Alternatives to XCP-ng

Open-source bare-metal hypervisor built on Xen, managed through Xen Orchestra. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as XCP-ng.

  • Proxmox VE

    A bare-metal server platform that runs KVM virtual machines and LXC containers from one web interface.

    FreemiumOpen sourceLinuxSelf-hosted

    Proxmox VE uses KVM instead of Xen, adds LXC containers in one web interface, and shows a subscription reminder when using the free no-subscription repository.

  • VMware ESXi Free

    Industry-standard bare-metal hypervisor with a free tier for small setups.

    FreemiumProprietarySelf-hosted

    VMware ESXi Free is a closed-source bare-metal hypervisor widely used in enterprise, and its free edition lacks the centralized management found in licensed vSphere.

  • Harvester

    Hyper-converged infrastructure that runs virtual machines on top of Kubernetes.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxSelf-hosted

    Harvester runs virtual machines and containers on Kubernetes with shared storage, is open source under Apache-2.0, and expects at least three nodes for production.

  • Hyper-V

    Microsoft's type-1 hypervisor built into Windows and Windows Server for running Windows and Linux virtual machines.

    FreeProprietaryWindows

    Hyper-V is a closed-source type-1 hypervisor built into Windows Server and Windows, so hosts run Windows instead of a dedicated Xen-based system.

  • oVirt

    Centralised management platform for KVM virtual machines across a cluster.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxWebSelf-hosted

    oVirt manages KVM virtual machines across a cluster with live migration and high availability, but development has slowed and setup expects enterprise shared storage.

  • Microsoft Hyper-V

    A type-1 hypervisor built into Windows Server and Windows for creating and running virtual machines.

    FreeProprietaryWindows

    Microsoft Hyper-V ships with Windows Server and Windows at no extra cost, is not open source, and runs only on Windows hosts.

  • Xen Project

    An open source type-1 hypervisor that runs several isolated operating systems on the same hardware.

    FreeOpen sourceSelf-hosted

    Xen Project is the upstream open source hypervisor XCP-ng builds on, installed on bare metal without the XCP-ng packaging or Xen Orchestra integration.

  • SmartOS

    An open-source illumos-based hypervisor operating system that runs zones and KVM or bhyve virtual machines.

    FreeOpen sourceSelf-hosted

    SmartOS is an illumos-based hypervisor running zones and KVM or bhyve VMs with ZFS and DTrace, and it boots into memory from USB or network.

Also worth comparing

These listings name XCP-ng as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Ganeti

    An open-source cluster manager for running virtual machines on Xen or KVM across several servers.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxSelf-hostedCommand line

    XCP-ng is a Xen-based bare-metal hypervisor managed through Xen Orchestra, with backup and replication across host pools, though the prebuilt Xen Orchestra appliance is paid.

  • KVM

    The Linux kernel's built-in hypervisor for hardware-accelerated virtual machines.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    XCP-ng is an open-source bare-metal hypervisor built on Xen and managed through Xen Orchestra, with narrower hardware compatibility than KVM.

  • XenServer

    A Xen-based server virtualization platform for running and managing virtual machines on your own hardware.

    PaidProprietarySelf-hosted

    XCP-ng is an open-source Xen-based bare-metal hypervisor with no features locked behind a licence key, managed through Xen Orchestra.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.