Citrix XenServer vs Proxmox VE
Citrix XenServer
citrix.com
Proxmox VE
proxmox.comSide by side
| Figure | Citrix XenServer | Proxmox VE |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | €10/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 9 |
| Spec score · Virtualization Management Software | 8.4 (#5) | 9.0 (#2) |
| Spec score · Virtual machine software | 8.2 (#8) | 9.5 (#1) |
| Founded | Citrix states it was founded in 1989. | 2005 |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Headquarters | Citrix lists its corporate headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. | Vienna, Austria |
| Live migration | Virtual machines can be live migrated between XenServer hosts to support maintenance with minimal or no downtime. | Running virtual machines can be moved between cluster nodes through the web interface or command line without noticeable end-user downtime. |
| Management interface | desktop | VMs, containers, clusters, and disaster recovery tools can be managed through a web interface. |
Plans
Proxmox VE
- Premium€1,100 a year
- Standard€550 a year
- Basic€370 a year
- Community€120 a year
- Proxmox VE softwareFree
- Community€120 a year
- Basic€370 a year
- Standard€550 a year
- Premium€1,100 a year
In their own words
Citrix XenServer
Citrix XenServer is an enterprise virtualization platform for workloads in on-premises and hybrid environments. Its hypervisor pools compute, storage, and networking resources and allocates them to virtual machines. Hosts require XenServer OS on dedicated 64-bit x86 bare-metal servers, and the listed guest architecture is x86_64. The platform supports snapshots, GPU acceleration, high-availability policies, and live migration between hosts. A pool can contain up to 32 hosts. XenCenter runs on supported Windows systems; a standalone remote CLI can be installed on RPM-based Linux distributions. XenServer 9 uses a custom control-domain operating system, and new installations disable HTTP on the management interface, requiring TLS. GPU pass-through supports NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPUs; NVIDIA vGPU support for XenServer 9 is preview-only and not fully supported. XenServer is paid, with pricing available on request and a 90-day trial that does not include official support. The listed trial edition supports a three-host pool.
Proxmox VE
Proxmox VE is an open-source, self-hosted server virtualization platform that manages KVM virtual machines and Linux Containers from an integrated web interface. A bare-metal installation includes a 64-bit Debian GNU/Linux operating system with a Proxmox kernel; installation uses the selected server and removes existing data on selected disks. Administrators can also manage the system through a command-line interface and REST API. The cluster stack supports multi-node management from any node, with high availability monitoring and automatic action when a VM or container fails. Running VMs can migrate between cluster nodes without noticeable end-user downtime. Storage options include NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Ceph, GlusterFS, LVM, ZFS and directory storage. Proxmox Backup Server integration provides incremental encrypted backups, live restore and single-file recovery. The software is free to download under GNU AGPLv3. Paid subscriptions are per occupied physical CPU socket; each cluster server needs coverage at the same subscription level. The maker is Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Vienna, Austria.