VMware · Hyper-V migration → Proxmox

Exit Broadcom without breaking your production.

Q: How long does a VMware → Proxmox migration take?

For an estate of 20–50 VMs on 2–4 ESXi hosts: 6 to 10 weeks including audit, POC, batch migration and training. Beyond 200 VMs or with a vSAN cluster to rebuild, we switch to a 3 to 6-month project split into phases.

Q: Are my Windows and Linux VMs compatible with Proxmox?

Yes. Any standard x86 VM runs natively on KVM (the Proxmox engine). VMware VMDKs are converted to QCOW2, and VirtIO replaces VMware Tools drivers. Hyper-V VMs (.vhdx) go through qemu-img. We validate each OS type on a POC before mass migration.

Q: What are the real financial gains after migration?

Over 5 years, typical savings range from 60% to 85% of licence cost compared to VMware vSphere since the Broadcom takeover. On a 4-socket CPU estate, we have observed savings of €18,000 to €45,000/year, with ROI reached in 6 to 12 months.

Q: Does Proxmox support high availability (HA) and live migration?

Yes, natively. A Proxmox cluster of at least 3 nodes offers automatic HA (VM restart in < 2 min after a host fails) and uninterrupted live migration (downtime < 1s on a 10G network). No extra licence — it is included in the GPL code.

Q: What if I want pro support rather than the community?

Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH offers 4 subscription tiers (from €115 to €1,080/CPU/year). DYB includes these subscriptions in the managed services offer and adds its own 24/7 support — you have two safety nets.

Q: How do you guarantee no service interruption?

We migrate in parallel, not in replacement. The new Proxmox infrastructure runs alongside VMware/Hyper-V throughout the cutover phase. Each VM is replicated, tested offline, then switched over during a short maintenance window (15–30 min per VM). If there is an issue, rollback is immediate.

Q: What happens to my vSAN or Storage Spaces Direct storage?

We replace it with Ceph (the open-source equivalent of vSAN, integrated into Proxmox) or ZFS on replicated local storage. Ceph offers equivalent performance with 3-way replication and tolerates the loss of an entire node without interruption.

Q: Can we keep Veeam Backup with Proxmox?

Veeam has supported Proxmox since 2024. But we recommend Proxmox Backup Server (PBS), included free of charge, which offers global deduplication, Zstd compression and infinite incrementals. Typical saving: €2,000–8,000/year in cancelled Veeam licences.

Your VMware licences have tripled. Your Hyper-V locks you into Microsoft. DYB orchestrates your migration to Proxmox VE — the reference open-source hypervisor — without service interruption and with 60 to 85% savings over 5 years.

−72%

Average licence cost over 5 years

6–10 weeks

50-VM estate migration

< 30 s

Live migration downtime

€0

Vendor cost (GPL)

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The 2024–2026 context

Broadcom turned VMware into a pricing trap.

Since the late-2023 acquisition, perpetual vSphere licences have been withdrawn from the market. Mandatory subscription renewals hit SMEs and large accounts alike.

×3 to ×12
Price increases observed depending on contract (Gartner, Oct. 2024).
+72 products removed
The VMware catalogue went from more than 80 references to 2 imposed bundles.
Perpetual licences
Definitively retired. Migration to annual subscription is mandatory.
Forced bundling
You pay for NSX, Aria, Tanzu — even if you only use vSphere and vSAN.

Image to provide

VMware pricing evolution chart before/after Broadcom

Line or bar chart 2022–2026 showing the annual bill for a 4-socket estate: before acquisition (~€12,000/year) vs after bundling (~€38,000/year).

Benefits

What migration really earns you.

Beyond the "VMware alternative" buzz, we quantify every benefit based on real migrations carried out in 2024–2026.

−72%

Licence cost over 5 years

On a 4-socket estate: €38,000/year (vSphere bundle) → €4,320/year (Proxmox Premium). ROI reached in 9 months.

€0

Vendor lock-in

Proxmox VE is under GPLv3 licence. No risk of surprise price hikes as with Broadcom or Microsoft.

+18%

VM density per host

KVM + VirtIO consume less overhead than ESXi. At constant hardware, we typically eliminate 1 host out of 6 (DYB field measurements).

< 1 s

Live migration downtime

On a 10 GbE network between Proxmox nodes. Comparable to vMotion, without the associated bill.

×3

Backup speed

Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) with global deduplication + Zstd compression. Backup windows cut from 6h to 2h on average.

99.99%

HA cluster availability

3+ node cluster with corosync: VM restart in < 2 min if a host fails. Included, not optional.

8 years

Free LTS support

The Proxmox no-subscription repository is fully functional. Paid support remains optional — not mandatory for production.

100%

x86 hardware compatibility

Any server capable of running ESXi runs Proxmox. No hardware refresh imposed to migrate.

Comparison

VMware vSphere · Microsoft Hyper-V · Proxmox VE

Pricing and features compared on equivalent configurations (4-socket estate, 50 VMs, 5 years).

Criterion	VMware vSphere	Microsoft Hyper-V	Proxmox VE
Licence model	Mandatory Broadcom subscription	Included Windows Server + CALs	GPLv3 — free, optional support
Annual cost per CPU	~ €4,400 to €8,800	Depends on Windows Server	€0 (free) or €115 to €1,080
Vendor lock-in	Very high	High (Microsoft)	None (open-source)
Hypervisor	ESXi (proprietary)	Hyper-V (proprietary)	KVM + LXC (Linux kernel)
Native storage	VMFS / vSAN (paid)	CSV / Storage Spaces Direct	ZFS, Ceph, NFS, LVM, GlusterFS
Native backup	Third-party (Veeam, etc.)	Third-party (DPM, Veeam)	Proxmox Backup Server (included)
Live migration	vMotion (vCenter required)	Live Migration (SCVMM)	Native, no external management server
HA cluster	Included if vSphere Standard+	Failover Cluster	Included, 3-click configuration
Containers	Tanzu (very expensive)	Windows Containers	Native LXC + Docker integration
Sovereignty compliance	US code, acquired by Broadcom (US)	Microsoft (US)	Audited GPL code, Austrian publisher
Roadmap & control	Imposed (Broadcom decisions)	Imposed (Microsoft)	Patch sources, fork possible

Image to provide

Screenshot of the Proxmox web interface

PVE 8.x dashboard with a 3-node cluster, around ten VMs, and the Ceph storage panel visible. Dark mode preferred.

Why Proxmox

The hypervisor engineers pick when they finally get to choose.

Audited GPL open-source

Full source code available. No dependency on a vendor that could be bought tomorrow by an investment fund.

Industrial maturity

Released in 2008, version 8.4 in 2025. More than 800,000 hosts in production worldwide, including CERN, EU institutions, sovereign cloud operators.

100% standard Linux stack

KVM, QEMU, ZFS, Ceph, LXC. Your Linux sysadmins already master the foundation. No proprietary DSL to learn.

Full web UI + native REST API

The REST API + CLI lets you automate everything via Ansible, Terraform, scripts. No need to go through a paid third-party orchestrator.

Community + pro support

Very active forum, rich wiki, and 4 levels of paid support (€115–1,080/CPU/year) if you want a contractual SLA.

DYB method

A 5-phase migration — zero interruption, zero surprise.

Week 1–2

Audit & mapping

VM inventory, network dependencies, storage, backups. 5-year savings estimate. Deliverable: costed audit note.

Week 2–4

Target architecture & POC

Proxmox cluster design, storage choice (local ZFS vs Ceph), cutover plan. POC on 3 critical VMs before go-live.

Week 4–8

Batch migration

VMDK/VHDX → QCOW2 conversion, VirtIO driver installation, cutover by groups of 5–10 VMs during maintenance windows.

Week 8–9

PBS & supervision

Proxmox Backup Server setup, monitoring integration (Zabbix/Prometheus), restore tests.

Week 9–10

Training & operations

Two-day training for your sysadmins, runbook documentation, on-call handover or DYB managed services contract.

Image to provide

Parallel migration architecture diagram

Diagram: on the left existing VMware cluster (3 ESXi + vSAN), on the right new Proxmox cluster (3 PVE + Ceph), in the middle an arrow 'replication & progressive cutover'. Mermaid or Lucidchart style, DYB colours.

Technical stack

What we deploy at your site.

Proxmox VE 8.x

Main hypervisor — KVM + LXC, web UI, REST API, Corosync cluster.

Ceph (RBD)

Fault-tolerant distributed storage — direct alternative to vSAN.

ZFS

Replicated local storage for 2-node clusters, instant snapshots, deduplication.

Proxmox Backup Server

Infinite incremental backups, global deduplication, client-side encryption.

VirtIO drivers

Paravirtualised Windows/Linux drivers — native performance on disk and network.

Zabbix / Prometheus

OS, hypervisor and VM supervision with pre-configured DYB Grafana dashboards.

Ansible / Terraform

Automated provisioning and reproducible configuration (IaC).

pfSense / OPNsense

Virtualised firewall replacing costly NSX appliances.

Image to provide

Customer photo / migrated server room

Photo of a server rack (preferably: our Drôme-Ardèche industrial customers). Otherwise generic datacentre photo, blue/green lighting. 4:3 landscape format.

Customer case

Industrial SME, 60 VMs, 4 sockets — migration in 8 weeks.

€52,800

Licence savings over 5 years

0 min

Service interruption

8 weeks

Total project duration

6 months

Return on investment

"DYB got us out of a Broadcom renewal at €47,000/year. Flawless migration, my teams were trained, and the annual bill dropped to €4,320 in Proxmox subscription. We reclaimed the budget for something else."

— CIO, 180-employee industrial SME (Drôme)

Frequently asked questions

Everything you ask us before signing.

How long does a VMware → Proxmox migration take?

For an estate of 20–50 VMs on 2–4 ESXi hosts: 6 to 10 weeks including audit, POC, batch migration and training. Beyond 200 VMs or with a vSAN cluster to rebuild, we switch to a 3 to 6-month project split into phases.

Are my Windows and Linux VMs compatible with Proxmox?

Yes. Any standard x86 VM runs natively on KVM (the Proxmox engine). VMware VMDKs are converted to QCOW2, and VirtIO replaces VMware Tools drivers. Hyper-V VMs (.vhdx) go through qemu-img. We validate each OS type on a POC before mass migration.

What are the real financial gains after migration?

Over 5 years, typical savings range from 60% to 85% of licence cost compared to VMware vSphere since the Broadcom takeover. On a 4-socket CPU estate, we have observed savings of €18,000 to €45,000/year, with ROI reached in 6 to 12 months.

Does Proxmox support high availability (HA) and live migration?

Yes, natively. A Proxmox cluster of at least 3 nodes offers automatic HA (VM restart in < 2 min after a host fails) and uninterrupted live migration (downtime < 1s on a 10G network). No extra licence — it is included in the GPL code.

What if I want pro support rather than the community?

Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH offers 4 subscription tiers (from €115 to €1,080/CPU/year). DYB includes these subscriptions in the managed services offer and adds its own 24/7 support — you have two safety nets.

How do you guarantee no service interruption?

We migrate in parallel, not in replacement. The new Proxmox infrastructure runs alongside VMware/Hyper-V throughout the cutover phase. Each VM is replicated, tested offline, then switched over during a short maintenance window (15–30 min per VM). If there is an issue, rollback is immediate.

What happens to my vSAN or Storage Spaces Direct storage?

We replace it with Ceph (the open-source equivalent of vSAN, integrated into Proxmox) or ZFS on replicated local storage. Ceph offers equivalent performance with 3-way replication and tolerates the loss of an entire node without interruption.

Can we keep Veeam Backup with Proxmox?

Veeam has supported Proxmox since 2024. But we recommend Proxmox Backup Server (PBS), included free of charge, which offers global deduplication, Zstd compression and infinite incrementals. Typical saving: €2,000–8,000/year in cancelled Veeam licences.

Next step

Free migration audit — costed, no commitment.

Send us the number of hosts, VMs, and your current VMware/Hyper-V licence. Within 5 business days we will return a 5-year costed comparison file + a migration plan tailored to your infrastructure.

Request my audit →See DYB managed services

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