Proxmox vs ESXi 2025: VMware’s Role in Home Lab Virtualization
VMware ESXi is a type-1 hypervisor in the VMware vSphere ecosystem used for hardware virtualization and running virtual machines. It is a top-grade virtualization solution widely used by organizations and in-home labs.
After Broadcom acquired VMware, users started migrating from VMware ESXi/vSphere to Proxmox VE, an open-source and free virtualization solution. This post covers the Proxmox vs ESXi comparison to help you determine which virtualization solution better meets your needs.
Major Virtualization Trends and Developments in 2025
The latest virtualization trends and developments include:
- Development and implementation of hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) solutions for virtualization. HCI solutions consolidate storage, computing and networking into a unified system that can improve the scalability of the virtual infrastructure.
- Containers are another form of virtualization, distinct from virtual machines. Containerization tools like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes (that run containers in a cluster for load balancing) are widely used by developers and in production environments. Containers can run applications using the microservice architecture for cloud-based solutions.
- Emphasis on security in virtual environments. As virtualization technologies become highly integrated into IT operations, there is a focus on implementing robust security measures. Organizations prioritize advanced encryption, compliance protocols and proactive security strategies to protect virtual infrastructures from evolving threats.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-based tools for virtualization. AI can improve the efficiency of virtualization solutions, as well as overall performance and security. Intrusion-detection systems, antimalware software, monitoring solutions and other tools use engines with AI for higher efficiency.
Proxmox vs ESXi: Key Innovations & Performance Updates
Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) and VMware ESXi (vSphere) have introduced significant innovations and performance enhancements, catering to diverse virtualization needs.
In the latest 8.x versions, Proxmox released the new wizard to import virtual machines from ESXi hosts to Proxmox VE. Previously, this process was manual and required copying and converting VMware virtual disks manually, as well as creating VM configuration. Now, the migration process is automated. Additionally, the OVA import feature was added to deploy VMs from OVA templates, as it is in VMware environments.
VMware released vSphere Configuration Profiles for lifecycle management of ESXi hosts in vSphere 8, which is available in VMware vSphere Client. Downtime is reduced when patching vCenter. Distributed Processing Units are supported and a higher number of connected devices is supported in clusters for VM migration from one ESXi host to another. The VMware vMotion functionality was also enhanced.
Virtualization technology: Proxmox (KVM) vs. VMware ESXi
Both hypervisors are type-1 hypervisors, also known as bare-metal hypervisors. This means virtual machines interact directly with physical hardware without overheads for the host operating system (bypassing the host operating system).
Proxmox VE
Proxmox uses KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) as a virtualization engine. A modified Linux kernel runs virtual machines, allowing VMs to interact directly with the hardware. Proxmox VE can be installed on Debian Linux manually or a Debian-based appliance can be installed on a server. Read how to install Proxmox using two methods.
Proxmox supports full virtualization (hardware-assisted virtualization) and containers out of the box. LXC containers are lightweight Linux containers. Multiple Proxmox hosts can be configured as a cluster for high availability and load balancing. Built-in clustering with Corosync and Ceph is used for high-availability (HA) setups. Proxmox supports live migration of VMs and containers without downtime. A unified web interface can be used to access individual hosts and for cluster management. All configuration and management options are available in the command line interface.
VMware vSphere
VMware ESXi uses its own VMkernel for virtualization and to run virtual machines. This is VMware’s proprietary hypervisor technology with strong hardware abstraction. An individual ESXi host can be managed in the web interface of the VMware Host Client and in the command line interface. Some basic configuration options are available in the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI), a built-in pseudo-graphical user interface.
A centralized management solution called vCenter Server is installed as a virtual appliance on an ESXi host to manage multiple ESXi hosts. Multiple ESXi hosts managed by vCenter can be configured to work in a cluster. Clustering features provide high availability and load balancing (Distributed Resource Scheduler). Fault Tolerance is an advanced feature that ensures zero downtime for VMs in case of hardware failure of a cluster node. VM live migration is performed with vMotion.
Installing additional components, such as VMware vSAN, VMware NSX, vSphere Replication and VMware vCloud Director, can enhance the functionality of the vSphere ecosystem. VMware vSphere Integrated Containers and Tanzu Kubernetes are special solutions for running and orchestrating containers in VMware vSphere.
Networking advancements: SDN, VLANs and enterprise features
During the last few years, VMware and Proxmox have made significant advancements in networking capabilities, particularly in areas like Software-Defined Networking (SDN), VLAN support and other enterprise features.
Software-defined networking
Proxmox VE has developed its own SDN stack, which is now installed by default in version 8.1. This integration enables the creation of virtual zones and networks (VNets), allowing users to manage complex networking configurations and multitenancy setups directly from the web interface at the datacenter level.
Proxmox supports various zone types, including:
- Simple: Isolated bridge for local VM traffic.
- VLAN: Classic method of subdividing a LAN using VLAN tagging.
- QinQ: Stacked VLANs for multiple layers of VLAN tags.
- VXLAN: Layer 2 network via UDP tunnel, allowing overlay networks across multiple clusters.
- EVPN (BGP EVPN): VXLAN with BGP to establish Layer 3 routing.
VMware provides a powerful NSX platform with advanced SDN capabilities, supporting the zone types explained above and offering a wide set of features, including:
- Network virtualization: Creation of virtual networks independent of physical hardware.
- Micro-segmentation: Granular security controls within the data center.
- Load balancing and VPN: Advanced services to ensure enough resources to run applications and secure connectivity.
NSX integrates with VMware’s automation tools, streamlining policy-driven network management and rapid deployment of network services. VMware supports distributed virtual switches for ESXi hosts managed by vCenter without deploying NSX if the Enterprise Plus license is used. NSX can be installed to provide advanced capabilities for network virtualization. There are two types of NSX: NSX-V and NSX-T.
VLAN support
Proxmox VE supports multiple VLAN zones. You can use existing local Linux or Open vSwitch bridges to connect to the node’s physical interface, utilizing VLAN tagging defined in the VNet to isolate network segments. This setup facilitates VM connectivity across different nodes.
VMware ESXi (vSphere) supports VLAN tagging and private VLANs. VLAN tagging can be configured at the port group level, allowing VMs to be placed on different VLANs within the same virtual switch. Private VLANs (PVLANs) provide further segmentation within a VLAN, enhancing security and isolation between VMs on the same VLAN.
Other enterprise networking features
Proxmox VE supports the following features that can be useful for enterprise organizations:
- IP Address Management (IPAM). Includes IPAM tools to manage IP addresses within zones to enhance network management efficiency.
- DNS integration. Allows configuration of DNS API servers and reverse DNS, facilitating network resolution management.
- MTU configuration. Supports maximum transmission unit (MTU) adjustments, essential for configurations like VXLAN and QinQ to account for encapsulation overhead.
Proxmox includes an iptables-based firewall with powerful functionality. Link aggregation is supported to increase bandwidth for simultaneous connections of multiple network devices.
VMware vSphere is adopted for enterprise usage. The Distributed Virtual Switch (vDS) mentioned before is one of the main enterprise network features. The vDS enables centralized management of network configurations on virtual switches across multiple ESXi hosts, providing features like:
- Network I/O control: Prioritization of network traffic to ensure optimal network performance.
- Port mirroring: For monitoring and troubleshooting network traffic.
- LACP support: Link Aggregation Control Protocol for enhanced bandwidth and redundancy.
The advantage of using a Distributed Virtual Switch is that you can configure a vDS once in vCenter, and the same configuration is applied to multiple virtual switches on multiple ESXi hosts without manually configuring a virtual switch on each host. MTU configuration is supported. NSX is not required to use a Distributed Virtual Switch. VMware NSX includes a firewall for routing and security.
Thoughts
Proxmox released new features for software-defined networking and they are available for free. Their functionality is not as wide as VMware NSX, and VMware NSX remains the ultimate solution for building complex virtual networks. However, NSX requires an additional license and is installed in VMware vSphere manually after ESXi hosts and vCenter are deployed. Distributed Virtual Switch is a unique feature of VMware vSphere.
Storage evolution: ZFS, Ceph vs. VMware vSAN & datastore options
Proxmox supports a variety of storage file systems and backends, including ZFS, Ceph, LVM, iSCSI, NFS and GlusterFS.
ZFS combines file system and volume management, built-in compression, deduplication and checksumming for data integrity. Native snapshots and cloning are supported. Proxmox has continuously improved ZFS integration, including native encryption and better replication tools. ZFS can be used to store thin-provisioned virtual disks.
Ceph is a distributed, software-defined storage solution designed for scalability and provides block, object and file storage. Its advantages include a self-healing and self-managing architecture with strong redundancy (replication/erasure coding). Proxmox’s Ceph integration supports automated deployment, dashboard monitoring and tighter cluster integration.
Proxmox supports a large number of virtual disk formats such as qcow, qcow2, hdd, qed, vdi, vmdk, etc.
VMware vSphere has an enterprise-grade architecture focusing on tightly integrated, high-performance storage solutions like VMware vSAN and vVols (vCenter is required). VMFS is a clustering file system used on ESXi datastores and can be used on iSCSI-based shared storage for VMs in clusters. VMFS is a proprietary file system of VMware and is not used on any other platform. VMFS supports thin-provisioned virtual disks.
VMware vSAN is an advanced hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) storage solution that aggregates local disks from ESXi hosts into a shared datastore. This shared datastore can be used by multiple ESXi hosts that are members of a cluster. Advanced features like deduplication, compression, encryption and erasure are supported. VMware has expanded vSAN to include vSAN File Services, stretched clusters for disaster recovery and better performance optimizations. VMware vVols utilize software-defined storage more efficiently based on policies to ensure the desired quality of services based on the performance of different storage types.
VMware ESXi supports the native VMware virtual disk format called vmdk.
Proxmox vs ESXi: Storage options
| Feature | Proxmox VE | VMware ESXi (vSphere) |
| Supported datastores | ZFS, Ceph, LVM, iSCSI, NFS, GlusterFS | VMFS, vSAN, vVols, NFS, iSCSI |
| Snapshot support | Native ZFS snapshots, LVM snapshots, VM snapshots | VM snapshots with delta disks (via vSphere) |
| Thin provisioning | Supported with ZFS, LVM | Supported via VMFS, vSAN, and vVols |
| Native storage replication | Built-in with ZFS and Ceph | vSphere Replication for VM data |
| Virtual disk formats | qcow, qcow2, hdd, qed, vdi, vmdk | vmdk |
Thoughts
Proxmox has the main features for VM storage, such as thin provisioning, cluster file system and others. Configuration and usability of storage in VMware vSphere may be more convenient for users who have been working with VMware products for years. As for a hyper-converged storage solution, vSAN is more convenient than Ceph in terms of configuration. Proxmox storage configuration requires more effort but is quite powerful, especially if taking into account that Proxmox is available free of charge.
Backup & disaster recovery: Evolving solutions for 2025 and beyond
As more organizations are considering Proxmox VE as their main virtualization solution, backup vendors have released new versions of their data protection solutions that include support for Proxmox VM backup, replication and other new features.
Proxmox and VMware provide their native solutions for data protection. While the Proxmox backup solution (Proxmox Backup Server) is available out of the box for free, the VMware vSphere native data protection solution, such as vSphere Replication, is installed after deploying vCenter. The native VMware data protection solution requires a vSphere license. Both solutions provide their own APIs for data protection.
Despite the ability of native solutions, administrators often prefer using dedicated third-party solutions for VM backup and replication. These data protection solutions provide advanced features that meet the new market demands. NAKIVO released the new version of NAKIVO Backup & Replication that supports agentless Proxmox VM backup and recovery. As a result, the NAKIVO solution supports agentless VM backup for Proxmox, VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix and AWS EC2.
Proxmox VE vs ESXi performance and compatibility
Proxmox can be installed on almost all hardware, similar to Debian-like Linux distributions. Wide hardware compatibility makes Proxmox an ideal solution for individual users and small and medium businesses who have older hardware but want to install the latest version of a virtualization solution.
VMware ESXi can be installed on hardware included in the hardware compatibility list (HCL). When a new version of VMware ESXi (vSphere) is released, some old hardware is usually removed from the HCL and new hardware support is added. As a result, new ESXi distributions (installers) don’t include the drivers required to work with older devices (for example, a network card, chipset, etc.). A hardware upgrade may be required to install the latest ESXi version (or for a version update).
Proxmox VE ensures high performance when running VMs and containers. There can be minimal overhead when using a Linux kernel to run VMs. VMware ESXi uses a highly optimized kernel of a hypervisor (VMkernel) to run VMs with the highest performance.
Cost & Licensing: Open Source vs. Proprietary Model
Proxmox VE is a free, open-source virtualization solution available to everyone. Paid support is available for organizations that require professional assistance, security updates and enterprise repositories. Proxmox VE has a wide community and excellent documentation that allows administrators and newcomers to configure it and resolve issues. The free version has no feature restrictions; the support subscription only affects access to enterprise-grade updates and support.
VMware vSphere, including ESXi, is a proprietary solution that requires a paid license. Significant licensing changes were applied after Broadcom acquired VMware. Perpetual licenses are not available anymore – only subscription-based licenses can be bought. There are multiple editions with different feature sets. VMware has also started transitioning from per-CPU to per-core licensing. ESXi Free Edition with limited functionality is no longer available. The community used Free ESXi to run a few VMs for testing and educational purposes, as well as for small organizations with limited requirements for a virtual infrastructure.
At the end of 2024, Broadcom announced a new policy that tightened the requirements for getting licenses. To get a VMware license, users must have a VMUG Advantage membership and complete specific VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certifications. These restrictions make it less possible to get personal-use licenses, including EvalExperience licenses.
Due to these changes, a large number of organizations have decided to consider Proxmox VE as an alternative virtualization solution. Enterprise organizations can afford to buy VMware subscription-based licenses by accepting the new rules, but small and medium-sized businesses often seek a more affordable alternative. At the same time, administrators and IT enthusiasts look at Proxmox VE as a virtualization environment for home labs to run virtual machines, improve knowledge and conduct different tests and experiences without extra costs.
User Experience & Administration: Which Platform is More Manageable?
Management capabilities and administration convenience can impact the choice when comparing Proxmox vs ESXi.
Proxmox VE provides a friendly web interface that enables configuring numerous options. However, fine-tuning and detailed configuration require more experience and a command line. A unified interface available out of the box is used to manage single Proxmox hosts and clusters. No additional tools with a graphical user interface are required for cluster management.
VMware provides a convenient and intuitive web interface for ESXi and vSphere. ESXi has a built-in VMware Host Client. If a vCenter Server is deployed, the VMware vSphere environment with multiple ESXi hosts and clusters is managed in VMware vSphere Client. Deploying vCenter as a VM requires resources and issues may appear when deploying vCenter for the first time. The command line interface with advanced options is supported on ESXi.
Proxmox vs ESXi: Which platform to choose
| Choose Proxmox VE if: | Choose VMware ESXi (vSphere) if: |
| You prefer open-source flexibility | You need enterprise-grade automation and tools |
| You manage small to mid-sized deployments | You operate large-scale data centers |
| You have Linux expertise and prefer CLI control | You rely on vCenter, NSX or vSAN ecosystems |
| Cost-effectiveness is a key factor | You require certified support and SLAs |
Home Lab vs. Enterprise: Which One Wins?
Users prefer Proxmox for building a home lab because it is community-driven. There are active forums, mailing lists and open-source contributions. These resources are effective for learning the product and fixing issues. There is optional paid Proxmox support for organizations of any size. Proxmox VE is a free and flexible virtualization solution available to everyone. Users have direct access to system internals without vendor restrictions.
VMware is enterprise-focused and provides 24/7 paid support for mission-critical environments. Support subscriptions and additional components are bundled when buying a VMware vSphere license. Redundant software and services might not be affordable for small organizations, but the ultimate solution is what large organizations need. There are official VMware certifications (VCP, VCAP, etc.) for IT professionals.
Why Proxmox is becoming the go-to choice for home labs & SMBs
The latest changes in VMware licensing models are a major factor for small/medium businesses and enthusiasts with home labs to choose Proxmox VE as their main virtualization solution.
These users often consider choosing Proxmox for the following reasons:
- Open-source flexibility: No vendor lock-in, customizable to fit unique workflows. Available for free.
- Enterprise support (optional): Paid subscriptions with professional support and security updates.
- Advanced storage options: Native ZFS and Ceph support can be used for hyper-converged setups.
- High availability: Built-in clustering and HA without extra licenses.
- Strong API and automation: Full REST API, integrates well with Ansible, Terraform and DevOps tools. Support for third-party backup solutions.
The configuration of Proxmox VE may be more complex than that of VMware ESXi/vSphere and requires more manual actions in the command line. However, the open-source nature of Proxmox makes this cost-effective virtualization platform more suitable for small/medium businesses and IT enthusiasts, despite some possible inconveniences at first.
Will Proxmox overtake VMware in the enterprise market?
Over the last year, the gap between VMware vSphere and Proxmox has become closer. However, enterprise organizations still consider VMware vSphere to be the ultimate virtualization solution.
Enterprise organizations choose VMware vSphere due to the following factors:
- Enterprise-grade scalability: VMware vSphere is designed for large data centers and mission-critical workloads.
- Advanced features and large ecosystem: vMotion, DRS, HA, Fault Tolerance, vSAN, NSX.
VMware vSphere is usually chosen by:
- Enterprises with large-scale, complex infrastructures that include a large number of hosts and VMs.
- Organizations with strict regulatory requirements and high availability needs.
- Businesses relying on multi-cloud or hybrid environments using VMware Cloud.
The changes in the vSphere licensing model and the absence of ESXi Free Edition make VMware ESXi unaffordable for most enthusiasts when building home labs. Thus, in the ESXi vs Proxmox homelab comparison, Proxmox is considered the winner.
Data Protection, Compliance and Security in Virtual Environments
Proxmox VE and VMware vSphere are reliable platforms with high performance and security. Both solutions support full disk encryption, two-factor authentication, and LDAP integration. However, administrators should ensure data protection in both environments by making the proper configurations.
Proxmox VE is an open-source solution that makes auditing code for security and compliance easier. As there are no proprietary black boxes, Proxmox VE can be used in environments that require full control. Compliance is achievable through proper system hardening and external tools. A built-in firewall can be configured to protect Proxmox hosts and virtual machines.
VMware vSphere meets industry certifications, such as FIPS 140-2, Common Criteria, SOC2, HIPAA and PCI-DSS. VMware products hold certifications for a wide range of regulatory standards. VMware vSphere is ready for highly regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government) but requires expensive licensing tiers for some advanced compliance features.
Proxmox vs ESXi: Which one to choose based on security and compliance options
| Environment | Optimal choice | Key reasons |
| Home labs | Proxmox VE | Built-in encryption, backup and cost-effective security features |
| Small/medium businesses | Proxmox VE | Affordable compliance with customizable security tools |
| Enterprises (regulated industries) | VMware ESXi (vSphere) | Enterprise-grade compliance, certifications and advanced security features |
| High-security environments | VMware vSphere + NSX + Carbon Black | Advanced threat detection, micro-segmentation and SIEM integrations |
Both Proxmox VE and VMware vSphere virtualization solutions support wide sets of security features. However, any virtual machines in any environment should be backed up. Proxmox VE includes a built-in free backup solution called Proxmox Backup Server. VMware vSphere offers vSphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager (requires licensing). Organizations often prefer third-party data protection solutions for VM backup and recovery since they are more convenient and offer numerous features.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a dedicated data protection solution that supports backup and recovery of Proxmox and VMware vSphere VMs.
- Agentless backup. The NAKIVO solution uses APIs provided by Proxmox and VMware to make agentless image-based backups of entire virtual machines, including virtual disks and VM configuration.
- Incremental backup. Running incremental backups with periodic full backups ensures reliability and storage savings in a backup repository.
- Backup encryption. Multiple encryption options are supported. Source backup encryption encrypts data before transferring it over the network and storing it in a backup repository. Network encryption can be manually set to encrypt data only for transferring it over the network. You can also enable backup encryption on the backup repository level for the entire repository.
- Backup immutability. Immutable backups cannot be modified or deleted until the immutability period expires. This feature protects backups against ransomware and reduces the risk of deletion or modification of backups in case of malware infection.
- Full and granular recovery. You can recover specific files from VM backups if there is no need for a full VM recovery to save time. Full VM recovery includes recovery of virtual disks, VM configuration files and all required data to run VMs without manual intervention. You can perform recovery to the source and custom locations.
- Multiple backup locations. The NAKIVO solution supports multiple backup locations on-premises and in the cloud. You can store backups on local servers, NAS devices, SMB/NFS shares, tape, Azure Blob Storage, Amazon S3 and S3-compatible storage, etc.
VMware vs. Proxmox: What’s Next for Virtualization in 2025?
New strict rules related to VMware certification to get a VMware license may reduce the number of skilled IT engineers who know the VMware virtualization products perfectly. The unavailability of ESXi Free Edition also reduces the number of enthusiasts using VMware ESXi as a hypervisor for home labs.
Proxmox, in turn, continues to release features desired by the Proxmox community to satisfy the market demands and attract more users. Migration from VMware vSphere to Proxmox requires additional knowledge, but the price might be worth it for individual users and SMBs.
It seems that VMware vSphere will remain the top solution for enterprises and large organizations, while Proxmox will become more popular for enthusiasts and small/medium-sized businesses.
Conclusion
VMware has been a leader in most hardware virtualization solutions market segments for years. Following the changes implemented by Broadcom, SMBs and IT enthusiasts using home labs started considering Proxmox as an affordable alternative. VMware vSphere, based on the ESXi hypervisor, remains the ultimate solution for enterprises due to its top-tier functionality, stability and configuration. This Proxmox vs ESXi comparison helps you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each virtualization platform, allowing you to make the optimal choice for your environment. Keep in mind that it is necessary to use a data protection solution like NAKIVO Backup & Replication to back up VMs running on any virtualization platform.
