---
title: "Proxmox VPS hosting: how to host & sell VPS · NexoVirt"
description: "A step-by-step guide to Proxmox VPS hosting: nodes and IPs, plans, customer isolation, a portal, billing and backups. What you need before the first sale."
url: https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-vps-hosting
---

# Proxmox VPS hosting: how to host and sell VPS

Proxmox VE already runs the virtual machines and containers a VPS is made of. To sell them, you need six things on top: nodes and IPs, plans, IP management, customer isolation with a portal, billing, and backups. This guide walks through each one and shows where you can skip the engineering.

[Read the six steps](#steps-heading) [See the VPS panel](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-vps-panel)

## Can you run VPS hosting on Proxmox?

Yes. A VPS is a virtual machine or container with its own resources, IP address and root access, which is exactly what Proxmox VE provides with KVM/QEMU and LXC.

Proxmox itself is free and open source, with no per-VM licensing. What it does not ship is the **hosting layer**: customer accounts, resource plans, IP allocation, a customer portal and a link to billing. You either build that layer yourself or use a panel.

## How do you host and sell VPS on Proxmox?

Six pieces sit between a bare Proxmox node and a VPS a customer can buy and manage.

1. ### Nodes and a block of IPs

Start with one or more Proxmox VE nodes in a data center and a routed block of IPv4 (ideally also IPv6) addresses. Decide early whether customers get public IPs on a bridge or private IPs behind NAT.

Guide: [Proxmox NAT and port forwarding](https://nexovirt.com/blog/proxmox-nat-port-forwarding).
2. ### Plans that define a VPS

A plan is your product: cores, RAM, disk, monthly traffic, runtime. Someone has to enforce it: suspend on expiry or over-traffic, delete after a grace period. By hand, that stops scaling after a few customers.

More: [plans with automatic enforcement](https://nexovirt.com/features/plans).
3. ### IP address management

Every VPS needs the right address on its first boot, and no address may go out twice. A spreadsheet works for ten servers. After that you want IP address management (IPAM) that picks the next free address and writes it into the guest.

More: [Proxmox IPAM](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-ipam).
4. ### Customer isolation and a portal

Never hand customers Proxmox accounts. Each customer needs a portal that shows only their own VPS, with a console, power buttons, reinstall and SSH keys.

More: [customer portal](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-customer-portal) and [self-service portal](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-self-service-portal).
5. ### Billing and automation

Orders, invoices and payments live in a billing system such as WHMCS, Blesta or FossBilling. It needs an API on the Proxmox side to create a VPS when an order is paid, suspend it on non-payment and delete it on cancellation.

More: [REST API](https://nexovirt.com/features/rest-api).
6. ### Backups and monitoring

Schedule backups to separate storage (ideally Proxmox Backup Server) and alert on guests that go down or run out of disk, before the customer notices.

Guides: [snapshot vs backup](https://nexovirt.com/blog/proxmox-snapshots-and-backups), [Proxmox alerts](https://nexovirt.com/blog/proxmox-discord-alerts).

## Checklist before your first sale

Six checks that save you from the first angry customer.

- Pick the guest type per product: [LXC or QEMU](https://nexovirt.com/lxc-vs-qemu) (containers are denser, VMs run any OS and isolate better).
- Prepare OS templates (cloud-init images for VMs, container templates for LXC) so a VPS is ready in minutes.
- Set a monthly traffic allowance per plan and decide what happens when it runs out.
- Write terms of service and an abuse process. Outgoing spam and port scans will happen.
- Test a full cycle: order, provisioning, customer login, suspension, deletion.
- Run a restore from backup at least once before anybody pays you.

![A customer's VPS in the NexoVirt portal with its assigned IPv4 and IPv6 addresses](https://nexovirt.com/assets/img/screenshots/portal-ips-light.webp?v=1792068738)

What the customer ends up with: their VPS, its addresses and the controls to run it.

## Build the hosting layer yourself, or use a panel?

Build it only if the panel itself is your product. Otherwise a panel saves you years of maintenance.

You can script steps 2 to 5 against the Proxmox API. Expect to maintain portal security, plan enforcement and billing glue for as long as you sell VPS.

NexoVirt ships those pieces: self-hosted, free on up to 2 Proxmox nodes, then flat monthly plans with no per-VM fees. Compare it with per-VM licensed panels on the [SolusVM alternative](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-solusvm-alternative) and [Virtualizor alternative](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-virtualizor-alternative) pages.

[Install free](https://docs.nexovirt.com/getting-started/installation/) [See the Proxmox VPS panel](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-vps-panel)

## Proxmox VPS hosting FAQ

Can you host VPS on Proxmox VE?Yes. Proxmox VE runs KVM virtual machines and LXC containers, which is exactly what a VPS is, so it is a solid foundation for VPS hosting. What Proxmox does not ship is the hosting layer on top: customer accounts, resource plans, IP allocation, traffic limits, a self-service portal and billing. NexoVirt adds that layer so you can run Proxmox VPS hosting without building your own tooling.

What do you need to sell VPS on Proxmox?At minimum: one or more Proxmox VE nodes, a block of IP addresses, resource plans (cores, RAM, disk, monthly traffic), a way to isolate each customer to only their own VMs, and a billing system. NexoVirt provides the plans, IPAM, customer portal and REST API; you connect a biller such as WHMCS, Blesta or FossBilling through the API.

Is Proxmox VPS hosting cheaper than SolusVM or Virtualizor?Proxmox VE itself is free and open source, and NexoVirt is self-hosted with no per-VM licensing, so there are no per-instance fees as you grow. Community Edition is free up to two Proxmox nodes with unlimited VMs. See the SolusVM and Virtualizor comparison pages for a feature-by-feature breakdown.

How do customers manage their own VPS?Through a self-service portal. Each customer signs in and sees only their own VMs, with an in-browser console, power controls, SSH-key management and 2FA, and never touches the raw Proxmox UI or other tenants.

Can I automate VPS provisioning on Proxmox?Yes. NexoVirt exposes a clean REST API that drives the full guest lifecycle: create from a plan, assign an owner, set the IP, power, reinstall and delete. That is the integration point for WHMCS, Blesta, FossBilling or your own scripts.

## Related reading

- [ Proxmox VPS panel The panel that ships steps 2 to 5. ](https://nexovirt.com/proxmox-vps-panel)
- [ For hosting providers Billing API example and launch steps. ](https://nexovirt.com/for/hosting-providers)
- [ LXC vs QEMU Which guest type to sell. ](https://nexovirt.com/lxc-vs-qemu)
- [ Cloud-init on Proxmox Templates that boot ready to use. ](https://nexovirt.com/blog/cloud-init-on-proxmox)
- [ Snapshots and backups Retention, modes and restores. ](https://nexovirt.com/blog/proxmox-snapshots-and-backups)
- [ NAT and port forwarding Private networks that survive reboots. ](https://nexovirt.com/blog/proxmox-nat-port-forwarding)

## Start running NexoVirt today

Free for homelabs with unlimited VMs on up to 2 nodes. Running a hosting business? Upgrade in place when you grow, no migration.

[Install free](https://docs.nexovirt.com/getting-started/installation/) [See pricing](https://nexovirt.com/pricing)