--- title: I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times,... description: A home lab enthusiast recounts attempts to replace Proxmox VE with alternatives like XCP-ng, Harvester, Canonical MicroCloud, Sylve, TrueNAS, Unraid, ZimaOS,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times, but nothing came close to replacing it | daily.dev og:description: A home lab enthusiast recounts attempts to replace Proxmox VE with alternatives like XCP-ng, Harvester, Canonical MicroCloud, Sylve, TrueNAS, Unraid, ZimaOS,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3EBfNGlvf.png og:image:alt: I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times, but nothing came close to replacing it og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times, but nothing came close to replacing it **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A home lab enthusiast recounts attempts to replace Proxmox VE with alternatives like XCP-ng, Harvester, Canonical MicroCloud, Sylve, TrueNAS, Unraid, ZimaOS, ESXi, and Windows Server/Hyper-V. Each alternative has notable strengths (Harvester's simpler PCI passthrough, TrueNAS's NAS capabilities) but falls short on some combination of clustering, SDN, containerization, licensing cost, or hardware compatibility. The conclusion is that Proxmox remains the best all-around choice for repurposing hardware into home lab nodes due to its light footprint, KVM and LXC support, SDN tools, ZFS, high-availability clustering, and active community. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the maximum number of vCPUs I can assign to a single VM on the free version of ESXi? The free plan of ESXi restricts a single virtual machine to a maximum of eight vCPUs. This free version also lacks support for vCenter, vMotion, and high-availability clusters, and it only works with a limited set of Ethernet controllers, making hardware compatibility a common headache for home lab builds. _Weighing hypervisor limits before committing hardware is easier with home lab comparisons on daily.dev._ ### When does Hyper-V Server 2019 reach end of life? Hyper-V Server 2019, the last free standalone version of Microsoft's hypervisor platform, is set to hit end of life in 2029. Because it is the final free release, newer hypervisor features added to later Windows Server versions never made it to this edition, pushing many home lab users toward Proxmox with nested virtualization instead. _Tracking hypervisor end-of-life dates matters for anyone planning a home lab around free tooling on daily.dev._ ### Does XCP-ng support LXC or OCI containers like Proxmox does? No, XCP-ng does not include LXC, LXD, or OCI container support. The closest equivalent is a Kubernetes package available through its Hub Recipes section, which falls short of the native containerization that Proxmox VE offers alongside its virtual machine capabilities. _Comparing container support across hypervisors helps home labbers pick the right platform on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I picked Proxmox over TrueNAS Scale for my home lab, and I'd make the same choice today](https://daily.dev/posts/i-picked-proxmox-over-truenas-scale-for-my-home-lab-and-i-d-make-the-same-choice-today-coiuykxzk) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [I rebuilt my home servers from scratch, and this is the OS setup I wish I'd started with](https://daily.dev/posts/i-rebuilt-my-home-servers-from-scratch-and-this-is-the-os-setup-i-wish-i-d-started-with-sm4o4gxgw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I tried replacing Proxmox with an open-source OS you’ve never heard of](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-replacing-proxmox-with-an-open-source-os-you-ve-never-heard-of-bvl4v442r) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The real reason you should move to Proxmox isn't virtualization](https://daily.dev/posts/the-real-reason-you-should-move-to-proxmox-isn-t-virtualization-rbdh8srf5) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure), [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab), [#proxmox](https://daily.dev/tags/proxmox), [#truenas](https://daily.dev/tags/truenas) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times, but nothing came close to replacing it","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T17:33:13.462Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T09:10:26.973Z","description":"A home lab enthusiast recounts attempts to replace Proxmox VE with alternatives like XCP-ng, Harvester, Canonical MicroCloud, Sylve, TrueNAS, Unraid, ZimaOS,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/24f7e839928cd4ff09585c88c172ed27?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/24f7e839928cd4ff09585c88c172ed27?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"infrastructure,homelab,proxmox,truenas","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I tried moving my home lab off Proxmox multiple times, but nothing came close to replacing it"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-moving-my-home-lab-off-proxmox-multiple-times-but-nothing-came-close-to-replacing-it-3ebfnglvf#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the maximum number of vCPUs I can assign to a single VM on the free version of ESXi?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The free plan of ESXi restricts a single virtual machine to a maximum of eight vCPUs. 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