ESXi has a free license, but it is a type 1 hypervisor (basically an OS that just runs VMs). VMWare Workstation can be patched to run vanilla macOS installs to

ESXi has a free license, but it is a type 1 hypervisor (basically an OS that just runs VMs). VMWare Workstation can be patched to run vanilla macOS installs too, but unless you're running it under a boot camp'ed Windows on real Apple hardware, it's a license violation: https://github.com/DrDonk/unlocker https://github.com/DrDonk/unlocker You can't buy individual macOS licenses these days, as far as I know. Apple hasn't charged for macOS or updates for at least a few years now. Their license text includes references to volume licensing, but I guess that's for very large-scale companies with direct contacts.