SolusVM vs. Proxmox: which one do you actually need?

If you're comparing VPS providers, sooner or later you'll run into these two names: SolusVM and Proxmox. And it's natural to wonder: which one is better? Which one should I choose? Are they the same thing?

The short answer: they're not the same thing, and you probably don't have to choose between them. They're tools that work at different levels. In this guide we explain what each one does, with simple examples, so you know exactly what you need for your project.

First things first: what is virtualization?

Virtualization is the technology that lets a physical server behave like several independent servers. Each of those "servers within the server" is called a virtual machine (VM), and when you contract one as a service it's called a VPS: virtual private server.

With that clear, we can now place our two protagonists — because each one lives on a different floor of that building.

What is SolusVM? The tenant's panel

SolusVM is a commercial VPS management panel, built for hosting providers. The provider installs it on their infrastructure, and each customer gets access to a simple panel to control their own server without depending on a support ticket.

Following the analogy: SolusVM is your apartment's control panel. It won't let you knock down walls or build new apartments — but it gives you the controls you actually use day to day:

• Power on, power off, and reboot your VPS whenever you want

• Reinstall the operating system by choosing a template (AlmaLinux, Ubuntu, Debian...)

• Open an emergency console if the server isn't responding over SSH

• View live CPU, RAM, and disk usage graphs

As an end user, you never buy or install SolusVM yourself — your provider gives it to you as part of the service. Our High-Performance Cloud VPS, for example, includes the SolusVM panel on every plan: you sign up, and your panel access arrives in your inbox.

What is Proxmox VE? The architect's platform

Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) is something else entirely: a complete open-source virtualization platform. It's not the apartment's control panel — it's the blueprint and tools for the whole building. Whoever manages a Proxmox instance can create, clone, back up, and delete virtual machines and LXC containers (a kind of "mini-server" that's lighter than a full VM).

With Proxmox, you're the architect:

• Create your own VMs with whatever operating system you want

• Spin up lightweight LXC containers for individual services

• Allocate CPU, RAM, and disk across your projects however you prefer

• Take snapshots and backups of each VM from the web panel

The trade-off: managing a hypervisor takes a bit more knowledge (or willingness to learn). That's why our Proxmox VPS ships with Proxmox VE already installed and configured by hand by a technician — you get straight to the fun part: creating your servers.

The comparison, side by side

So which do we use at Capa7?

Both — and that's why we can talk about each of them with first-hand experience. Our own infrastructure at the Boca Raton (Florida) datacenter runs KVM virtualization managed with SolusVM and Proxmox depending on the node, on Dell PowerEdge servers with Intel Xeon processors and NVMe disks. Depending on what you need, we have a different starting point for you:

Questions we get a lot

Is SolusVM "worse" than Proxmox?
No — they're different things. It's like asking if the remote control is worse than the TV. SolusVM gives you simple control over a VPS that someone else manages underneath; Proxmox turns you into the administrator. Neither is better: it depends on how much control you want (and how much you want to manage yourself).

Can I run Proxmox inside a VPS?
Yes — it's called nested virtualization, and it's exactly what we offer in our Proxmox VPS: a VPS that comes with Proxmox VE installed so you can create your own VMs and containers inside it, without buying hardware.

What if I don't want to deal with panels or servers at all?
Then you probably don't need a VPS yet: shared hosting with cPanel handles your website and email without you managing anything. And if you're looking for a VPS but with a familiar hosting panel, check out our VPS with cPanel/WHM included or Windows VPS if your application needs Windows Server.

Capa7 Team

17 years managing hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers on our own infrastructure in Boca Raton, Florida. We write the way we'd like things explained to us: clear, no fluff.