Proxmox Alternatives for Virtualization

Virtualized infrastructure has become a vital part of the business-critical infrastructure for most organizations. Running VMs and containers is essential to self-hosting services in the enterprise and relies on many features found in modern hypervisors like Promox. Proxmox is a popular open-source virtualization platform that offers users an intuitive and easy-to-use virtualization environment. However, many Proxmox alternatives allow you to have robust virtualization capabilities. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most popular Proxmox alternatives for virtualization.

What is Promox?

The Proxmox virtualization platform offers a user-friendly web interface that is both rich and fully featured. Though it may not match the sleekness of the vSphere client, it certainly gets the job done when administering your Proxmox environment.

As an open-source hypervisor platform, Proxmox VE is perfectly suited for enterprise virtualization, boasting a comprehensive range of features that allow you to run production workloads with ease. Its out-of-the-box capabilities include virtual machines, containers, software-defined storage, networking, clustering, and more. Since it is based on Linux, you can expect a pure and seamless Linux experience for virtualization, containers, and other key functions. Here are some notable benefits to consider:

• Open-source software for ultimate flexibility
• No vendor lock-in for complete autonomy
• Linux kernel for reliable performance
• Fast and effortless installation process
• User-friendly, intuitive web-based management interface
• Low administration costs and simple deployment
• Boasts a thriving and supportive community of users

Proxmox is a popular open-source virtualization platform providing users with an intuitive and easy-to-use virtualization environment for running virtual machine environments and containers.

It allows users to create and manage virtual machines running on multiple virtual operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. Proxmox is a great choice for organizations that need to optimize their hardware resources and run multiple virtual machines on a single server. Proxmox is a great choice for your core virtualization infrastructure.

Proxmox is a robust hypervisor with many capabilities

The Proxmox management interface provides users an intuitive and easy-to-use way to manage their virtual machines, storage, and networks. The interface also includes features such as live migration, high availability, and support for various virtual devices, making it easy for users to manage their virtual infrastructure.

Note. Check our tutorial on setting up Kubernetes on Proxmox.

Proxmox is highly scalable, making it suitable for small-scale and large-scale virtualization environments, running Linux virtual machines, Windows virtual machines, and containers. However, due to several reasons, you may decide on a Proxmox alternative.

Alternatives to Proxmox

Many Proxmox alternatives exist, including the following hypervisors:

• VMware ESXi — Probably the one to beat, VMware ESXi is the most prevalent commercial hypervisor in the enterprise data center today
• VirtualBox — A free and open-source virtualization solution, VirtualBox is very common for home labs, development, and testing a wide range of operating systems
• Microsoft Hyper-V — Micrososoft’s commercial virtualization platform, Hyper-V is common in environments where Windows Server is heavily used
• OpenStack — An open-source cloud computing platform that provides users with a powerful and scalable virtual infrastructure.
• XCP-ng — It is an open-source virtualization platform based on the Citrix Hypervisor and provides users with powerful virtualization features.
• VMware vSphere Hypervisor — A bare metal hypervisor that provides users with a reliable and secure virtualization solution that supports various virtualization workloads.
• oVirt — An open-source virtualization management platform that provides users with a simple and easy-to-use virtualization management solution.
• VMmanager — A virtualization management platform that provides users various features and benefits, making it a great alternative to Proxmox.

Each platform provides users with a range of features and benefits, making them a great choice for users looking for a powerful and flexible virtualization solution.

VMware ESXi

VMware’s ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor that allows users to create and manage virtual machines directly on their hardware. It is an enterprise virtualization platform that provides a wide range of features and is a virtualization solution that supports key virtualization workloads, including virtual machines and Kubernetes.

With ESXi, users can run multiple virtual machines on a single server, each running its own operating system. ESXi is a popular choice for organizations looking to consolidate workloads and optimize their hardware resources.

It can be run as a standalone host or incorporated into vSphere clusters with vCenter managing the cluster and enabling more enterprise features.

VMware ESXi as a standalone hypervisor is very powerful and well-known in the enterprise

VMware ESXi is a versatile platform that supports various virtualization workloads, such as cloud platforms, local desktop virtualization, and server virtualization. It also supports hybrid cloud data integration, enabling users to seamlessly manage their on-premise and cloud-based virtual infrastructure. VMware ESXi is a reliable and secure platform, making it a great choice for organizations hosting sensitive data.

VirtualBox Features

VirtualBox is a powerful and flexible virtualization solution on various host operating systems. With VirtualBox, users can create and manage virtual machines running on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. VirtualBox is popular for local desktop virtualization, development, and testing software in multiple environments. VirtualBox is a great alternative to Proxmox for users who need to run multiple operating systems on a single machine.

VirtualBox is used by many as a desktop hypervisor that can run many operating systems

VirtualBox supports various virtual devices and features like live snapshots and seamless window integration. It is an easy-to-use platform that can be installed quickly and configured with minimal effort. VirtualBox’s versatile features make it a popular choice for individual users and developers who require a virtualization solution for their personal use.

Microsoft Hyper-V

Developed by Microsoft, Hyper-V is a powerful virtualization technology that enables you to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical host. This provides the unique ability to run various operating systems on a single computer and keep applications fully isolated from one another. This makes Hyper-V an ideal solution for a range of applications, including testing, development, and production environments.

Organizations heavily invested in Microsoft technologies use Hyper-V built into Windows Server

OpenStack Features

OpenStack is an open-source cloud computing platform that provides users with a powerful and flexible virtual infrastructure. With OpenStack, users can build cloud platforms that support virtual machines, containers, and bare metal instances. OpenStack is designed to be highly scalable and includes features such as automatic scaling, distributed storage, and hybrid cloud data integration.

OpenStack is a versatile platform that supports multiple virtualization workloads and is ideal for organizations that require a highly scalable virtual infrastructure. It is an open-source platform, making it highly customizable and flexible. OpenStack is a great alternative to Proxmox for organizations that require a cloud-based virtualization solution.

OpenStack vs Proxmox Virtual Environment

OpenStack and Proxmox are powerful virtualization solutions that provide users with various features and benefits. While both platforms offer virtualization capabilities, they differ significantly in their approach and use cases. Proxmox is designed to be easy to use and is ideal for smaller-scale virtualization environments, while OpenStack is designed to be highly scalable and is suitable for building large-scale cloud infrastructures.

Proxmox offers features such as console virtual consoles, management capabilities compatible with multiple operating systems, and support for various virtualization technologies. Proxmox is a great choice for organizations that need a simple and easy-to-use virtualization environment. Proxmox is also an open-source platform, making it customizable and flexible.

On the other hand, OpenStack supports virtual machines, containers, and bare metal instances, making it highly versatile. It is designed to be highly scalable and includes features such as automatic scaling, distributed storage, and hybrid cloud data integration. OpenStack is a great choice for organizations that must build a large-scale cloud infrastructure and require a flexible and customizable platform.

XCP-ng vs. Proxmox Virtual Environment

XCP-NG is a virtualization platform that is built on the Xen Project and hosted in the Linux Foundation for running hardware-facilitated virtual machines. Developed as a collaborative effort between individuals and businesses, XCP-NG aims to deliver an open-source virtualization project that can address the challenges of modern-day enterprises.

Some of the top features of XCP-NG include:

• Modern UI — With Xen Orchestra, XCP-NG offers a sleek, modern UI for management purposes. Additionally, a Windows-based management tool called XCP-NG center is also available to manage your XCP-NG hosts, among other things.
• Live migration — XCP-NG offers live migration capabilities, which allow you to move running virtual machines between hosts seamlessly.
• Scalability — The platform is designed to allow you to scale your infrastructure as needed. Simply add a new host to your XCP-NG environment to expand your capabilities.
• Security — XCP-NG enables you to run your own private data center without any concerns of shared public cloud infrastructure, thus ensuring greater security and privacy.

Xen Orchestra managing XCP-NG

VMware vSphere Hypervisor vs. Proxmox Virtual Environment

VMware vSphere is widely considered the leading solution for traditional virtualization environments that are hosted on-premises. This innovative platform has allowed countless organizations to shift away from running physical server hosts and instead install operating systems in guest virtual machines. This approach has enabled server consolidation, resulting in fewer servers and incredible efficiency benefits in terms of lifecycle management and reduced hardware requirements.

In contrast, bare metal servers and physical hardware are notoriously difficult and time-consuming to manage and maintain. These processes can lead to poor workflow for IT administrators, who may struggle to manage and configure their systems efficiently.

VMware vSphere including vCenter Server provides many enterprise virtualization features

vSphere Hypervisor is a versatile platform that supports various virtualization workloads, such as cloud platforms, local desktop virtualization, and server virtualization. It supports multiple operating systems running on the same hardware, making it a great alternative to Proxmox. vSphere Hypervisor is also a reliable and secure platform, making it an excellent choice for organizations that need to host sensitive data.

VMware vSphere also integrates with VMware’s powerful ecosystem of solutions that extend the platform’s management and operational capabilities.

oVirt Features

oVirt is a widely used free and open-source virtualization management platform that was created as a community project by Red Hat and upon which Red Hat Virtualization is based. This platform provides centralized management of virtual machines, computing, storage, and networking resources, all through a user-friendly web-based front-end with platform-independent access.

While only KVM hypervisors on x86-64, PowerPC64, and s390x architectures are currently supported, ongoing efforts are being made to extend support to ARM architecture in future releases.

VMmanager Features

VMmanager is a virtualization management platform providing users with various features and benefits. With VMmanager, users can create and manage virtual machines running on multiple operating systems. VMmanager includes features such as live migration, high availability, and support for various virtual devices. It also has a powerful web-based management interface that makes it easy to manage your virtual infrastructure. VMmanager is a great alternative to Proxmox for users looking for a simple, easy-to-use virtualization management platform.

Wrapping up

As we have considered, Proxmox is a capable hypervisor. However, there are many other hypervisors and virtualization platforms on the market, some free and open-source, and others commercial products, allowing you to have similar or even additional features than what you will find in Proxmox.