Selling VPS services involves more than choosing a hypervisor. Customers expect a working server as soon as they place an order. That means your platform needs to support provisioning, billing, client access, networking, and ongoing management.
Proxmox VE is a powerful open-source virtualization platform. VirtFusion is a commercial control panel designed specifically for KVM VPS providers. The better choice depends on how much of the hosting platform you want to build yourself and how quickly you want to bring your VPS service to market. If you need Proxmox assistance, our experts are happy to help!
VirtFusion vs Proxmox VE
Proxmox VE focuses on virtualization infrastructure, clustering, storage, networking, and administration. VirtFusion adds a hosting control layer focused on VPS packages, provisioning, client self-service, and integrations with billing platforms.
What Is Proxmox VE?
Proxmox Virtual Environment is an open-source virtualization platform based on Debian. It supports KVM virtual machines and LXC containers, along with clustering, high availability, live migration, software-defined storage, SDN, and a firewall.
Storage options include ZFS, Ceph, LVM, NFS, and iSCSI. Proxmox also provides an administrative interface and REST API for managing virtual infrastructure.
The latest release in the source is Proxmox VE 9.2, released in May 2026. An official arm64 build became available in August 2026.
Proxmox VE provides the infrastructure needed to operate virtual machines and containers, but it does not include a built-in store, customer portal, or billing system. Hosting providers therefore need to add these capabilities themselves or integrate third-party solutions.
What Is VirtFusion?
VirtFusion is a commercial control panel designed for KVM VPS providers. A central control server manages hypervisors organized into groups, while customers access a self-service portal to manage their VPS instances.
Customers can perform actions such as powering machines on or off, opening a console, mounting ISOs, and managing networking.
Hosting providers can define VPS packages through the panel, which then handles provisioning based on those packages.
VirtFusion supports KVM only. It does not support LXC containers or provide the same type of full hyperconverged clustering available through Proxmox VE.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Proxmox VE | VirtFusion |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual machines | KVM and LXC | KVM only |
| Clustering and HA | Built-in, with live migration | Hypervisor groups managed from a central panel |
| Storage | LVM, ZFS, Ceph, NFS, iSCSI, and more | Managed per hypervisor through the panel/API |
| Client portal | No built-in customer portal | Self-service portal for power, console, ISO, and networking |
| Backups | vzdump and Proxmox Backup Server | Managed through the panel and API |
| IP and networking | SDN and custom tooling | IP blocks, IPv6, and reverse DNS built in |
| Cost | Free core; subscriptions from €120 to €1,100 per CPU socket/year | Commercial license; contact vendor |
Proxmox VE provides greater flexibility at the infrastructure level and benefits from its open source model. VirtFusion focuses more heavily on the customer-facing hosting experience and faster VPS provisioning.
Billing and Automation
Billing integration can significantly affect how quickly a hosting provider can start selling VPS services.
VirtFusion provides official modules for WHMCS, Blesta, Clientexec, and BillingServ. Modules are also available for HostBill, Paymenter, and Upmind. Webhooks and a REST API are available for custom integrations.
Once connected to a billing platform, orders can trigger actions such as creating, suspending, unsuspending, and terminating servers. Customers can also access their VPS management panel directly.
Proxmox VE provides a REST API and can integrate with tools such as Terraform, Pulumi, and scripted installation workflows. It does not include a built-in billing module.
Hosting providers using Proxmox VE can integrate a third-party billing solution, such as a WHMCS module, or develop their own customer portal and automation layer. Both approaches are possible, but building a custom platform requires considerably more development work.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose VirtFusion if you:
- Want to start selling KVM VPS services quickly with a customer portal
- Already use WHMCS, Blesta, HostBill, or a similar billing platform and need automated provisioning
- Want customers to manage ISOs, reverse DNS, and consoles themselves
- Have limited development resources and do not want to maintain custom hosting panel code
Choose Proxmox VE if you:
- Need LXC containers or mixed virtualization workloads
- Want hyperconverged infrastructure using Ceph, high availability, and live migration
- Have developers who can build the billing and customer portal layer
- Prefer open source infrastructure and per-socket subscription pricing
Can We Use VirtFusion and Proxmox VE Together?
You do not necessarily have to choose one platform exclusively.
A hosting provider can use Proxmox VE as the underlying infrastructure while adding a hosting control layer for customer-facing VPS management. This approach can combine Proxmox’s infrastructure capabilities with a dedicated interface for VPS provisioning and customer self-service.
The right architecture depends on how much control you need over the infrastructure and how much of the hosting experience you want to build yourself.
Conclusion
Proxmox VE offers greater flexibility for hosting providers that need control over virtualization, storage, networking, and clustering. VirtFusion focuses on the hosting layer and can help providers bring KVM VPS services to market with less custom development.
A practical approach is to test the option that best matches your priorities on a single node using your actual billing system. Review the current pricing and available features from each vendor before making a long-term commitment.
Our Infrastructure Management services can help you evaluate, deploy, and support either approach.
