# Alternatives to Proxmox VE

The homelab virtualization server standard.

Proxmox VE ranks #4 of 9 in Virtualization software, with an Alt Score of 78. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, open source with paid hosting from €120/year and available on Linux. 9 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/proxmox-ve/
Category: Virtualization software

## Where Proxmox VE stands out

- **GPU passthrough** — 3 of 8 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: System administrators and IT teams running self-hosted or on-premises infrastructure who need an open-source alternative to commercial hypervisors like VMware for production or home-lab environments.
- **What you get**: A Debian-based platform combining the KVM hypervisor for full VM virtualization and LXC for lightweight containers, managed through a single web-based interface. It includes built-in software-defined storage, networking, backup, and multi-node clustering with high availability for automatic VM/container failover.
- **How it works**: Install Proxmox VE directly on bare-metal server hardware, then create and manage VMs and containers through its web console or API. Multiple nodes can be joined into a cluster for shared storage, live migration, and HA failover.

## Profile

- **License**: AGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: €120/year (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Platforms**: Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [QEMU](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/qemu.md) | 100 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [VirtualBox](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/virtualbox.md) | 86 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [UTM](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/utm.md) | 82 | Apache-2.0 | macOS |
| 4 | [Multipass](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/multipass.md) | 78 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [Hyper-V](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hyper-v.md) | 73 | Proprietary | Windows |
| 6 | [VMware Fusion](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vmware-fusion.md) | 73 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 7 | [VMware Workstation](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vmware-workstation.md) | 68 | Proprietary | Windows, Linux |
| 8 | [Parallels](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/parallels.md) | 64 | Proprietary | macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Virtualization software checklist | Proxmox VE | QEMU | VirtualBox | UTM | Multipass | Hyper-V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Starts at | €120/year | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows |
| Host platforms | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Guest OS breadth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| GPU passthrough | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | ? | Yes |
| Free for personal use | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Shared folders & clipboard | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Headless / server mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Silicon support | No | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Performance overhead | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Proxmox VE. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: AGPL-3.0 — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Open_Source> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Proxmox VE 2.x and higher versions are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3”
- **Starts at**: €120/year — <https://www.proxmox.com/en/products/proxmox-virtual-environment/pricing> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “€ 120/year & CPU socket”
- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — <https://www.proxmox.com/en/products/proxmox-virtual-environment/pricing> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Combining open-source software with enterprise services & support”
- **Platforms**: Linux — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Installation> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Proxmox VE is based on Debian GNU/Linux. The install disk images (ISO files) provided by Proxmox include a complete Debian system as well as all necessary Proxmox VE packages.”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.proxmox.com/en/about/company-details/press-releases/proxmox-virtual-environment-8-4> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Note: Proxmox") today released version 8.4 of its server virtualization management platform, Proxm"
  - Quote: “VIENNA, Austria – April 09, 2025 – Enterprise software developer Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH (henceforth ”
- **Host platforms**: Partial — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Installation> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Proxmox VE is based on Debian GNU/Linux. The install disk images (ISO files) provided by Proxmox include a complete Debian system as well as all necessary Proxmox VE packages.”
- **Guest OS breadth**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/FAQ> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “allows arbitrary operating systems to run”
- **Snapshots**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Live_Snapshots> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “By using Proxmox VE live snapshots you can preserve the KVM virtual machine state.”
- **GPU passthrough**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI(e)_Passthrough> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “PCI(e) passthrough is a mechanism to give a virtual machine control over a PCI device from the host.”
- **Free for personal use**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Package_Repositories> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “As the name suggests, you do not need a subscription key to access this repository.”
- **Headless / server mode**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Installation> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Starts the terminal-mode installation wizard, additionally setting up the Linux kernel to use the (first) serial port of the machine for in- and output. This can be used if the machine is completely h”
- **Apple Silicon support**: No — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/FAQ> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Proxmox VE works only on 64-bit CPUs (AMD or Intel).”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Open_Source> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Proxmox VE 2.x and higher versions are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3”
- **Performance overhead**: Yes — <https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/chapter-qm.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The emulation of PC clones is also one of the fastest due to the availability of processor extensions which greatly speed up QEMU when the emulated architecture is the same as the host architecture.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/