Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Proxmox VE VS DigitalOcean

Compare Proxmox VE VS DigitalOcean and see what are their differences

Proxmox VE logo Proxmox VE

Proxmox is an open-source server virtualization management solution that offers the ability to manage virtual server technology with the Linux OpenVZ and KVM technology.

DigitalOcean logo DigitalOcean

Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.
  • Proxmox VE Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-16
  • DigitalOcean Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-10

Proxmox VE features and specs

  • Open-Source
    Proxmox VE is completely open-source, allowing users to inspect, modify, and distribute the software as needed. This fosters a large community and encourages collaboration and transparency.
  • Cost-Effective
    There are no licensing fees for Proxmox VE, making it a cost-effective solution for enterprises, small businesses, and home labs.
  • Comprehensive Feature Set
    Proxmox VE offers a wide range of features, including clustering, KVM and LXC virtualization, high availability, backups, and integrated disaster recovery.
  • Integrated Web-Based GUI
    It provides a powerful and user-friendly web interface for managing VMs, containers, storage, and network configurations, which reduces administration complexity.
  • Enterprise Support Options
    While the software itself is free, Proxmox VE offers paid support plans that provide professional assistance, updates, and enhancements.
  • Scalability
    Proxmox VE supports clustering, allowing users to scale their virtualized environments across multiple physical servers with ease.

Possible disadvantages of Proxmox VE

  • Learning Curve
    For users new to virtualization or Linux-based systems, there may be a significant learning curve to fully utilize Proxmox VE’s features.
  • Hardware Compatibility
    Though generally broad, some specific hardware might not be fully supported, requiring additional configuration or workarounds.
  • Community-Based Support
    Free support is generally community-based, which can sometimes lead to less timely or reliable assistance compared to paid, vendor-provided support.
  • Updating and Upgrading
    While updates and upgrades are regular, they might occasionally introduce compatibility issues or require manual intervention.
  • Feature Gaps with Proprietary Solutions
    Even though Proxmox VE is feature-rich, there might be specific advanced features available in proprietary solutions (like VMware vSphere) that Proxmox VE lacks.
  • Integration with Third-Party Tools
    Integrating Proxmox VE with certain third-party tools and systems can sometimes be challenging, necessitating custom solutions or additional configurations.

DigitalOcean features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    DigitalOcean offers a simple and intuitive interface, which is particularly helpful for developers who want to quickly deploy and manage cloud infrastructure.
  • Cost-Effective
    DigitalOcean provides affordable pricing, making it an attractive option for startups and small businesses that need cloud services but are on a tight budget.
  • Scalability
    The platform allows you to easily scale your infrastructure vertically by upgrading your droplet's resources or horizontally by adding more droplets.
  • Performance
    DigitalOcean provides high-performance SSD-based virtual machines (droplets), which offer fast and reliable performance for a variety of applications.
  • Community and Documentation
    DigitalOcean has an extensive library of tutorials and a large community of users, which can be incredibly helpful for troubleshooting and learning.
  • Managed Services
    DigitalOcean offers managed services like Managed Databases and Managed Kubernetes, which simplify the management of complex infrastructure setups.

Possible disadvantages of DigitalOcean

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While DigitalOcean is great for simple setups and small to medium-sized applications, it lacks some of the advanced features and services offered by larger cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
  • Regional Availability
    DigitalOcean has a more limited number of data centers compared to major competitors, which might be a drawback if you need a presence in a specific region not covered by their facilities.
  • Customer Support
    DigitalOcean's customer support is primarily based on a ticketing system which could be slower and less efficient compared to the instant chat or phone support options that other cloud providers offer.
  • No Built-in Advanced Networking Features
    Advanced networking features like global load balancing are either limited or not available, which could be a concern for more complex infrastructure needs.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Switching from DigitalOcean to another provider might be challenging due to the unique configurations and setups; this could result in higher costs and effort.

Analysis of Proxmox VE

Overall verdict

  • Proxmox VE is a strong choice for businesses and individuals seeking a versatile and reliable virtualization solution, especially in environments that can benefit from open-source flexibility and active community support.

Why this product is good

  • Proxmox VE is considered good for several reasons. It provides a robust virtualization environment with support for both KVM for virtual machines and LXC for containers, enabling flexible and efficient deployment of diverse workloads. The platform offers comprehensive enterprise-ready features such as live migration, high availability clustering, and backup solutions. Its web-based management interface simplifies administration and monitoring, while the extensive community and commercial support options enhance its reliability and usability. Furthermore, it's open-source, allowing for transparency, community contributions, and reducing costs associated with licensing.

Recommended for

  • Small to medium-sized businesses looking for cost-effective virtualization solutions
  • Enterprises needing high availability and data protection features
  • Developers and IT professionals requiring a robust test and development environment
  • Organizations leveraging both containerization and virtual machines

Proxmox VE videos

Proxmox Virtual Environment 5.2 - Review and Installation

More videos:

  • Review - Homelab / Office Lab Open Source Virtualization XCP-NG & Proxmox Compared
  • Tutorial - Virtualize Everything! - Proxmox Install Tutorial
  • Review - Proxmox VE Full Course: Class 1 - Getting Started

DigitalOcean videos

DigitalOcean Review 2018 ( Why it Might not be Good for Blogging )

More videos:

  • Review - DigitalOcean vs AWS
  • Review - SITEGROUND VS DIGITALOCEAN 🤑 HONEST 💯 PROMO CODES

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Proxmox VE and DigitalOcean)
Cloud Computing
25 25%
75% 75
Virtualization
100 100%
0% 0
VPS
0 0%
100% 100
Virtual Machine Management

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Proxmox VE and DigitalOcean

Proxmox VE Reviews

Explore Top VestaCP Alternative: Find the Perfect Control Panel for Your Hosting Needs
Proxmox Virtual Environment is an extensive and user-centric Open Source virtualization platform designed specifically for managing Virtual Appliances and Virtual Machines with ease. This formidable solution seamlessly integrates the KVM hypervisor and LXC containers, along with software-defined storage and networking functionalities, within a unified structure. Proxmox VE...
Source: cyberpanel.net
10 Best VMware Alternatives and Similar Software
Proxmox runs on a modified Linux Kernel that is based on Debian Linux/GNU. You can run Linux and Windows under VMs using Proxmox, with each VM having its own virtualized hardware and components. Proxmox is best for personal servers, whereas VMware is best for businesses.
Best Server Virtualization Software for 2021
Proxmox is a lower-cost alternative to Red Hat in Linux-rich environments. It has carved out a niche in Germany and other parts of Europe, particularly among SMBs with IT staff experienced in open source software. Its combination of server virtualization, containers and software defined storage in one product makes it especially attractive to organizations wishing to...
12 Best FREE Virtual Machine (VM) Software in 2020
Proxmox VE is another platform for virtualization. It helps you to integrates KVM hypervisor and LXC containers and networking functionality on a single platform.
Source: www.guru99.com
Best Server Virtualization Software
Like Red Hat, Proxmox VE has earned a reputation as a reliable and effective virtualization tool for Linux workloads and environments. Proxmox is known for bringing server virtualization, containerization, and software-defined storage capabilities to a single, open-source product, making it a direct competitor to Virtuozzo.

DigitalOcean Reviews

Top 5 Best Ubuntu VPS Providers for 2024
Overview and Unique Selling Points DigitalOcean simplifies cloud computing for developers, offering scalable infrastructure designed to grow with your project. Known for its developer-friendly platform, DigitalOcean provides an extensive range of services from Droplets to Kubernetes, all supporting Ubuntu. Their SSD-only cloud servers, flexible API, and transparent pricing...
Best Linux VPS [Top 10 Linux VPS Provider 2024]
DigitalOcean makes it easier to handle your server using one click. They have a predictable and transparent pricing model. So, you can know all about the pricing. But aside from all of its advantages, the pricing for the DigitalOcean is relatively high compared to other VPS hosting solutions available in the market. For example, their basic 2GB RAM VPS is $12. In addition,...
Source: cloudzy.com
8 Best Free VPS Trials In 2024 [No Credit Card Required]
*These all are DigitalOcean cloud provider-based plans. Plans vary according to your choice of Cloud Provider.
10 Best Web Hosting Companies in India(December 2023)
Straightforward and intuitive, DigitalOcean's interface allows you to deploy your cloud infrastructure quickly and without hassle.
Source: www.vikatan.com
Top 50 Cheapest Cloud Services Providers | Affordable Cloud Hosting
Our goal is to make cloud computing as simple as possible so that developers and businesses can spend more time creating software that makes a difference in the world. You’ll love the cloud computing services you need, with predictable pricing, developer-friendly features, and scalability. DigitalOcean consistently outperforms other cloud providers in terms of price while...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DigitalOcean should be more popular than Proxmox VE. It has been mentiond 66 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Proxmox VE mentions (9)

  • Adventures in Homelabbing: From Cloud Obsession to Self-Hosted Shenanigans
    Now that I know I do enjoy homelabbing, I have moved forward with purchasing the last computer parts I need for a basic home server before these tariffs skyrocket the prices even further. For that machine, I will most likely set up Proxmox, and either set up CasaOS on the mini PC or set it up as a node in a Proxmox cluster to serve as a sandbox environment. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Setting up the home lab: Terraform
    When I worked for CBS, I discovered Terraform, which is tool that allows you do define infrastructure as code ("IaC"). I just recently purchased a home lab server (the details of how I have that set up will be discussed in a future article) and installed Proxmox on it. I'd like to improve my DevOps skills, so I thought I'd play with Terraform for my home lab. Eventually I'd like to get my entire home... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • VMware Kills Off 56 Products
    Proxmox [1] will see a boost in popularity, good. I'm using the free version in combination with the backup server on both small (several RasPi 4's spread over several countres running the 'PiMox' [2] port) as well as medium (DL380) sized systems and find it to be a stable as well as practical platform. [1] https://proxmox.com/en/ [2] https://github.com/pimox/pimox7. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Deadbolt & QVPN (OpenVPN)
    Have a look at Proxmox if you decide on running containers and have any old hardware laying around. Source: about 2 years ago
  • A little help with table structure?
    Hey everyone! I'm making a server management panel with Laravel using Proxmox (https://proxmox.com/en/) as the API for directly managing the virtual machines. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

DigitalOcean mentions (66)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Proxmox VE and DigitalOcean, you can also consider the following products

vSphere - Get started with VMware vSphere editions, the world’s leading server virtualization platform and the best foundation for your apps, your cloud, and your business.

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

VirtualBox - VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as...

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

Hyper-V - Install Hyper-V on Windows 10

Vultr - VULTR Global Cloud Hosting - Brilliantly Fast SSD VPS Cloud Servers. 100% KVM Virtualization