Proxmox vs Talos – Deciding on the Best Infrastructure Solution
Nov 25th, 2025 | 8 min read
Table Of Contents
- Proxmox for Hybrid and Virtualized Environments
- Talos for Cloud-Native and Kubernetes Environments
- Key Differences for Proxmox vs Talos
- Running Postgres on Proxmox vs Talos
- How Simplyblock Supports Both Proxmox and Talos
- Finding the Best Fit Between Proxmox and Talos
- See other comparisons :
- Questions and answers
As enterprises shift towards more dynamic, cloud-native environments, choosing the right platform becomes critical. Proxmox and Talos represent two distinct approaches. While Proxmox simplifies the management of virtual machines and containers within hybrid environments, Talos focuses on providing a secure, minimalistic operating system designed for Kubernetes workloads.
Understanding the strengths of each will help you decide which platform best suits your infrastructure goals, whether for traditional virtualization or cutting-edge container orchestration.
Proxmox for Hybrid and Virtualized Environments
Proxmox is an open-source platform that combines KVM (for full virtualization) and LXC (for container-based virtualization). This versatility allows users to manage both virtual machines (VMs) and containers from a single, unified interface.
Proxmox offers a range of features such as high availability, backup solutions, and multi-node clustering. Its straightforward approach to hybrid cloud management ensures ease of use, even for organizations with limited IT resources.
🚀 Advance Proxmox deployment with Simplyblock’s scalable solutions.
Simplify storage management across both VMs and containers for high performance and reliability. Ready to take your Proxmox setup to the next level?
👉 Start with Simplyblock for Proxmox
Key Features of Proxmox
Proxmox combines robust features for managing both virtualized and containerized workloads.
- Easily manage virtual machines and containers from one interface.
- Proxmox provides clustering for failover, ensuring your workloads stay online.
- Built-in backup tools offer data protection and recovery options.
- Simplified management through a user-friendly web interface for easy configuration and monitoring.
Proxmox for Hybrid Cloud Environments
Proxmox is ideal for businesses needing to manage hybrid environments that include both virtual machines and containers.
- Scale resources between VMs and containers based on workload needs.
- Integrates easily with existing on-premises infrastructure and public cloud services.
- Open-source nature offers an affordable solution for businesses of all sizes.
- Supports both legacy applications in VMs and modern containerized applications.
Scalability and Performance with Proxmox
Proxmox offers excellent scalability and performance, making it suitable for businesses that require flexibility as their infrastructure grows.
- Supports multi-node clustering for expanding your infrastructure as needed.
- Optimizes resource usage with dynamic allocation between VMs and containers.
- Ensures reliable performance for both small-scale and enterprise-level workloads.
- Scales horizontally to accommodate growing workloads without complex configurations.
Talos for Cloud-Native and Kubernetes Environments
Talos is a minimalist, secure, and highly automated operating system designed for Kubernetes and modern container workloads. Unlike traditional operating systems, Talos is purpose-built to be immutable, ensuring that configurations remain consistent and secure across environments.
Talos is optimized for running Kubernetes clusters at scale, providing a streamlined approach to handling containerized applications with minimal overhead. It is ideal for organizations looking to implement a cloud-native architecture with improved security, automation, and scalability.
Key Features of Talos
Talos provides a highly specialized environment for Kubernetes workloads, focusing on simplicity and security.
- Talos operates as an immutable OS, ensuring consistency and reducing configuration drift.
- Fully integrates with Kubernetes, offering a streamlined environment for container orchestration.
- Simplifies cluster setup and configuration with automated tools, reducing manual overhead.
- Implements security best practices by minimizing attack surfaces and offering robust access controls.
Talos for Kubernetes-Based Infrastructure
Talos is ideal for businesses deploying large-scale Kubernetes clusters and focusing on a cloud-native approach to infrastructure.
- Easily deploy and scale Kubernetes clusters across cloud or on-prem environments.
- Integrates seamlessly with existing containerized workloads and cloud-native applications.
- Talos eliminates unnecessary complexity, ensuring faster deployments and more efficient resource use.
- Designed for environments that prioritize automation, scalability, and container orchestration.
Scalability and Performance with Talos
Talos allows organizations to scale Kubernetes clusters with ease, ensuring high performance and reliability for modern applications.
- Easily scale clusters based on workload demands with minimal configuration.
- Talos ensures high availability of Kubernetes clusters, with self-healing features built in.
- Ensures Kubernetes workloads run efficiently with low overhead and minimal resource consumption.
- Talos is highly flexible, supporting a range of infrastructure types, from private cloud to hybrid cloud.
Key Differences for Proxmox vs Talos
Proxmox and Talos serve different purposes and excel in different areas. While Proxmox focuses on virtualization management, Talos is built to support cloud-native applications with a Kubernetes-first approach. Here’s a functional breakdown to help you decide:
| Category | Proxmox | Talos |
| Primary Purpose | Virtual machine and container management | Cloud-native OS optimized for Kubernetes |
| Technology Base | KVM for VMs, LXC for containers | Kubernetes-based OS for container orchestration |
| Ideal Use Cases | Hybrid cloud environments, virtualization | Containerized applications, Kubernetes clusters |
| Deployment Models | On-premises, hybrid cloud | Cloud-native, Kubernetes-first environments |
| Core Components | Virtual Machines, Containers, Clustering | Kubernetes, Immutable Infrastructure |
| Scalability | Scales VMs and containers | Scales Kubernetes clusters for cloud-native workloads |
| Storage Management | VM and container storage | Persistent storage for Kubernetes containers |
| Security Focus | Security for VMs and containers | Security-first, immutable OS with minimal attack surface |
Running Postgres on Proxmox vs Talos
Running Postgres on Proxmox provides flexibility with VMs and containers, suitable for traditional workloads. In contrast, Talos optimizes Postgres for Kubernetes, offering automated provisioning, scalability, and advanced security for cloud-native, containerized deployments.
If Postgres is the main workload you care about, it’s often easier to treat it as a platform rather than something you hand-roll on top of your virtualization choice. Vela is a Postgres platform by Simplyblock that runs on Kubernetes, providing high-performance PostgreSQL with built-in automation, backups, and scaling.
How Simplyblock Supports Both Proxmox and Talos
Simplyblock provides high-performance, scalable NVMe storage solutions that integrate seamlessly with both Proxmox and Talos environments. Whether managing virtual machines, containers, or Kubernetes workloads, Simplyblock offers reliable, low-latency storage that ensures optimal performance.
With flexible scaling and unified management, Simplyblock supports both traditional virtualization and modern cloud-native infrastructures efficiently.
Built for Proxmox
- Easily manage storage for both virtual machines and containers.
- Scale storage dynamically to meet the needs of growing Proxmox infrastructures.
- Optimize performance for demanding virtual and containerized workloads.
- Simplyblock integrates with Proxmox’s storage management tools for easy deployment.
Built for Talos
- Ensure high availability and reliability for Kubernetes workloads with Simplyblock’s storage solutions.
- Easily scale storage as Kubernetes clusters grow, ensuring seamless performance.
- Provides high-speed, low-latency storage for containerized applications running on Talos.
- Simplyblock integrates with Talos, allowing for simplified storage management in Kubernetes environments.
Why Simplyblock Works for Both
- One solution for managing both virtualized VMs and containerized workloads.
- Ensures fast, reliable access to data for both Proxmox and Talos.
- Meets the growing storage needs of both virtualization and cloud-native environments.
- Provides a single platform to manage storage across hybrid and cloud-native infrastructures.
Finding the Best Fit Between Proxmox and Talos
Choosing between Proxmox, Talos, or both depends on your infrastructure needs.
- Proxmox is best for managing virtualized environments and containers in hybrid cloud setups. It’s ideal for small to medium-sized businesses with a mix of traditional and modern workloads.
- Talos excels in cloud-native environments where Kubernetes is central. It’s perfect for scalable containerized applications.
Using both offers flexibility for organizations running both VMs and Kubernetes clusters, with Simplyblock providing a unified storage solution for all workloads.
See other comparisons :
Take a look at how these platforms measure up.
Questions and answers
Proxmox is a virtualization platform that supports both virtual machines (VMs) and containers, ideal for hybrid cloud environments and traditional workloads. Talos, on the other hand, is a minimalistic, secure operating system designed specifically for Kubernetes environments, focusing on cloud-native applications and container orchestration.
Talos is designed with security in mind, utilizing an immutable OS and minimizing the attack surface for Kubernetes clusters. Proxmox offers security features for virtual machines and containers, but does not provide the same level of built-in, Kubernetes-focused security as Talos.
Proxmox supports horizontal scaling through multi-node clustering, which makes it great for both small and enterprise-level deployments. Talos, being Kubernetes-focused, excels in scaling containerized applications seamlessly, allowing for easy horizontal scaling of Kubernetes clusters.
Proxmox is well-suited for hybrid environments that mix virtualized workloads and containers. It integrates well with both on-premise infrastructure and public cloud services, offering a unified solution for diverse workloads. Talos is optimized for cloud-native environments and Kubernetes, so it’s better suited if you are heavily invested in Kubernetes-based infrastructure.
Proxmox provides flexible storage management options for both virtual machines and containers, supporting a variety of storage types, including local, shared, and cloud-based storage. Talos, on the other hand, integrates with Kubernetes’ persistent storage mechanisms, focusing on scalable and automated storage solutions for cloud-native workloads.