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Citrix XenServer vs Proxmox VE comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 13, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.8
Citrix XenServer offers cost savings and enhanced efficiency through virtualization, justifying the investment despite higher initial costs.
Sentiment score
7.5
Proxmox VE offers cost savings, enhanced server capabilities, and improved efficiency, with benefits outweighing its learning curve challenges.
My clients generally maintain their Citrix infrastructure without shifting, suggesting stability and reliable operation as Citrix XenServer is fully established.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.8
Citrix XenServer's customer service varies in effectiveness, with challenges in response times and support access, especially for complex issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Proxmox VE users often utilize community resources and documentation over paid support, though improved direct communication is desired.
With valid licenses, we can access hotfixes, service packs, knowledge base, self-help tools, diagnostics, downloads, live chat, and phone support.
They do not provide adequate support for midsize businesses.
There appear to be very few engineers at Citrix who understand the problems.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Citrix XenServer offers effective scalability and integration, appreciated for its ease, cost-effectiveness, and support for enterprise growth.
Sentiment score
7.2
Proxmox VE is praised for its scalability, ease of resource addition, and seamless migrations, though vertical scaling could improve.
Familiarity with Linux can enhance its performance and usability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Citrix XenServer is reliable for SMBs, supports high uptimes, but may occasionally face minor issues, especially with backups.
Sentiment score
8.1
Proxmox VE is highly stable and reliable, performing well on older hardware with minimal performance issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Citrix XenServer needs better backup, integration, management, stability, compatibility, affordability, technical support, community engagement, and marketing.
Proxmox VE faces challenges with performance, interface complexity, support, and lacks effective monitoring, documentation, and scalability features.
Citrix XenServer should support some major backup software.
We can implement high availability and live migration with pools, along with security and backup to enable role-based access control for safer management.
Although the product is technically competitive, it is not widely known or used due to poor marketing.
 

Setup Cost

Citrix XenServer is a cost-effective alternative to VMware, though pricing can be complex and varies with needs.
Proxmox VE is an open-source, cost-effective virtualization solution with optional support, valued for its affordability against competitors.
It is cheaper compared to its competitors.
Organizations save substantial money because competing solutions, such as VMware, cost double or triple.
The pricing is considered not expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Citrix XenServer offers virtualization, ease of use, scalability, and strong support, ideal for small to medium businesses.
Proxmox VE provides a user-friendly, scalable, and affordable virtualization solution with strong community support and feature-rich environment.
The most valuable feature is transferring and sharing applications that allow users to move files between devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers without needing USB cables, internet connections, or data usage.
It provides secure access to applications and resources, which is crucial for us and our clients.
Generally, Citrix XenServer goes in straightforward vanilla deployment because it is majorly used for Citrix farms.
 

Categories and Ranking

Citrix XenServer
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Proxmox VE
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Citrix XenServer is 4.9%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proxmox VE is 17.9%, down from 20.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Q&A Highlights

Miriam Tover - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Featured Reviews

VivekKumar10 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost efficiency enables significant savings but improvement in support and backup integration is needed for enhanced reliability
In the past, we utilized the live migration feature in Citrix XenServer, but not in this project. This is a new, fresh deployment, so there is no live migration. The support of heterogeneous resource pool in Citrix XenServer depends on the deployment and customer requirements. If a customer requires heterogeneous deployment, we accommodate that. Generally, Citrix XenServer goes in straightforward vanilla deployment because it is majorly used for Citrix farms. Very few customers use it for other products or applications. Intelligent performance optimization is available in this product, but very few customers use it, and those who do aren't using it extensively. I cannot comment extensively on this feature at present.
Albert Lacerda - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages clusters across sites and has an easy setup and integrations
It is very easy to set up. It is a robust virtual environment and can be deployed within a few days. Typically, an environment can be set up in two, or three days. The most complicated part is migration from VMware. However, the new virtual Proxmox offers a built-in tool to directly connect to the VMware environment and convert the virtual machines to Proxmox. You need to have one person with expertise in network components and configuration for that part of the physical environment. The most important aspect is working with the vendors who supply your standard software. This is often the most challenging part. You need to contact support to help set up the new environment if something changes. This process usually involves more time and effort to get the vendors to ensure compatibility with Proxmox. Many people, including those at Zendesk, are often reluctant to assure that Proxmox will work with other unfamiliar systems. I rate the initial setup an eight to nine out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
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Comparison Review

VL
Jan 13, 2015
vSphere vs. RHEV vs. Hyper-V vs. XenServer
We have used the following functions: 1. Hypervisor: to ensure that the virtual server provide web and email services to the company, thus providing a stable operation a with single sign-on integration of an AD server and vCenter. 2. Network and Storage: centralized data server…
 

Answers from the Community

Miriam Tover - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 25, 2019
Jul 25, 2019
None of them. I would prefer KVM.
See 2 answers
Jul 23, 2019
You should go with Proxmox for many reasons, including not needing a specific Windows Application to manage it, where with Proxmox you can manage all with a browser. Also, Proxmox has a native integrated Ceph Storage control.
reviewer1046250 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 25, 2019
None of them. I would prefer KVM.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Hypervisor?
The core function enables multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical server. This maximizes hardware utilization and efficiency.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Hypervisor?
Citrix XenServer multi-cloud includes all necessary products, allowing for a diverse deployment. Licensing includes all the server courses, Unicom, and features from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop...
What needs improvement with Citrix Hypervisor?
Citrix XenServer needs to improve compatibility with other solutions and support various services hosted on it. There's also a need for more companies supporting backups for Citrix XenServer as a h...
Proxmox vs ESXi/vSphere: What is your experience?
For me the biggest impact is the cost of licensing in the case of VMware despite its overall intuitiveness and ease of handling and management. However, KVM-based Open Source solutions are becoming...
How does Proxmox VE compare with Hyper-V?
One of the best things about Proxmox VE is that it is open-source and very inexpensive. You get all of the same features as with the more well-known products. Proxmox VE is very easy to deploy - it...
Proxmox VE or KVM?
I use Proxmox VE and have been very happy with it. In my opinion, it is a complete and stable solution with excellent tools for managing servers. It has a lot of different features, and I also love...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Hypervisor
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

U.S. Army Shared Services Center, SoftLayer, Educational Services of America, Independent Bank, and SK Telecom.
Municipality of Trento, SwitchMIA, inDenova, Valmeita City Council, Alpha IT AS, Grupo Inversor Veracruzano S.A.P.I. de C.V. (GRIVER), Laut und Schoen, IT-Services - Hamburg e.K., KMI Learning, Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., Serwise AG
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix XenServer vs. Proxmox VE and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.