Broadcom CA Mainframe Software Pricing 2026

The Broadcom Acquisition Playbook: CA, Symantec, VMware

The Broadcom Knowledge Hub's CA Technologies mainframe software portfolio remains one of the most commercially aggressive licensing environments in enterprise IT. Since Broadcom acquired CA in 2018, the playbook has been consistent: simplify the product portfolio, shift from perpetual to subscription licensing, impose annual price increases, and leverage the extreme switching costs inherent in mainframe software to extract maximum value at renewal.

For CIOs and IT procurement leaders managing mainframe estates in 2026, the pricing dynamics require proactive management. This guide breaks down what has changed, how the three licensing models work, what the 2025 to 2026 pricing increases mean for budgets, and what negotiation strategies remain available when Broadcom controls software that is deeply embedded in your most critical systems.

Broadcom's approach to acquired software portfolios follows a well-documented pattern. After acquiring CA Technologies in 2018 for $18.9 billion, Broadcom applied the same strategy it later used on Symantec (2019) and VMware (2023): reduce R&D spending, eliminate lower-margin product lines, consolidate licensing into simplified bundles, shift customers from perpetual to subscription models, and enforce aggressive annual price escalation.

The Broadcom Mainframe Portfolio: Five Categories

1. AIOps and Automation

Operational intelligence, monitoring, and workload automation products. Key products include SYSVIEW (mainframe performance monitoring), OPS/MVS (event management and automation), CA 7 Workload Automation (batch job scheduling), WatchTower (integrated observability platform), and NetMaster (network management). These products compete primarily with BMC's MainView/AMI Ops suite and IBM's OMEGAMON family.

2. Cybersecurity and Compliance

Mainframe security and access control products. Key products include ACF2 and Top Secret (the two external security managers that compete with IBM's RACF), Trusted Access Manager, Compliance Event Manager, and the Mainframe Security Suite. ACF2 and Top Secret are among the most deeply embedded Broadcom products in customer environments, with migration to RACF typically requiring 12 to 24 months of dedicated effort.

3. Database and Data Management

Db2 tools and data management products. Key products include the Db2 Administration Suite, Db2 Performance Suite, Db2 Utilities Suite, Db2 Backup and Recovery, CA 1 Tape Management, and Vantage Storage Management. These compete with IBM's Db2 Tools family and BMC's AMI Data suite.

4. DevX and DevOps

Application development and delivery products. Key products include Endevor (source control and change management — the dominant mainframe SCM), Code4z (VS Code extension for mainframe development), Test4z (mainframe testing), HostBridge (API enablement for CICS applications), and InterTest (debugging). Endevor represents extreme lock-in — it manages the entire mainframe source code lifecycle and is exceptionally difficult to replace.

5. Foundational and Open Mainframe

Core infrastructure and open-source integration products. Key products include Chorus Software Manager (software deployment and maintenance), Common Services, and Zowe contributions (the open-source mainframe framework). These foundational components are often prerequisites for other Broadcom mainframe products.

Annual Price Increase History: The Compounding Effect

Broadcom publishes annual worldwide pricing announcements for its mainframe software portfolio. These published increases apply to list prices and typically flow through to existing customers via contractual annual uplift clauses.

Historical annual increases: 2019 (5%), 2020 (5%), 2021 (6%), 2022 (6%), 2023 (7%), 2024 (7%), 2025 (6-7%).

The compounding effect is the hidden cost that many organisations underestimate. A 6% annual increase compounded over a 5-year contract period means your Year 5 pricing is 33.8% higher than Year 1. Over a 7-year period, the compounded increase reaches 50.4%. An organisation paying $5 million annually for Broadcom mainframe software at 6% compound uplift will pay $6.69 million in Year 5, an additional $1.69 million per year compared to the original baseline.

The published 5 to 7% annual increases apply to contractual escalations within existing multi-year agreements. When a legacy contract expires and the customer must negotiate a new agreement, Broadcom's renewal demands are frequently far higher: 100%, 200%, or even 300% or more above the expiring contract value. The UnitedHealthcare lawsuit (filed April 2025) alleged that Broadcom demanded "hundreds of millions of dollars more" for the same CA software UHC had used for nearly two decades, combined with forced bundling of VMware software and add-on products UHC did not need. The published annual increase is the floor, not the ceiling.

The Three Licensing Models

Full Capacity Licensing

How it works: The licence covers the maximum rated capacity of the entire mainframe (or LPAR), measured in MIPS or MSUs, regardless of actual workload utilisation.

Advantage: Simple, no usage monitoring or reporting requirements.

Disadvantage: Expensive if actual utilisation is well below machine capacity.

Best for: Organisations running at 80% or more utilisation.

Sub-Capacity Licensing

How it works: The licence is based on the Rolling 4-Hour Average (R4HA) of MSU consumption, measured at the LPAR level. IBM's Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool (SCRT) generates monthly reports showing the peak R4HA for each LPAR.

Advantage: Costs align more closely with actual usage.

Disadvantage: The R4HA metric can spike during batch processing windows or seasonal peaks, driving up the monthly charge disproportionately.

Best for: Organisations with variable workloads where average utilisation is significantly below peak.

Broadcom MCL (Mainframe Consumption Licensing)

How it works: Broadcom's proprietary consumption-based model, introduced in 2019. MCL establishes a baseline of MSU hours using 3 to 12 months of historical SCRT data. Consumption is measured as total MSU hours across all production LPARs running z/OS, aggregated over the true-up period. Key features: Unlimited Dev/Test included; single price covers all Broadcom mainframe products; annual true-up with rollover.

Advantage: Removes the R4HA spike problem. Unlimited Dev/Test eliminates a significant cost category.

Disadvantage: The baseline negotiation is critical; set it too low and you pay overage charges. MCL covers the entire Broadcom stack as a single line item, making it impossible to remove individual products to reduce cost.

Best for: Organisations with growing or highly variable mainframe workloads, significant dev/test environments, or seasonal processing patterns that cause R4HA spikes.

What Has Changed in 2025-2026

Aggressive Renewal Tactics at Scale

The most significant change is not the published annual increase but the escalation in renewal demands when legacy contracts expire. Broadcom's post-VMware-acquisition commercial posture has become more aggressive across all software divisions, including mainframe. Organisations whose multi-year mainframe agreements are expiring in 2025-2026 are reporting initial renewal demands that are 2 to 3 times the expiring contract value.

Forced Bundling Across Broadcom Portfolios

Broadcom increasingly demands that mainframe software renewals be bundled with VMware and/or Symantec products. The UnitedHealthcare complaint specifically alleged that Broadcom demanded that any renewal of licences be bundled with other add-on software and services that UHC does not want or need. This cross-portfolio bundling tactic limits the customer's ability to negotiate each product line independently.

MCL as the Default Renewal Model

Broadcom is actively steering customers toward MCL at renewal, positioning it as the modernised licensing model. For customers on legacy per-product sub-capacity agreements, Broadcom may present MCL as the only renewal option. While MCL has genuine advantages for certain workload profiles, the shift eliminates per-product cost transparency and makes it structurally more difficult to replace individual Broadcom products.

Mandatory SCRT Reporting and Compliance Enforcement

Broadcom requires monthly submission of IBM SCRT reports for all mainframe environments running Broadcom software. Non-compliance can trigger contractual penalties, including loss of MCL rollover benefits or conversion to full-capacity pricing.

IBM z16/z17 Capacity Upgrades Create Automatic Price Increases

Mainframe software pricing is tied to machine capacity. Organisations upgrading from IBM z15 to z16 typically see capacity increases that directly flow through to Broadcom software costs, even if workload volumes remain unchanged.

Budget Modelling: What Broadcom Mainframe Software Actually Costs

Consider an organisation with a mid-range mainframe estate: 2,000 MSU of production capacity, running a typical Broadcom portfolio of 15 to 20 CA products spanning security (ACF2), workload automation (CA 7), monitoring (SYSVIEW), Db2 tools, and source control (Endevor). At current market rates, this environment typically carries an annual Broadcom mainframe software cost of $3 to $6 million.

Under a traditional sub-capacity agreement with a 6% annual uplift, a $4 million Year 1 baseline becomes $4.24M in Year 2, $4.49M in Year 3, $4.76M in Year 4, and $5.05M in Year 5. The cumulative 5-year spend reaches $22.54 million. If the contract then expires and Broadcom's renewal demand is 2 times the original baseline, the Year 6 cost jumps to $8 million, creating an immediate budget shock.

Under MCL, a 2,000 MSU production environment might carry a fixed annual fee of $4.5 to $5.5 million, covering the entire Broadcom stack including unlimited dev/test. The trade-off is clear: MCL provides budget predictability but the floor is higher than an optimised sub-capacity arrangement.

A hardware upgrade multiplier compounds both models. An IBM z15 to z16 migration that increases rated capacity by 20% adds approximately 20% to the software cost base. When the hardware capacity increase and the annual price increase compound together, a single year can see a 27 to 28% cost increase (20% capacity plus 6% price uplift plus compounding).

The Legal Landscape: Lawsuits and Precedents

The UnitedHealthcare lawsuit (filed April 2025 in Minnesota federal court) is the most significant legal challenge to Broadcom's mainframe pricing practices, but it follows a pattern established by AT&T's 2024 VMware lawsuit in New York. The AT&T case resulted in a confidential settlement after the court signalled its intent to issue a preliminary injunction blocking Broadcom from cutting off AT&T's access. That outcome established an important practical precedent: courts are willing to intervene to prevent Broadcom from using software cutoff threats as a negotiation lever.

UHC's complaint specifically alleges that Broadcom demanded "hundreds of millions of dollars more" for the same CA mainframe software, forced cross-portfolio bundling with VMware products, and threatened to terminate access at the contract renewal date.

For CIOs, these legal developments provide both a reference point and a strategic tool. While litigation should always be a last resort, the existence of these lawsuits establishes that Broadcom's renewal tactics are not beyond legal challenge.

Competitive Alternatives: Building Negotiation Leverage

ACF2 and Top Secret Alternatives

IBM RACF (included at no additional cost in z/OS). Migration to RACF typically requires 12 to 24 months of project work and is genuinely difficult, but a documented migration plan creates real negotiation leverage.

CA 7 Workload Automation Alternatives

BMC Control-M, Broadcom's own Automic (ironically), IBM Workload Automation, Redwood Tidal. These are mature, enterprise-grade alternatives with active sales teams providing competitive proposals.

Endevor Alternatives

Micro Focus/OpenText ISPW (ChangeMan ZMF/Endevor direct competitor). Migration is extremely complex but not impossible for organisations with dedicated mainframe teams.

Db2 Tools Alternatives

IBM's own Db2 Tools family, BMC AMI Data. IBM Db2 Tools are often included or discounted within existing IBM software agreements.

Negotiation Strategies for 2026 Renewals

Start 18 Months Before Expiry

Opening negotiation discussions 18 months before contract expiry gives your procurement and legal teams time to conduct competitive evaluations, build migration business cases, and resist Broadcom's manufactured urgency.

Build Documented Migration Plans for Key Products

Documented migration plans, even if you have no intention of executing them immediately, establish credible leverage. Broadcom's commercial team will not believe migration threats unless there is documented evidence of evaluation activity.

Resist Cross-Portfolio Bundling

Maintain the right to negotiate each product line independently. Cross-portfolio bundling should be treated as a commercial tactic to maximise Broadcom's deal size, not a technical requirement.

Negotiate Annual Uplift Caps

A 3 to 5% annual uplift cap is achievable for multi-year commitments with large contract values. Without an explicit cap, Broadcom's standard escalator clauses apply.

Evaluate MCL on the Numbers, Not the Narrative

Run an independent TCO comparison between your current sub-capacity model and MCL before accepting Broadcom's MCL proposal. The right model depends on your specific workload profile and growth trajectory.

Negotiate Extension Clauses

Contractual extension provisions at current pricing for 12 to 24 months give you additional time to negotiate without losing access to production systems.

For independent Broadcom advisory support, explore our Broadcom Advisory Services or contact us directly.