XCP-ng
Open source Xen-based virtualisation platform managed through Xen Orchestra.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Self-hosted
Is XCP-ng free?
Yes, free and open source
Switch from XCP-ng to
All 7
Proxmox VECommunity subscription: €120/year per CPU socket
OpenStackOpen source
- Verified facts
- 4 of 4
- Alternatives ranked
- 7
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About XCP-ng
XCP-ng is an open source virtualisation platform built on the Xen hypervisor. It began as a community fork of Citrix XenServer and is now a Xen Project incubation project hosted by the Linux Foundation, with development backed by the French company Vates. You install it as a turnkey appliance ISO on bare metal servers, group hosts into pools and manage them through Xen Orchestra, a web UI that also handles live migration, rolling updates, VM backup and disaster recovery, with an API, CLI and Terraform and Packer providers for automation. Xen Orchestra includes tools to import VMs directly from VMware ESXi, which has made XCP-ng a common landing spot for teams leaving VMware. The software is free; Vates sells support and packaged editions of the stack. It covers virtualisation and VM operations rather than the multi-tenant self-service cloud APIs OpenStack provides.
Best for: Teams wanting free enterprise-grade VM hosting, especially those leaving VMware.
Pros and cons
What works
- Free and open source, Linux Foundation hosted
- Xen Orchestra web UI with built-in backup
- Direct VM import from VMware ESXi
- Commercial support available from Vates
Why people leave
- Xen ecosystem is smaller than KVM's
- Not a full self-service IaaS like OpenStack
- Some Xen Orchestra conveniences are tied to paid plans
XCP-ng vs Proxmox VE, Nutanix Cloud Platform and OpenStack
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | XCP-ng | Proxmox VE | Nutanix Cloud Platform | OpenStack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Open source | Open source | Paid | Open source |
| Verified price | — | €120/year per CPU socket | — | — |
| Free plan | Free app | Free app | No | Free app |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Self-hosted | Self-hosted, Web | Self-hosted | Self-hosted, Linux |
Top XCP-ng alternatives
See all 7- 1Proxmox VE68.8
Open source KVM platform with containers and Ceph built in, popular for the same VMware-exit use.
- 2Nutanix Cloud Platform61.8
Commercial HCI platform with integrated storage and vendor support.
- 3OpenStack59.4
Full IaaS cloud with self-service projects and APIs, for much larger deployments.
- 4
Apache CloudStack57.5Open source cloud layer that can manage XCP-ng hosts and add self-service.
- 5
Microsoft Hyper-V55.9Included with Windows Server licences, with clustering, live migration and replication, for shops already paying for Windows.
Why people left XCP-ng
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
No switching stories yet. If you moved away from XCP-ng, review the app you switched to and tell us why.
Reviews
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XCP-ng: common questions
What is XCP-ng?
XCP-ng: Open source Xen-based virtualisation platform managed through Xen Orchestra. Best for teams wanting free enterprise-grade VM hosting, especially those leaving VMware.
Is XCP-ng free?
Yes. XCP-ng is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.
Is XCP-ng open source?
Yes. You can also run it on your own server.
What platforms does XCP-ng run on?
XCP-ng is available for Self-hosted.
What are the best alternatives to XCP-ng?
The highest-ranked XCP-ng alternatives right now are Proxmox VE, Nutanix Cloud Platform and OpenStack. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
XCP-ng vs Proxmox VE: what's the difference?
Both XCP-ng and Proxmox VE are free and open source. Only Proxmox VE runs on Web.