Short answer: Yes. Proxmox VE is free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 (AGPLv3). You can download the ISO and use every feature without paying. What costs money is a subscription, priced per CPU socket per year, from €120 (Community) to €1,100 (Premium). A subscription buys access to the tested Enterprise Repository and, from the Basic plan up, technical support. It doesn’t unlock features. Without one, you get updates from the free no-subscription repository, which Proxmox recommends for testing and non-production use.
The license: AGPLv3
Proxmox’s FAQ says: “Proxmox VE code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3.” The admin guide adds that this means “you are free to inspect the source code at any time or contribute to the project yourself,” and describes Proxmox VE as “fully open source.”
The ISO is a free download from proxmox.com with no registration. The source code is public on Proxmox’s Git server.
Are any features locked behind a subscription?
No. Proxmox’s pricing page answers this directly. Asked whether features are limited by subscription level, it says “No,” and lists high availability, live migration, clustering, backup, software-defined storage and networking as “available at every level.” It also says there are “no separate feature editions or per-core licensing.”
So the free install and the Premium install run the same software. The difference is where updates come from and whether you can open a support ticket.
What a Proxmox subscription costs
Prices from Proxmox’s pricing page on September 26, 2026. They are per occupied CPU socket, per year, net of VAT.
| Plan | Price per socket per year | Support tickets | Response time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community | €120 | None (community forum) | None |
| Basic | €370 | 3 per year | 1 business day |
| Standard | €550 | 10 per year | 4 hours |
| Premium | €1,100 | Unlimited | 2 hours |
Response times are Proxmox’s “guaranteed first response time” for critical (Severity 1) requests, within your plan’s coverage hours. Premium gets 24/7 support from October 19, 2026. Proxmox says Standard will get 24/7 support by the end of 2026.
Some rules from the pricing FAQ:
- You need a subscription for every occupied physical CPU socket. The number of cores doesn’t change the price.
- Every server in a cluster needs coverage, and all nodes in a cluster must use the same subscription level.
- The subscription term is one year from purchase.
- ARM64 hosts need a dedicated arm64 subscription key. An x86 key won’t work on them, and ARM64 support is requested through Proxmox’s sales team.
What each plan actually buys
- The Enterprise Repository. Every plan, including Community, gives access to it. Proxmox calls it “the recommended repository,” with “the most stable packages” and “suitable for production use.”
- Support tickets. Basic, Standard and Premium include tickets through the Proxmox Customer Portal. Community doesn’t. Its help comes from the public forum.
- Remote support and offline updates. Standard and Premium list remote support via SSH and offline updates and key activation.
- Proxmox Datacenter Manager. The pricing page lists it with each production plan.
Proxmox pitches Community at “Home labs,” “Professional home users,” “Training environments,” “Evaluation clusters” and “Non-critical workloads.”
Running Proxmox VE with no subscription
Proxmox documents this setup. Its Package Repositories page describes the no-subscription repository: “As the name suggests, you do not need a subscription key to access this repository. It can be used for testing and non-production use.” It also says it’s “not recommended to use this on production servers, as these packages are not always as heavily tested and validated.”
A new install has the enterprise repository enabled, which needs a key. Without a key, you disable it and add the no-subscription repository. Our Proxmox VE download and install guide has the exact configuration.
Without a key, the web interface shows a notice at login that you don’t have a valid subscription. It’s a reminder. When a user asked on the Proxmox forum how to remove it, a Proxmox staff member said the software is free and open, so you can patch it, but any such modification “is not supported and you are on your own.” We don’t recommend patching it.
Free vs subscription at a glance
| No subscription | Community | Basic / Standard / Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Proxmox VE features | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Update repository | No-subscription | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Proxmox’s recommendation | Testing, non-production | Home labs, non-critical | Production |
| Support tickets | No | No | Yes |
| Cost | €0 | €120 per socket per year | €370 to €1,100 per socket per year |
Can a business use Proxmox VE for free?
The AGPLv3 governs the code. Proxmox’s documents don’t make the software’s features depend on who you are. Their guidance is about risk: the no-subscription repository is for testing and non-production use, and the Enterprise Repository is what Proxmox recommends for production. A business running important workloads without a subscription is using the less tested package stream, with no vendor to escalate to. If you need a definite answer for your organization, read the license and Proxmox’s subscription agreement, or ask Proxmox’s sales team. This article isn’t legal advice.
What Proxmox VE is not
- Not freemium. There’s no feature-limited edition.
- Not per-core licensed. Pricing is per CPU socket.
- Not supported by Proxmox on the free tier. Community and no-subscription users rely on the forum.
- Not responsible for community add-ons. Scripts such as the community helper scripts aren’t Proxmox products. See our Proxmox helper scripts guide.
If you only want to try virtualization on a desktop, a type-2 hypervisor like VirtualBox is simpler. For a dedicated server, get the ISO and its hash from our Proxmox VE app page.
Questions
Is Proxmox VE really free?
Yes. It’s open source under the AGPLv3 and free to download and use, with all features.
What does the Proxmox subscription pay for?
Access to the Enterprise Repository and, on Basic, Standard and Premium, technical support tickets with guaranteed response times.
How much is a Proxmox subscription?
Per CPU socket per year: €120 Community, €370 Basic, €550 Standard, €1,100 Premium, net of VAT, as listed on September 26, 2026.
Do I lose features without a subscription?
No. Proxmox says all features are available at every level.
Is the no-subscription repository safe to use?
It’s Proxmox’s own repository, signed with Proxmox’s key. Proxmox says it’s for testing and non-production use, because its packages aren’t always as heavily tested.
Does the Community subscription include support?
No. It gives access to the Enterprise Repository, and help comes from the public forum.
Is the price per core?
No. It’s per occupied physical CPU socket. The core count doesn’t affect the price.
How do I remove the “no valid subscription” notice?
By installing a subscription key. Proxmox staff say patching the notice is unsupported.
Is Proxmox Backup Server free too?
Proxmox Backup Server is a separate product with its own pricing page. This article covers Proxmox VE only.
Sources
- Proxmox VE pricing and subscription FAQ, Proxmox, checked September 26, 2026
- Proxmox VE FAQ (license), Proxmox VE Wiki
- Proxmox VE Administration Guide (Why Open Source, Commercial Support), Proxmox
- Package Repositories, Proxmox VE Wiki
- GNU Affero General Public License, version 3, Free Software Foundation
- you do not have a valid subscription for this server, Proxmox Support Forum
