPS covers vRealize Automation environments across the full vRA stack — Cloud Assembly, Service Broker, Orchestrator, and supporting infrastructure components. Coverage includes:
- vRA Cloud Assembly: Cloud template (IaaC) development and debugging, blueprint migration (vRA 7.x NSX-V blueprints to 8.x NSX-T/NSX-V parity), property group management, and cloud zone / project configuration
- vRA Service Broker: Catalogue item configuration, content sharing policies, custom form development (ABX action-backed forms), approval workflow configuration, and day-2 operation management
- vRA Orchestrator (vRO): vRO workflow library support, JavaScript action debugging, vRO plugin inventory (vSphere, NSX, vSAN, Kubernetes, REST/SOAP), and scheduled workflow management
- vRA Lifecycle Manager (LCM/vRLCM): vRLCM deployment topology support, certificate management, product upgrade sequencing, and locker (credentials/licence) configuration
- vRA Extensibility: ABX (Action-Based Extensibility) function runtime support, Python/Node.js/PowerShell ABX action debugging, and vRO integration for complex approval logic
- vRA Integration Points: IPAM integration (InfoBlox, NSX-T IPAM), Active Directory integration (user-specific provisioning, group-based entitlements), vSphere tag-based policy enforcement, and external CMDB integration (ServiceNow, BMC Helix)
- vRA Security: Independent CVE advisory for vRA/Aria Automation vulnerabilities, SAML 2.0/OIDC identity provider configuration support, and vRA service account security posture review
Aria Automation Migration vs. TPS — Evaluating the Open-Source Alternatives
The vRA/Aria Automation announcement has accelerated evaluation of open-source and alternative cloud automation platforms — primarily HashiCorp Terraform (now IBM-owned), Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, and VMware-independent alternatives like Morpheus Data. These are credible migration targets for organisations whose primary vRA use case is infrastructure-as-code provisioning on a single cloud or hypervisor environment. The migration complexity drivers are identical to those in the hypervisor migration analysis: existing blueprint libraries (vRA 8.x Cloud Templates are YAML-based and relatively portable), existing vRO workflow libraries (organisation-specific, require re-implementation in target platform), and existing ITSM integrations (ServiceNow CTI, Jira integration, CMDB sync — each requiring re-integration work).
Third-party support on vRA 8.x perpetual licences provides the 2–3 year runway to evaluate, proof-of-concept, and plan a structured migration to an alternative automation platform — without Broadcom's renewal deadline creating a forced migration that bypasses proper technical and commercial governance. Our VCF alternatives analysis covers the automation platform migration options in detail.
Four-Profile VMware vRealize Automation TPS Cost Model
Related VMware TPS Resources
- VMware Third-Party Support — Complete Guide
- VMware Aria Operations (vROps) Support Alternatives
- VMware Cloud Foundation Alternatives
- VMware Perpetual Licence Rights Analysis
- Broadcom VMware Pricing Impact Analysis
- VMware/Broadcom Exit Strategy (White Paper)
- Case Study: Technology Firm VMware/Broadcom TPS