Alternatives to XenServer
A Xen-based server virtualization platform for running and managing virtual machines on your own hardware. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
XenServer
A Xen-based server virtualization platform for running and managing virtual machines on your own hardware.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as XenServer.
XCP-ng
Open-source bare-metal hypervisor built on Xen, managed through Xen Orchestra.
XCP-ng is an open-source Xen-based bare-metal hypervisor with no features locked behind a licence key, managed through Xen Orchestra.
VMware ESXi Free
Industry-standard bare-metal hypervisor with a free tier for small setups.
VMware ESXi Free is a widely deployed bare-metal hypervisor with a free tier, though the free edition lacks centralized vSphere management features.
Proxmox VE
A bare-metal server platform that runs KVM virtual machines and LXC containers from one web interface.
Proxmox VE runs KVM virtual machines and LXC containers from one web interface, is open source under AGPL-3.0, and includes backup and clustering.
Hyper-V
Microsoft's type-1 hypervisor built into Windows and Windows Server for running Windows and Linux virtual machines.
Hyper-V is Microsoft's type-1 hypervisor built into Windows Server and Windows at no extra cost, running Windows and Linux guests on Windows hosts only.
Xen Project
An open source type-1 hypervisor that runs several isolated operating systems on the same hardware.
Xen Project is the open source Xen hypervisor itself, installed on bare metal and aimed at infrastructure builders, without XenServer's commercial management layer.
SmartOS
An open-source illumos-based hypervisor operating system that runs zones and KVM or bhyve virtual machines.
SmartOS is an open-source illumos-based hypervisor running zones and KVM or bhyve VMs with ZFS, though cloud management requires Triton on top.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Xen Orchestra
A web interface for managing, backing up and monitoring XCP-ng and XenServer hosts.
oVirt
Centralised management platform for KVM virtual machines across a cluster.
OpenNebula
An open-source platform for building private and hybrid clouds that manage virtual machines and Kubernetes.
OpenStack
A set of open-source components for running cloud infrastructure with virtual machines, bare metal and containers.
Ganeti
An open-source cluster manager for running virtual machines on Xen or KVM across several servers.
