Security incident on record — Broadcom acquisition of VMware 2023 — significant product roadmap and pricing uncertainty reported by customers
▪ Editorial verdict
VMware Carbon Black built a genuinely innovative streaming prevention approach to endpoint security and its continuous recording capability provides historical attack chain visibility that many traditional EDR platforms lack. Prior to the Broadcom acquisition, it was a credible enterprise alternative to CrowdStrike and SentinelOne.
The honest picture in 2025 is concerning. The Broadcom acquisition has generated consistent reports of increased pricing, reduced support quality, and slowed development investment. Gartner Peer Insights and G2 reviews from 2024 and 2025 reflect declining satisfaction. Buyers should factor this trajectory into any evaluation.
The verdict: Carbon Black is difficult to recommend for new deployments in 2025 given the post-acquisition trajectory. Organisations with existing Carbon Black investments should evaluate the migration cost to CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Microsoft Defender against the cost of staying on a platform with declining vendor investment.
Last reviewed: May 2026
G2
4.0180 reviews
Gartner
4.2480 reviews
PeerSpot
7.8130 reviews
Gartner MQ: Challenger
EDR / XDR assessment
PROTECTIONAdequate
Endpoint detection
3 / 5
Behavioural EDR streaming prevention is strong at novel threat detection. Scored 3 because Broadcom acquisition (2023) has created product roadmap uncertainty and customer satisfaction has declined post-acquisition.
Scored 3 because XDR breadth is limited compared to CrowdStrike or Microsoft Defender. Cross-domain telemetry integration outside VMware ecosystem is less mature.
Sources: VMware Carbon Black documentation, G2 reviews
OPERATIONSAdequate
Automated response
3 / 5
Scored 3 because automated response capabilities are present but less sophisticated than leading EDR platforms, and Broadcom acquisition has slowed innovation.
Sources: G2 reviews, Gartner Peer Insights
Deployment & management
3 / 5
Scored 3 because Broadcom acquisition has introduced pricing and support complexity that reviewers flag as a concern for operational management.
Live Response and process tree visualisation are strong. Scored 3 because overall threat hunting UX is at parity with category average but not leading.
Sources: VMware Carbon Black documentation
TRUST & ECOSYSTEMAdequate
Ecosystem integrations
3 / 5
Scored 3 because third-party integration ecosystem has slowed under Broadcom, and some integration partners have reduced investment in the platform.
Sources: G2 reviews, partner ecosystem reports
Strongest: Endpoint detection
Watch out for: Ecosystem integrations
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
●Behavioural EDR streaming prevention — strong at novel threats
●Enterprise EDR includes threat hunting tools
●Application control adds additional hardening
Watch out for
●Broadcom acquisition (2023) — significant product and pricing uncertainty
●Customer satisfaction declining post-acquisition
●Gartner rating lower than peers
Best for
Existing VMware customers — evaluate product roadmap carefully given Broadcom acquisition before long-term commitment.
Not suitable for: Buyers who haven't reviewed Broadcom acquisition impact on pricing and roadmap