If you’re on an M1/M2/M3 Mac, you are out of luck. Workstation Pro is x86 only. You’ll need Fusion (VMware’s Mac product) or UTM. The Bottom Line Buy it if: You are a professional developer, security analyst, or IT admin who relies on Windows/Linux VMs daily. The TPM 2.0, GPU acceleration, and unmatched stability justify the cost.

While great under load, the VMware services (vmware-authd, vmware-usbarbitrator) consume 300-500MB of RAM even when no VMs are running . On a laptop with 8GB of RAM, this hurts.

Drag-and-drop files, shared folders, and unified clipboard (copy/paste text/images) work flawlessly. USB passthrough for devices like YubiKeys or flash drives is reliable. The Annoyances (The Cons) 1. The Pricing Model At $199 for a commercial license (free for personal use? No longer. Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has complicated things). As of 2024/2025, the free "Player" is very limited, and Pro requires a paid subscription. For hobbyists, VirtualBox (free) is tempting, but you lose performance.

You are a casual user running Linux on Windows occasionally, or you’re on an M-series Mac. Also, skip if you refuse to deal with Broadcom’s awkward licensing portal.

This is the headline feature. Pro 17 now ships with a virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 by default. Why does that matter? It allows you to run Windows 11 as a guest without any registry hacks or workarounds. For IT admins testing Windows 11 deployments, this is a lifesaver.

Since Broadcom acquired VMware, the website, downloads, and licensing are a mess. Finding the actual installer is a maze. Customer support response times for non-enterprise users have reportedly degraded.

VMware Workstation Pro 17 is a mature, powerful workhorse. It's not exciting, but it is reliable . If you can stomach Broadcom’s pricing and download process, this is still the best x86 hypervisor on the market.

Rating: 4.7/5 Best for: Developers, IT pros, security researchers, and power users who need near-bare-metal performance from VMs.