By Umair Khurshid
Publication Date: 2026-08-09 14:30:00
Proxmox VE has earned its reputation by bringing enterprise virtualization features into the homelab. You get KVM virtual machines, LXC containers, snapshots, clustering, and support for filesystems like ZFS. On paper, it looks like the perfect foundation for every self-hosted setup.
The reality is that many homelabs begin with one mini PC, an old workstation, or a spare desktop (let’s be honest, it’s probably that Dell OptiPlex you rescued from the e-waste bin at work). That server usually runs a handful of services, such as Jellyfin, Home Assistant, Pi-hole, Immich, or Nextcloud. At this stage, the hardware is doing everything on its own. Most of Proxmox’s advanced capabilities are designed to coordinate multiple systems rather than make one machine dramatically better. If you only own one server, you may spend more time learning features that provide little immediate benefit.
The biggest advantages depend on multiple nodes
Clustering unlocks what Proxmox was built for
Proxmox becomes much more compelling when you introduce a second or a third (or a fourth…) physical machine. Clustering allows several servers to appear as a single…
