XenServer, formerly Citrix Hypervisor, is licensed per socket with a Premium Edition only. Pages here cover moving to XCP-ng, which shares its Xen and XAPI base, or to Proxmox VE.
Comparing XenServer 8 with XCP-ng, which grew from the same Xen and XAPI code: per-socket Premium licensing and the Citrix License Server against no license fee and Vates support plans, management with XenCenter or Xen Orchestra, and support lifecycles.
Moving XenServer or Citrix Hypervisor pools to XCP-ng: checking xapi versions, booting the ISO in the original firmware mode, upgrading the pool master first, disabling HA and clustering, and moving VMs to keep downtime low.
For XenServer customers considering a move off Xen altogether: comparing XenServer pools with Proxmox VE on KVM and Ceph, management, backup, licensing per socket on both sides, and the extra migration work a hypervisor change brings compared with XCP-ng.
Cost of ownership by component: XenServer Premium per-socket licenses and the License Server against XCP-ng with optional Vates plans priced per host or per pool, XOSTOR storage add-ons, the upgrade work and ongoing operations.
Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 reached end of life on June 25, 2025. For hosts still on it, this page compares licensing XenServer 8 Premium with upgrading in place to XCP-ng 8.3 LTS, and the checks to run before either upgrade.
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