For years, VMware was the safe default. You bought the licenses, paid for support, and didn't think about it much. That changed after Broadcom bought VMware. Perpetual licenses gave way to subscriptions, products were bundled together, and pricing moved to per-core terms with minimums. For a lot of small and mid-sized businesses, the renewal quote came back far higher than anything they'd budgeted, often for the same features they were already using.
Here's the good news. Most businesses don't depend on the parts of VMware that are hard to replace. They need virtual servers that run reliably, backups that actually restore, and a platform that gets patched and monitored. Proxmox and Hyper-V both do that well. The real questions are which one fits your environment, and how to get there without disrupting the business.
We inventory your hosts, VMs, storage, networking, and backups, and look at what each workload actually needs. We also review your renewal quote so the numbers are on the table from day one. You get a straight recommendation: Proxmox, Hyper-V, or staying put for now if that really is the better call.
We map every VM to its new home, choose the storage layout, and set the migration order. Low-risk servers go first, and the systems your business can't live without go last. Cutover windows are scheduled around your operations, whether that means shift changes, month-end, or a production run.
Before we touch production, we move a small group of representative VMs and test them end to end: boot, drivers, networking, applications, and backups. Anything odd gets solved here, not during cutover.
Production moves in planned windows. We convert the virtual disks, bring the VMs up on the new platform, and check them with your team before we call anything done.
Your VMware environment stays intact until the new platform has proven itself. If something doesn't behave, there's a tested way back. That isn't a formality. It's how we keep a migration from turning into an outage.
You get documentation for the new environment, backups verified with real restores, and a team that already knows your setup. From there we monitor, patch, and support the platform, or co-manage it with your in-house IT if you prefer.
Both are solid, production-ready platforms. Neither one is the right answer for everyone. Here's how we'd explain the difference if we were sitting across the table from you.
| Proxmox VE | Hyper-V | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Open-source software with no per-core or per-VM license fee. Optional paid subscriptions, priced per CPU socket, add the enterprise update repository and vendor support. | Built into Windows Server as a role. You license Windows Server per core. Datacenter edition covers unlimited Windows Server VMs on a licensed host, and Standard covers two. |
| Best fit | Mixed Linux and Windows workloads, cost-sensitive environments, and teams that want to avoid vendor lock-in. | Mostly Windows workloads, businesses already licensed for Windows Server Datacenter, and teams comfortable with Windows administration. |
| Management | A built-in web console for the whole cluster, plus a command line and an API. Clustering, high availability, and live migration are included. | Hyper-V Manager, Failover Cluster Manager, and Windows Admin Center. System Center Virtual Machine Manager (licensed separately) is available for larger environments. |
| Microsoft ecosystem | Runs Windows servers well (with VirtIO drivers), but it isn't a Microsoft product. Active Directory and Microsoft 365 work alongside it as usual. | A native fit with Active Directory, Windows failover clustering, and Azure hybrid tools. |
| Backup options | Proxmox Backup Server (free and open source), built-in scheduled backups, and Veeam support. | Veeam and most major backup products, plus Windows Server Backup for basic needs. |
A rough rule of thumb: if you're heavily Windows and already own Datacenter licensing, Hyper-V is hard to beat. If you want the lowest licensing bill and room to run Linux and Windows side by side, Proxmox usually wins. We resell and support both, and as a Microsoft Direct CSP we can handle the Windows Server licensing side too. So we have no reason to push one over the other.
A chemical manufacturer was running a VMware cluster of three 24-core hypervisors. Then the VMware renewal quote arrived, and it was far beyond anything realistic for the business.
The Sierra team handled the entire move off VMware to Proxmox, start to finish, and completed it in less than 10 hours.
Licensing now costs a tiny fraction of that VMware renewal, with no performance or business limitations.
Yes. Proxmox VE runs production workloads with clustering, high availability, live migration, and enterprise storage options like ZFS and Ceph. Paid subscriptions add the enterprise update repository and vendor support for businesses that want them. We've moved a manufacturer's full VMware cluster to Proxmox, and it runs with no performance or business limitations.
It depends on what you run and what you already own. If your servers are mostly Windows and you already have Windows Server Datacenter licensing, Hyper-V is often the natural choice. If you want the lowest licensing cost and flexibility across Linux and Windows, Proxmox usually makes more sense. We resell and support both, so our recommendation comes from your environment, not a sales quota.
We plan for as little as possible. We test a pilot group first, schedule cutovers around your operations, and keep your VMware environment available as a rollback until the new platform is proven. Every environment is different, but for one manufacturer we completed the entire move off VMware in less than 10 hours.
Often, yes. Proxmox and Hyper-V both run on standard server hardware, and many businesses reuse the hosts they already have. The assessment tells us whether your hardware is a good fit or whether some of it is due for replacement.
Yes, with some planning. Veeam supports both Proxmox VE and Hyper-V, and Proxmox also has its own backup server. We set up backups on the new platform, define your recovery objectives, and prove it all works with real restore tests before we call the project done.
Yes. We support existing VMware environments on a support-only basis. We don't resell VMware licenses, but we'll keep your current setup healthy while you plan your next step.
Send us your renewal quote and a rough count of your hosts and VMs. We'll tell you plainly whether Proxmox, Hyper-V, or staying on VMware makes the most sense, and what the move would involve. Sierra Experts is a veteran-owned IT company headquartered in Pittsburgh, supporting customers in 36 states.
