I spent an entire year running Proxmox and VMware side by side in my home lab, fully expecting VMware to come out on top. VMware had always been my default hypervisor both professionally and personally, but after Broadcom’s changes and the growing friction around hardware support and licensing, I decided to give Proxmox a serious long-term test. In this video, I walk through what surprised me after a year of real-world use. I looked at stability, hardware compatibility, the web interface, centralized management with Proxmox Datacenter Manager, community momentum, backups, storage, containers, Kubernetes, and much more. Check out what surprised me!
The written blog post: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2025/12/i-spent-a-year-running-proxmox-and-vmware-side-by-side-in-my-home-lab/
Hardware (affiliate links):
Check out this great mini rack for mini PCs: https://geni.us/pRBmZ
Minix EU715-AI 22 core mini pc for home lab (runs Proxmox great): https://geni.us/zs83Eif
Check out the VHT forums to get your questions answered: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/community/
★ Skool Community https://www.skool.com/homelabexplorers/about?ref=25f64c297b724689ae81c7dd30ba2c21
★ Substack URL: bleevht.substack.com
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction and why I ran Proxmox and VMware side by side
1:40 Stability and hardware compatibility differences
2:45 Realtek NIC support and mini PC challenges
2:55 Hybrid CPU support and friction in VMware
3:52 Web interface expectations and day-to-day usability
5:05 Proxmox Datacenter Manager and centralized management
6:20 Community momentum and ecosystem energy
7:47 Backup and replication surprises with Proxmox
9:00 Where VMware still leads in advanced storage
9:53 Containers, LXC, and native OCI image support
10:44 Kubernetes in VMware versus Proxmox home labs
11:35 Memory pricing and doing more with less
12:17 Final thoughts after a full year side by side
12:56 Questions for the community and wrap-up
