I'm using Proxmox VE for virtual machines on three servers, mainly for the database and the application and email server.
Useful storage, straightforward implementation, and helpful community support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Proxmox VE is its storage."
- "Proxmox VE can improve by importing OVF or OVA files directly from OVA. I need to convert all the images to raw images before importing them to Proxmox VE. If there is a solution that I can import directly from VMDK, it would be better."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
High availability and self healing
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Proxmox VE is its storage.
What needs improvement?
Proxmox VE can improve by importing OVF or OVA files directly from OVA. I need to convert all the images to raw images before importing them to Proxmox VE. If there is a solution that I can import directly from VMDK, it would be better.
I think it support esxi migration tools which is awesome
Buyer's Guide
Proxmox VE
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about Proxmox VE. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Proxmox VE for approximately 7 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Proxmox VE is highly stable, it is a great solution as a hypervisor.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Proxmox VE is good.
We have approximately three administrators that use the solution. We do not have plans to increase the usage.
We have approximately 20 virtual machines on the Proxmox VE server.
How are customer service and support?
I have not needed direct support from Proxmox VE. I have found the community support enough.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I switched from VMware to Proxmox VE.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Proxmox VE was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is an annual license to use Proxmox VE and it is approximately $90. There are not any additional costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Esxi
xenserver
What other advice do I have?
I rate Proxmox VE a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Cloud Engineer, Content Writer at Planet Flora
A cost-effective solution for virtualization and storage
Pros and Cons
- "It is a community-based solution."
- "There should be a helm feature for managing Kubernetes ports directly from the Proxmox traffic interface."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for virtualization and Apache cloud stack backend. It is mainly used for storage. We are using the FTP application on Proxmox VE.
How has it helped my organization?
When I migrate the website to the Proxmox server, there is a flex server installed on Proxmox VE. I migrated my website in one day with zero downtime.
What is most valuable?
The solution provides a graphical interface, which is very useful for backup, snapshots, and managing the network. It also has authentication, which is very useful too. We have a single machine and hardware.
What needs improvement?
There should be a helm feature for managing Kubernetes ports directly from the Proxmox traffic interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Proxmox VE for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Three people including one cloud member and internals, are using this solution.
I rate the solution’s scalability an eight-point five out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup takes 15-20 minutes on Google Cloud with Persistent SSDs, but on a home server, it can take up to 30 minutes.
I rate the initial setup a nine-point five out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product has a reasonable pricing.
What other advice do I have?
I recommended the solution since it is a community-based solution and cost-effective.
Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Proxmox VE
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about Proxmox VE. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Engineer at NTInet
An open source virtualization solution with good documentation
Pros and Cons
- "I have a program on my old machine with 380 events, but I need to create new events. This is much easier to do with VFXTHs, and I have the skills to do it. I also have two VPNs running on the old machine, which I can use to get started."
- "Proxmox needs to improve the integration of its network, machines, and virtual machines."
What is our primary use case?
In 1994, I started to work with Proxmox VE. Since 2020, I have developed much expertise in Proxmox VE and have helped many organizations with their Proxmox VE needs. During this time, I have studied Linux, maintenance, and troubleshooting and helped organizations successfully implement and manage Proxmox VE.
What is most valuable?
To mitigate DDoS risks on Proxmox VE, we use VFXTHs, which are a better way to take snapshots for high-performance applications. I have seen that VFXTHs are being developed to cache and block traffic, which is a promising development.
I have a program on my old machine with 380 events, but I need to create new events. This is much easier to do with VFXTHs, and I have the skills to do it. I also have two VPNs running on the old machine, which I can use to get started.
What needs improvement?
Proxmox needs to improve the integration of its network, machines, and virtual machines. It is very difficult to test, but it is possible to use scripts to make the process easier.
How are customer service and support?
The documentation is good. When I needed some kind of support, I found it on the Internet.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT supervisor at Fox-it solutions KG
Reliable, easy to deploy, and offers great out-of-the-box functionality
Pros and Cons
- "You can easily migrate VMs between hosts."
- "The compatibility with non-English operating systems needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for general virtualization for all sorts of services.
What is most valuable?
The out-of-the-box functionality is great for containers.
You can easily migrate VMs between hosts.
The hyper-converged solution with the CEPH cluster is very nice.
It is stable.
The solution can scale very well.
The deployment is fast and easy.
What needs improvement?
The compatibility with non-English operating systems needs to be improved. If there is a non-English operating system, we run into issues.
We'd like to be able to replicate on the same data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used the solution for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. We haven't had any stability issues. It does not crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's extremely scalable. I'd rate the ability to extend ten out of ten.
We have about 25 users on the solution right now. We will increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and support?
Support is a paid service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've also used Hyper-V and VMware. We switched based on cost and functionality.
How was the initial setup?
It is very easy to implement. I'd rate it ten out of ten in terms of ease of setup.
The deployment itself only takes an hour.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the setup in-house without the help of an outside vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is pretty affordable. It costs less than Hyper-V and VMware. If you want to have support from the vendor, you need to buy a subscription.
What other advice do I have?
We have been using the latest version of the solution.
We are an IT company and selling it to customers.
I'd advise others to just do enough planning before they deploy so everything is ready so that the system runs smoothly.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior Information Technology System Administrator at Sumathi Holdings
Free to use and reliable with a robust community
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has good high availability."
- "The scalability could be better."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use the solution for different virtual servers. I'm using it for snapshots and backups.
What is most valuable?
The solution is free to use. It saves us money.
The community is very good if you need information or help.
We can have in-built containers and clustering, which is useful.
The solution has good high availability.
What needs improvement?
There are a few areas that are lacking. There needs to be a better GUI, for example. In some instances, you need to use the command line.
The scalability could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I'd rate it 8.5 out of ten. We haven't had any issues with it at all. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have 15 servers running on the product.
The solution is scalable. I'd rate it seven out of ten. It could be better.
Only three people intervening in the actual solution, however, 300 to 400 people are using the computers that rely on Proxmox.
I do not have plans to increase usage at this time. If I needed to, I would use this product.
I'd recommend the solution to others. It's free and open source. I'd rate it ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I've never used technical support, You do need to pay for it if you want actual support. Otherwise, you can use the community and that is free.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used the free version of ESXi, however, it didn't have very many features that we needed.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easier than anything I've done previously. It's not complex. It's straightforward.
You can have this solution both on-premises and on the cloud.
It takes about half an hour to deploy.
I just followed the instructions for the deployment and it was good.
Only one person is needed to handle deployment.
What about the implementation team?
The solution can be done in-house. You just follow the guides provided. I personally didn't need any assistance with the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you are on a budget, it's best to go with Proxmox. It is free to use. However, if you want actual support, you need to pay for it.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a user. I'm in charge of the server farm and doing the configurations for our company.
I might be down two sub-versions. I'm not on the latest version.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior IT Specialist at Uczelnia Techniczno-Handlowa im. Heleny Chodkowskiej w Warszawie
There is no cost, it is stable, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable."
- "The solution can be improved by making it more secure and scalable."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is used for virtualization, web servers, databases, and S3 storage spaces.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that the solution is free of cost.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be improved by making it more secure and scalable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for several years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I have not had any issues in the last two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is only one node, so it is not scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is no subscription required for Proxmox VE.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
We require 15 people for the deployment and maintenance of the solution including two developers.
We have around 400 web visitors that are supported by the solution per day.
We have two environments. We run one with Proxmox VE and the other with VMware.
I recommend the solution to others.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Scientist at ISRO - Indian Space Research Organisation
Reasonably priced with an easy setup and good plugins
Pros and Cons
- "It's been a stable solution."
- "In terms of display metrics, the infrastructure, and geo-mapping as well as developing the dashboard and all the additional features have been good."
- "We find it difficult to find the root cause of the issues."
- "We are not fully satisfied with the solution."
What is most valuable?
The initial setup was very easy.
We use the inventory aspect of the solution. It's not just a platform meant for network monitoring. We also use it for inventory maintenance also. For example, I can know if a server was down and for how long. I can see the performance.
There are advanced plugins that are available. We can extend our network through these.
There are models written in C as well.
It's been a stable solution.
We can scale the solution if we need to.
The pricing is quite reasonable.
What needs improvement?
We are not fully satisfied with the solution.
We have some streams of data from different channels. We have to try to figure out how to monitor everything. There's no great integration of everything. We are not able to identify everything.
We are only just able to see ICMP and TCP checks happening.
Some systems are there which don't have protocol support.
The templates and reporting could be better.
We find it difficult to find the root cause of the issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have found the product to be scalable.
Our IP team, security, and monitoring are the only people using the solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to other products also. However, this product is better actually. In terms of display metrics, et cetera, the infrastructure, and geo-mapping as well as developing the dashboard and all the additional features have been good.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is simple to set up. There are certain credentials and you simply provide them.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is good. It is very manageable. The licensing is yearly.
What other advice do I have?
We are end-users.
We use the solution within our own network. It's not public.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of the Systems Department at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Sede Esmeraldas
Open-source, free to use, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The virtualization is good."
- "Proxmox is a good solution for on-premise managing service and with machines."
- "It might be interesting to have the ability to integrate with other cloud solutions."
- "We’d like them to ensure there is an easy migration towards the cloud, which is where we’re moving."
What is our primary use case?
It's an open-source solution for virtualizing. It’s a server virtualization software. Everything that's work or life is managed by Proxmox.
How has it helped my organization?
It's a tool that opens doors so that we don't need to pay any fees. This is a good thing. It's helping us to use its resources with the server we have. If there's none, especially it's increasing productivity, it's a handy tool to help manage things.
What is most valuable?
The virtualization is good.
It’s open-source and free to use.
The product helps us utilize resources better.
Proxmox is a good solution for on-premise managing service and with machines.
The solution is easy to set up.
What needs improvement?
We’d like them to ensure there is an easy migration towards the cloud, which is where we’re moving. Right now, we are on-premises. We’d like to have a nice, simple interface to synchronize through the cloud.
It might be interesting to have the ability to integrate with other cloud solutions.
For how long have I used the solution?
We’ve used the solution for the last five years now. It’s been a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven’t had any issues with stability just yet. We haven’t had any downtime from anything Proxmox has caused. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn’t crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It’s quite a scalable solution. We are happy with how much it can expand. It’s easy to add a new node.
We currently have three people using the product. They administer the solution.
We do not plan to increase usage right now. We already use it 100% in the places we can. We can’t use it any more than we do.
How are customer service and support?
I’ve never used customer service in the past. I can’t speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did previously work with Citrix. We moved to this solution for a better user interface and stability. Citrix also changed the way it handled licensing. We preferred Proxmox’s licensing approach.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward. It isn't that complex. I’d rate it at a one or a two in terms of complexity, on a scale from one to five.
The deployment depends a bit on how many nodes or servers you have. You want to get into the cluster. This depends on the month's amount of time, however, we have half a day for a server. For me, it takes a little bit of time. You need a half-day per node, per server. Maybe even less.
While maintenance is always necessary, I would say we would invest more or less a day a month just to maintain it and that would entail checking logs and so on. It doesn’t require heavy maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the initial setup completely in-house. We didn’t need any outside assistance from any integrators or consultants.
What was our ROI?
ROI is hard to calculate. It’s a free solution and, as we do everything in-house, we have to measure the time we need to actually dominate the solution, however, it's really very little time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is open-source. We use only open-source solutions without any services. We handled everything in-house. There are no licensing costs and no extra fees.
What other advice do I have?
I’m a customer and an end-user.
We’re about to migrate over to the 7.2 version from our current version. We have two clusters with servers we are managing with Proxmox.
I’d advise potential new users to just check it out and try it. The best thing to do is to set up a small installation or maybe mount it on a virtual box and play with it to see what t can do. It’s quite easy to start with.
I’d rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: April 2026
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