Hope everyone got all the things they were entitled to get. Burning mine onto BD right now. I really hope Broadcom reconsider these year by year licenses so that mere mortals can get started, there are so many systems out there, and will still be there in a decade. Like it or not, many places will remain on viewed until they increase the price pain a little more.
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Yes, I realize I am raising an old thread from the dead. 
I have a couple of questions I hope you good folks can answer for me.
My VMUG Advantage licenses expire end of this month.
Will my ESXi 7 server just revert to the free version at that time?
I understand I will lose vCenter. That isn't a big deal.
I am only running a half a dozen vm's here so the free version should do me just fine.
VM disks are on an iSCSI connection to a ZVol on Truenas.
Might have to move them? Not sure...
I have been testing moving stuff to Proxmox and I am on the fence with it.
Seems to work OK but I am not real crazy about it.
Maybe it will grow on me.
How have all of you faired during this forced change?
I have a couple of questions I hope you good folks can answer for me.
My VMUG Advantage licenses expire end of this month.
Will my ESXi 7 server just revert to the free version at that time?
I understand I will lose vCenter. That isn't a big deal.
I am only running a half a dozen vm's here so the free version should do me just fine.
VM disks are on an iSCSI connection to a ZVol on Truenas.
Might have to move them? Not sure...
I have been testing moving stuff to Proxmox and I am on the fence with it.
Seems to work OK but I am not real crazy about it.
Maybe it will grow on me.
How have all of you faired during this forced change?
well, ESXi8 seems free again (not tested, and do not know if they reverted that again or what they require), but I decided to jump ship and go to proxmox. The migration has been rather easy. Do it while ESXi is still up and running, as then you can just pump the images over. Just remove the vmtools packages in the VM afterwards.
Good:
* rather easy to set up
* supports iSCSI without problems.
* free firewalling around VMs is great (but not easy to set up)
* software upgrades are super clean, no need to restart the host or the VMs
* VM backups are free and out of the box now.
* moving VMs between hosts is easy and free. No need for vCenter
Mix:
* less polished. You will need to know Linux. ESXi required less skipping between shell and GUI.
* You need to correctly designate the capabilities of your file systems. Example: you will need to have storage designated as potential backup targets before you can backup to it.
Bad:
* config backup is not easy. You'll have to get a third party solution for that or be prepared to handle loads of directories and files.
* 1 single time, I've had VM consoles no longer work, needing a restart of the service. (but ESXi also had quirks)
I took the lowest level of their paid package, but it also works without (you're just more bleeding edge)
Good:
* rather easy to set up
* supports iSCSI without problems.
* free firewalling around VMs is great (but not easy to set up)
* software upgrades are super clean, no need to restart the host or the VMs
* VM backups are free and out of the box now.
* moving VMs between hosts is easy and free. No need for vCenter
Mix:
* less polished. You will need to know Linux. ESXi required less skipping between shell and GUI.
* You need to correctly designate the capabilities of your file systems. Example: you will need to have storage designated as potential backup targets before you can backup to it.
Bad:
* config backup is not easy. You'll have to get a third party solution for that or be prepared to handle loads of directories and files.
* 1 single time, I've had VM consoles no longer work, needing a restart of the service. (but ESXi also had quirks)
I took the lowest level of their paid package, but it also works without (you're just more bleeding edge)
Looks like bateau mostly helped already, but in regards to some of your questions:
Will my ESXi 7 server just revert to the free version at that time? -> assuming you have a keys with an expiration date, once that date expires, for ESXi, you won't be able to power up any VMs anymore, or make certain changes to the VMs. For vCenter, it will 'disconnect' (not remove) all hosts and you cannot manage any hosts anymore. In other words; no, it will not revert to the free version (on its own).
The free version doesn't support most of the API calls, including the ability to back up VMs via vCenter and/or the host. If you back up VMs from 'inside' (agent on the guest OS), then you wouldn't notice a difference between the licensed ESXi/vCenter and the free ESXi.
Go to Proxmox or x ping and forget the free version of ESXi, I'm guessing they will morph that into some part of VCF and it will once again no longer be of any value.
As far ad VMUG Advantage, I don't see much advantage anymore, I didn't get far enough to confidently pass an exam, and the exam is cheap enough that the discount doesn't help. I think Broadcom killed Advantage with this move and I've been pretty vocal about this to both Broad on and VMUG. I doubt I will renew and will move on to other hypervisors that want to grow their user base.
As far ad VMUG Advantage, I don't see much advantage anymore, I didn't get far enough to confidently pass an exam, and the exam is cheap enough that the discount doesn't help. I think Broadcom killed Advantage with this move and I've been pretty vocal about this to both Broad on and VMUG. I doubt I will renew and will move on to other hypervisors that want to grow their user base.