Since Broadcom moved VMware to per-core subscriptions, Proxmox VE has become the default first stop for teams that want their licence bill back under control. It is a mature, open-source KVM hypervisor with clustering, high availability and live migration built in — and every feature is free, with a subscription only for support. The trade-off is a platform that is less turnkey than vSphere and rewards Linux and command-line fluency. This page weighs Proxmox against VMware honestly, then lets you cost your own estate.
| VMs | Hosts | VMware VCF / yr | Proxmox VE / yr | 3-yr saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 3× | £50,304 | £2,820 | £142,452 |
| 100 | 4× | £67,072 | £3,760 | £189,936 |
| 250 | 8× | £134,144 | £7,520 | £379,872 |
| 500 | 15× | £251,520 | £14,100 | £712,260 |
All figures are indicative estimates for planning only and subject to change; licence prices vary by reseller and deal size, and any monthly finance figure is subject to credit approval — not a quotation.
How the licensing models differ
This is the reason most teams look at Proxmox at all. VMware Cloud Foundation is now subscription-only and billed per core, with a 16-core-per-CPU minimum and an order-level core floor that bills capacity you may never use. Proxmox inverts that: the software is free under the AGPL, and you pay only for an optional support subscription charged per CPU socket, per year — not per core, and with no minimum-core trap. A dense modern host that VMware bills heavily counts as one or two sockets to Proxmox. Every tier ships the full feature set.
Storage: Ceph or ZFS, no add-on licence
Where vSphere reaches for vSAN as a separately-licensed layer, Proxmox builds storage in. ZFS gives you local snapshots, checksumming and replication on each node — ideal for smaller two- or three-host clusters. Ceph goes further: a hyperconverged, self-healing storage pool spread across your nodes, deployed and managed straight from the Proxmox web UI with no extra software or licence. Both underpin live migration and HA. It is genuinely capable storage, but Ceph in particular rewards careful design and enough nodes to be resilient.
The trade-offs to plan for
Proxmox is not a like-for-like vSphere clone. There is no built-in DRS equivalent, so automatic cluster-wide load balancing needs placement rules or scripting rather than a switch. Tooling around it is leaner, and Linux and CLI comfort makes day-two operations far smoother. Support is a choice: Proxmox's own subscription tiers, or a UK partner who runs the platform for you. For most cost-driven estates the operational learning curve is modest next to the renewal saving — but it is real and belongs in the decision.
FAQs
Is Proxmox really free, or is there a catch?
There is no feature catch. Proxmox VE is fully open-source under the AGPL, and clustering, high availability, live migration, Ceph and backup all work in the free version with no artificial limits. The paid subscription is support-only — it grants the stable enterprise repository and ticket access, priced per CPU socket per year. You can run production on the free repository, though most businesses buy support.
What does Proxmox miss compared to vSphere?
Mainly polish and automation. There is no native DRS to auto-balance load across a cluster, the surrounding ecosystem of third-party tooling is smaller, and some tasks are quicker from the command line than the web UI. vCenter-style features like HA and clustering are built into every node instead of a separate appliance. For most estates these gaps are manageable; for very large or heavily-automated environments they warrant a closer look.
Do we need Linux skills to run Proxmox?
They help a great deal. The web interface covers day-to-day virtualisation, but Ceph tuning, troubleshooting and automation are far smoother with Linux and command-line fluency. Teams without that depth usually pair Proxmox with a support subscription or a UK partner. Servnet can supply the hardware, run the migration and back the platform so your team is never left unsupported after cutover.