Side by side

Proxmox VE vs Xen Project Hypervisor

Both stand on virtual machine software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Proxmox VE

Free plan AndroidAPILinux+3

Proxmox VE combines VM and container management with cluster, backup, and automation capabilities. Plan for per-socket subscription costs and the installer’s data-removal behavior before deployment.

Visit Proxmox VE

Xen offers a free hypervisor with guest isolation and a separate toolstack for managing virtual machines across hosts. Its downloads are source releases intended for building, packaging, and platform integration.

Visit Xen Project Hypervisor

The facts

	Proxmox VE	Xen Project Hypervisor
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	Android, API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web, Windows	Linux, Self-hosted
Lowest paid plan	Community: €120 a year	Free or on request
Plans published	5	1
Maker	Proxmox VE	Not published
Website	proxmox.com	xenproject.org
On virtual machine software	#4 of 24	#8 of 24

Proxmox VE: what it does well

Free software under GNU AGPLv3
Web, CLI, and REST API management
Cluster management needs no dedicated manager node
Supports encrypted backups and live restore
Supports high-availability monitoring

What to know first

Bare-metal installer removes data on selected disks
Subscriptions are per occupied physical CPU socket
All cluster nodes need the same subscription level

Xen Project Hypervisor: what it does well

Runs multiple operating systems on one host
Supports VM snapshots, nested virtualization, and GPU acceleration
XAPI supports multi-host management and VM migration
Windows and Linux guest templates are available
Software hosted on XenProject.org is licensed under GPL2

What to know first

Downloads are source releases rather than ready-to-run packages
Linux, NetBSD, and FreeBSD are the named host options

Alternatives to Proxmox VE Alternatives to Xen Project Hypervisor The whole list