head to head · open source
ProxmoxVE vs Steel
ProxmoxVE has 29,607 GitHub stars, 2,887 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Steel has 7,655 stars, 979 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ProxmoxVE leads on adoption by 287% (29,607 vs 7,655 stars). ProxmoxVE is written in Shell under MIT; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. ProxmoxVE has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. ProxmoxVE was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ProxmoxVE | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 7.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 979 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ProxmoxVE if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Steel if
- You want the Steel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Steel fits your workflow better
About ProxmoxVE
Proxmox VE Helper Scripts (Community Edition) is a collection of Shell scripts that install and configure self hosted services as containers or virtual machines on Proxmox VE. It is a community project built on the foundation of @tteck's original work, distributed under the MIT license, and it lives in the Proxmox VE and homelab ecosystem alongside LXC, Docker, Debian, Ubuntu, and Alpine tooling. The scripts cover hundreds of services across home automation, media, networking, monitoring, databases, security, and developer tooling.
read the full ProxmoxVE overview →
About Steel
Steel is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed browser API written in TypeScript that gives AI agents and applications cloud browser sessions, so teams can automate the web without building browser infrastructure from scratch.
read the full Steel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ProxmoxVE or Steel more popular?
ProxmoxVE has 29,607 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,655. ProxmoxVE has the larger community by that measure.
Are ProxmoxVE and Steel free?
Both are open source. ProxmoxVE is licensed under MIT and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ProxmoxVE and Steel?
ProxmoxVE is written in Shell and Steel in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ProxmoxVE or Steel?
Choose ProxmoxVE if you want the larger community (29,607 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.