Proxmox vs. OpenStack: Which One Fits Your Needs?

The growing need for resource maximization in daily businesses has led to the need to embrace virtualization. This modern innovation offers swift data recovery and continuity and saves costs. Two names commonly arise when assessing virtualization or private cloud platforms: Proxmox VE and OpenStack. Though they have somewhat diverse application uses, both are open-source and powerful.

Whether you manage a home lab, run SMB infrastructure, or build enterprise-grade clouds, this guide compares Proxmox vs. OpenStack to help you choose the right solution.

Quick Comparison Table

What Is Proxmox VE?

Proxmox virtual environment (VE) is a broad, open-source server management tool for enterprise virtualization. It combines the KVM hypervisor, Linux Containers (LXC), software-defined storage, and networking features into a single platform. This Debian-based VE offers an integrated web-based user interface that allows you to easily manage VMs and containers, high availability for clusters, and disaster recovery solutions.

Small—to medium-sized firms and labs seeking simplicity, speed, and control will find this “all-in-one” virtualization solution perfect.

Key Benefits of Proxmox

• Its setup is easy and installable in under 30 minutes with bootable ISOs.
• It offers an all-in-one stack with built-in storage management, high availability, backups, and a firewall.
• The user-friendly interface manages nodes, VMs, containers, and clusters from a unified web GUI.
• Offers ZFS support for robust storage capabilities with snapshots and replication.
• Low management overhead with zero need for multiple services or extensive orchestration.

Limitations of Proxmox

• No official plugins or native integrations with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Proxmox updates can occasionally break clusters or kernel compatibility if not properly staged or tested.
• Some advanced features (e.g., fine-grained ZFS tuning, advanced network configs) often require manual CLI configuration.

Backup and Recovery for Proxmox VE

Today, securing virtual and container environments is just as important as the efficient and stable operation of the entire infrastructure. Storware extends the capabilities of standard data protection with a layer of cyber resilience, automation, no vendor lock-in, and a multitude of backup destinations. Learn more

What Is OpenStack?

OpenStack is a popular modular cloud operating system that handles large pools of resources. This open-source system facilitates the building and administration of both public and private clouds. The OpenStack platform’s tools, known as “projects,” manage the key cloud computing services of computation, networking, storage, identity, and imaging services. It can combine over a dozen optional projects to form unique, deployable clouds.

OpenStack consists of multiple components, such as:

• Nova (Compute)
• Neutron (Networking)
• Cinder (Block Storage)
• Glance (Image Services)
• Keystone (Identity)
• Horizon (Dashboard)

Key Benefits of OpenStack:

• Supports plugins, APIs, and third-party integrations using flexible frameworks.
•  Its broad ecosystem integrates with Red Hat, Canonical, Mirantis, and other vendors.
• Built for deep multi-tenant systems with hundreds of nodes, unparalleled scalability
• Integration of multiple hypervisors, including KVM, Xen, Hyper-V, and VMware.

Drawbacks of OpenStack:

• Requires a thorough understanding of distributed systems, virtualization, and networking.
• Particularly in production, upgrades between versions can be dangerous and disruptive, needing either complicated migration methods or downtime.
• Community-driven, so some bugs or features take a long time to be addressed unless they’re prioritized by large contributors (like Red Hat, Huawei, or Canonical).

Backup and Recovery for OpenStack

Storware, as an official partner of the OpenInfra Foundation, emphasizes its commitment to comprehensive security of OpenStack-based infrastructure. Learn more

Key Differences Between Proxmox and OpenStack

While both are two of the industry’s popular choices, they have clear differences, including:

Deployment & Complexity

Proxmox:

• Setup takes under an hour with an ISO installer.
• Cluster creation is simple and often GUI-based.
• No need for orchestration tools like Juju, Ansible, or Helm.
• Ideal for IT teams with limited resources or sysadmin skillsets.

OpenStack:

• Installation is modular but complex; it is typically done via deployment tools like DevStack, Packstack, or TripleO.
• Requires orchestration and configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible, Helm, Juju).
• It demands deep architectural planning, such as authentication, storage backend, SDN, etc.
• Better suited for teams with cloud architects, DevOps engineers, and dedicated support.

Scalability and Performance

Proxmox:

• Supports clustering and high availability for up to 32 nodes easily.
• Built for single-site deployments or modest multi-node setups.
• Performance is excellent with KVM and LXC, but bottlenecks at hyperscale.

OpenStack:

• Built for hyperscale environments, with the ability to support thousands of compute nodes.
• Designed for multi-tenant, geographically distributed clouds.
• Can dynamically allocate resources via APIs, orchestration tools, and service layers.

Use Cases

Proxmox Excels In:

• Homelabs and personal virtualization.
• Small-to-medium enterprise data centers.
• On-premise VMs and containers without cloud abstraction.
• Rapid deployment of virtualized test environments.

OpenStack Excels In:

• Telcos and service providers who need NFV (Network Functions Virtualization).
• Enterprises that are building private or hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Public cloud providers offering IaaS with tenant isolation.
• Organizations requiring fine-grained RBAC, automation, and multi-region deployments.

Storage and Networking

Proxmox:

• Integrated storage is via ZFS, Ceph, LVM, and NFS.
• Default networking is Linux Bridge, with OVS for advanced setups.
• No SDN controller out of the box.

OpenStack:

• Software-defined storage via Cinder (block), Swift (object), Manila (file).
• Advanced SDN features through Neutron.
• Can integrate with Open vSwitch, Calico, and commercial SDNs.

Management and Automation

Proxmox:

• Clean web UI with monitoring, backup, and cluster views.
• Basic automation via API and CLI.
• Limited orchestration, but low-maintenance and straightforward.

OpenStack:

• Total control is available via CLI, API, and Horizon dashboard.
• Compatible with Terraform, Ansible, and Heat templates for IaC.
• Designed for CI/CD pipelines, DevOps workflows, and self-service portals.

Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?

Conclusion

Proxmox VE and OpenStack are powerful platforms. However, they serve very different purposes. If you’re after simplicity, fast deployment, and a streamlined virtualization experience, Proxmox is your best bet. OpenStack is the clear choice if you need enterprise-grade scalability, custom networking, and a multi-tenant cloud platform. Ultimately, your decision should come from your technical skill set, infrastructure goals, and operational scale.

As for the backup for both Proxmox VE and OpenStack, you can test Storware Backup and Recovery for free or book a one-on-one demo session with our engineer who will be happy to answer all your questions and concerns.