What is Proxmox vs Docker?

Proxmox and Docker solve different layers of infrastructure. Proxmox is a virtualization platform for managing full VMs and LXC containers on server hardware. Docker is an application container engine for packaging and running apps.

Docker containers share the host kernel and are optimized for fast, lightweight app deployment. Proxmox VMs provide stronger OS-level isolation and are ideal when you need full operating systems or mixed workloads.

A common pattern is to run a Linux VM on Proxmox, then run Docker inside that VM. This combines hardware-level control with app-level portability.