How Much Does Proxmox Cost?

Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is open source under the AGPLv3 and fully usable with no license costs. There is no per-core fee, no cap on VMs, containers or cluster nodes, and no time lock. The only optional costs are the subscription tiers, which unlock the more stable enterprise repository and vendor support. They are billed per occupied CPU socket per year and, in 2026, range from 120 euros (Community) to 1,100 euros (Premium) per socket. What Proxmox actually costs in practice is therefore driven not by licenses but by hardware, operations and backup. For platform fundamentals, see What is Proxmox.

Proxmox VE is open source with no license costs

Proxmox VE is owned by the Austrian company Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH and is released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPLv3). In concrete terms:

• The software is free, permanently and at full feature scope.
• There is no limit on the number of CPUs, cores, RAM, virtual machines or containers.
• Features such as high availability (HA), live migration, snapshots, the built-in firewall and clustering are included at no extra cost.
• Updates are available free of charge through the no-subscription repository.

There is no stripped-down "free edition" with locked features. The feature set is identical with and without a subscription. The difference lies solely in the update repository you use and in the support you receive.

The Proxmox VE subscription: tiers and prices

The optional subscription is billed per physical CPU socket that is occupied on the motherboard and actually in use, not per core. The billing period is one year from purchase. All prices are net prices in euros (as of 2026, per the official Proxmox price list).

A server with two occupied sockets therefore needs two subscriptions. Important for clusters: every node must hold the same subscription level so that repository and support stay consistent. Standard and Premium add remote support over SSH and offline activation of the subscription key for air-gapped environments.

Free or subscription: the difference is the repository

Whether you pay or not mainly decides which package repository Proxmox pulls its updates from:

• No-subscription repository (free): Current packages that are already stable but tested less extensively than the enterprise variant. Good for homelabs, test environments and experienced teams that roll out updates in a controlled way.
• Enterprise repository (subscription required): The repository Proxmox recommends for production. The packages are tested especially thoroughly and are considered the most stable update source.

Without a subscription, a notice dialog ("No valid subscription") appears when you log in to the web interface. This is not a feature lock, only a reminder. How to handle it cleanly is covered in Remove the subscription notice. For production systems, however, the enterprise repository is the proper path rather than just suppressing the message.

Is Proxmox Backup Server free?

Yes. Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) is a standalone solution for deduplicated, incremental and encrypted backups, and it is also licensed under the AGPLv3. It is free to use and has its own subscription, separate from Proxmox VE. PBS is billed not per socket but per backup server per year, with unlimited storage capacity and an unlimited number of backup clients.

The same principle applies: PBS runs at full feature scope without a subscription. The subscription unlocks the enterprise repository and vendor support.

Can Proxmox be used commercially?

Yes. The AGPLv3 explicitly permits commercial use, with no additional fee. Companies may run Proxmox VE and PBS in production, even entirely without a subscription. There is no clause restricting business or commercial use. The subscription is a support and stability offering, not a usage license.

Which subscription does a company need?

For production we recommend at least the Community subscription per socket. That activates the enterprise repository, giving you the most thoroughly tested updates and clearly reducing the risk of regressions after an update. The rule of thumb:

• Homelab, test, development: the no-subscription repository is enough, free of charge.
• Production systems without a need for vendor support: Community subscription per socket for stable enterprise updates.
• Business-critical systems with an SLA requirement: Basic, Standard or Premium, depending on the response time and ticket volume you want.

Because every node in a cluster must hold the same level, Community often makes sense as a baseline, complemented by in-house or external operational support. The current release line is Proxmox VE 9, with 9.2 (May 2026) as the latest release, based on Debian 13 "Trixie"; for long-term stable operation, tested updates from the enterprise repository are the decisive benefit of a subscription.

The honest total cost of ownership (TCO)

License costs are the smallest line item with Proxmox. The realistic total cost is made up of these blocks:

• Hardware: servers (CPU sockets, RAM, NVMe/SSD), networking and ideally several nodes for high availability. Alternatively rented dedicated servers, for example at Hetzner, with fixed monthly costs instead of capital expenditure.
• Subscription (optional): 120 to 1,100 euros per socket per year for Proxmox VE, plus from 560 euros per year for PBS if desired.
• Backup and storage: a PBS server plus offsite storage for 3-2-1 backups. Storage capacity is the recurring item that is often underestimated.
• Operations and staff: setup, patch management, monitoring, updates and disaster recovery. Over the years this block dominates the TCO, regardless of the software.

Compared with per-core models such as VMware vSphere after the Broadcom change, Proxmox is at its strongest where many cores run per socket: the subscription stays socket-based and does not scale with the core count.

Operations and support

The software is free; reliable operation is the real investment. We design, run and maintain Proxmox environments in production for customers, including subscription management, enterprise updates and PBS backups. If you want an honest TCO calculation for your scenario or dependable operations, see our page on Proxmox and private cloud. We are happy to discuss your project in a free initial consultation.