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Cloud · head to head

Proxmox VE vs Restate

Proxmox VE logo

Proxmox VE

Cloud

Open-source hypervisor combining KVM and LXC virtualisation

From
€120/year
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

Durable execution engine in Rust with a free tier and low-latency workflows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Restate has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Proxmox VE per-socket licensing model: cost scales with CPU socket count, not vCore count, resulting in high costs for multi-socket servers; Restate the runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Proxmox VE and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where Proxmox VE and Restate differ
AttributeProxmox VERestate
Starting price€120/yearFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by durable action count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsLinux, Web, API, Self-hostedLinux, macOS, Web
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Proxmox VE

Nothing recorded that Restate does not also cover.

Only in Restate

  • Durable execution
  • Virtual objects
  • Single binary runtime
  • Multi-language SDKs
  • Workflows and sagas
  • Restate Cloud

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Proxmox VE

  • Open-source datacenter virtualisation for hosting providers and cloud platformsnot Restate
  • Cost-sensitive enterprise virtualisation replacing commercial hypervisorsnot Restate
  • High-availability clustering for disaster recovery and business continuitynot Restate
  • Container deployments using LXC as lighter-weight alternative to Dockernot Restate
  • Hybrid VM and container workloads in a single management interfacenot Restate
  • Backup and archival infrastructure alongside primary virtualisationnot Restate

Restate

  • Payment or order flows where a crash between two external API calls must not double-charge or lose the ordernot Proxmox VE
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot Proxmox VE
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot Proxmox VE
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot Proxmox VE

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Proxmox VE

  • Per-socket licensing model: cost scales with CPU socket count, not vCore count, resulting in high costs for multi-socket servers
  • Linux-based host only; Windows hypervisors not supported, limiting adoption in Windows-focused organisations
  • Clustering and high-availability setup requires operational expertise and careful network configuration
  • Commercial support tiers limit advanced features (just-in-time access, network flow logs) to paid subscriptions
  • Smaller ecosystem of third-party plugins and integrations compared to VMware vSphere

Restate

  • The runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • Restate Cloud jumps from a free fifty thousand actions straight to 300 US dollars a month for twenty million, so a workload sitting at a few hundred thousand actions pays enterprise-shaped money for hobby-shaped volume.
  • It is a young project against Temporal’s established base, so hiring engineers who already know it is unrealistic and the answer to most questions is in the docs rather than on Stack Overflow.
  • The programming model requires structuring code around durable handlers and virtual objects, which is a genuine rewrite for existing services rather than a library you add.
  • The single-binary simplicity that makes small deployments cheap also means fewer operational knobs at very large scale than a system designed as separable components.

Pricing, plan by plan

Proxmox VE

€120/year
  • Community$120/year
    • Enterprise Repository access
    • Community forum support only
    • Per-socket subscription model
  • Basic$370/year
    • 3 support tickets per year
    • 1 business day response time
    • Stable updates and Enterprise Repository
  • Standard$550/year
    • 10 support tickets per year
    • 4-hour response time for critical issues
    • Remote SSH support and offline updates
  • Premium$1100/year
    • Unlimited support tickets
    • 2-hour response time for critical issues
    • Remote SSH support and offline updates

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/month
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1000/month
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Proxmox VE if

  • You work on Linux, Web, API, Self-hosted.
Proxmox VE review

Choose Restate if

  • You need durable execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want virtual objects.
Restate review

Questions people ask

Is Proxmox VE or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. Proxmox VE starts at €120/year and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Proxmox VE or Restate?
Restate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €120/year for Proxmox VE and Free for Restate.
Does Proxmox VE or Restate run on more platforms?
Proxmox VE runs on Linux, Web, API, Self-hosted. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Yes. Restate has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Proxmox VE starts at €120/year.
What is Proxmox VE best used for?
Proxmox VE is most often used for open-source datacenter virtualisation for hosting providers and cloud platforms, cost-sensitive enterprise virtualisation replacing commercial hypervisors, high-availability clustering for disaster recovery and business continuity, container deployments using lxc as lighter-weight alternative to docker. Of those, open-source datacenter virtualisation for hosting providers and cloud platforms and cost-sensitive enterprise virtualisation replacing commercial hypervisors are not what Restate is typically brought in for.
What can Proxmox VE do that Restate cannot?
Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Proxmox VE: What is the licensing model for Proxmox VE?

Proxmox VE is open-source and free to deploy. Optional subscription tiers provide technical support, priority response times, and access to the Enterprise Repository for stable update channels. All tiers include identical virtualisation features.

Source
Restate: Is Restate open source?

The SDKs are MIT. The runtime is under a Business Source Licence, which permits self-hosting but not offering it as a competing service.

Proxmox VE: Can I run Proxmox VE without a support subscription?

Yes. Community Edition (€120/year per socket) provides Enterprise Repository access with community-based support through forums. The core Proxmox VE platform is fully functional without any subscription.

Source
Restate: How does it compare with Temporal?

Same problem, different shape: one Rust binary with embedded storage instead of a server plus database plus workers, and lower per-step latency.

Proxmox VE: What hypervisors does Proxmox VE support?

Proxmox VE includes both KVM for full virtualisation and LXC for Linux containers. It does not support Xen or Hyper-V. Workloads on those platforms must be migrated or reimplemented.

Source
Restate: Is there a free tier?

Yes, fifty thousand durable actions a month on Restate Cloud with no card required.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

TypeScript, Java, Kotlin, Go, Python and Rust.

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