VMware ESXi 8.0 is back to being free Broadcom says! Broadcom makes available the VMware vSphere Hypervisor version 8, an entry-level hypervisor. You can download it free of charge from the Broadcom Support https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/free-downloads

anyone have the inside scoop on this? any limitations?

From what I have read, it basically same feature set as before except that the license is now embedded.