vSphere 6 Essentials Upgrades?

[BSiegfried]

I have one ESXi host (6.7) with a vSphere 6 Essentials license. We got the Essentials over free ESXi for backup purposes.

Is it necessary to renew our Support & Subscription every year with VMware? I don't need the support but it states we will miss out on the latest updates/upgrades. I am confused on the upgrade part. I can patch ESXi freely so what updates are they referring about?

Thank you,

[IRIX201110141]

Your vSphere Essentials doesnt contain "Support". Its only available with a Subscription which costs around 65,- per Year. You can get a 12% discounts when you sign up for 3Y.  The subscription gives you free patches and upgrade to the next major version like switching from vSphere 6 to 7 for example.

Regards,
Joerg

[BSiegfried]

We do pay the $66 a year. Wasn't sure what the upgrades meant but I was thinking ESXi upgrades which are always free. I was not thinking about the vSphere upgrades.

[scott28tt]

ESXi and vSphere are the same thing in terms of licensing - you license ESXi with a vSphere license.