What Vates does

Vates SAS is a French privately held open-source software company founded in 2012 in Grenoble, France, that develops and commercializes a full-stack alternative to proprietary virtualization platforms, primarily targeting organizations seeking to migrate away from VMware. Its core technology stack centers on XCP-ng, a Type-1 Xen-based hypervisor released under open source with no per-CPU or per-RAM licensing, and Xen Orchestra, a web-based management and native backup console. The company has extended this core into a modular platform: XO Lite for single-host administration, XOSTOR for hyperconverged DRBD-based storage, XO Proxy for distributed multi-site backup, DC Scope and DC NetScope for observability and carbon footprint monitoring, and native DevOps integrations (Terraform, Ansible, Packer). All components are developed in the open on GitHub by Vates engineering and supported by an active community forum and documentation.

The company's commercial offering, branded Vates VMS (Virtualization Management Stack), bundles the open-source components with updates, support SLAs, and updates under three tiers: Basic (€500/server/year), Premium (€1,000/server/year), and Enterprise (€2,000/server/year). Revenue is generated through per-host annual subscriptions, tiered 24/7 support, professional services (Technical Account Management, training and certification, fixed-scope VMware migration packages, and time-and-materials consulting), and channel resale via the Vates Alliance Network (VAN) of MSPs, CSPs, resellers, and integrators. Volume discounts up to 20% and multi-year contract discounts up to 10% incentivize larger and longer-term commitments.

Vates targets four customer segments: enterprise IT organizations replacing VMware, managed service providers and cloud service providers embedding Vates in their offerings, mid-market buyers using the self-serve 1-month free trial, and technical communities or homelab users adopting the open-source components. Named reference customers include the University of Washington, BedRock Streaming, Kayak, Web.com, Harman, and Playtonic Games, spanning education, media, travel, web services, automotive, and gaming industries. The company operates as an independent, founder-led entity with 51-100 employees and no disclosed external funding, distinguishing it from venture-backed open-source infrastructure peers and signaling a self-funded growth profile.

Name

Vates

Legal name

Vates SAS

Website

https://vates.tech

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Vates SAS is a French open-source virtualization company founded in 2012 that develops XCP-ng (Xen-based hypervisor), Xen Orchestra (management and backup), and a commercial VMS bundle, offering a VMware alternative to enterprises, MSPs, and developers via subscriptions, support, and migration services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Virtualization Management Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Server Operating Systems & Hypervisors (Virtualization) (HDABADAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Hybrid Cloud Compute & Virtualization Stack (HCI/VMs/Kubernetes) (HDABAMAF)

Keywords

• Open source virtualization
• Hypervisor software
• Virtualization management
• Hyperconverged storage
• Disaster recovery

Headquarters

HQ city

Grenoble

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Commercial VMS Subscriptions: Annual subscription for commercial Vates VMS bundle including XCP-ng, Xen Orchestra, XO Lite, XOSTOR, and XO Proxy with support, SLA, and updates. Priced per host per year with no CPU/RAM limits.
2. Support Subscriptions: 24/7 production-grade support available exclusively with Vates VMS commercial bundles. Includes Basic, Premium, and Enterprise support tiers.
3. Professional Services: Technical Account Management (TAM), training & certification, migration packages (VMware to Vates), and consulting services billed on time-and-materials or fixed-scope basis.
4. Partner Resale: Channel partners (MSPs, CSPs, resellers) resell Vates VMS subscriptions and services, with margins on commercial bundles and co-branded migration offers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Vates develops, maintains, and commercially supports Vates VMS (Virtualization Management Stack), an open-source virtualization bundle combining the XCP-ng Type-1 Xen-based hypervisor, the Xen Orchestra web management and backup console, and complementary tools (XO Lite, XOSTOR hyperconverged storage, XO Proxy backup proxy, and DevOps/IaC modules). The stack is sold to enterprises primarily as an alternative to VMware, with annual per-host subscriptions bundled with 24/7 support, SLAs, and professional migration, training, and consulting services.

Product overview

Vates offers Vates VMS (Virtualization Management Stack), a modular platform-plus-components architecture built around open-source virtualization technologies. The core stack consists of XCP-ng (Type-1 Xen-based hypervisor) and Xen Orchestra (web-based management and backup interface), with optional add-on modules including XO Lite (lightweight single-host client), XO Proxy (distributed backup proxy for multi-site environments), XOSTOR (hyperconverged DRBD-based storage), and DevOps Tools (Terraform, Ansible, Packer for IaC). The commercial Vates VMS bundle packages these components together with support, SLA, and updates, offering an alternative to closed virtualization ecosystems like VMware.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• XCP-ng: Production-grade type-1 virtualization hypervisor based on Xen. Reliable, modern and widely adopted in datacenters and homelab environments.
• Xen Orchestra
• XO Lite
• XOSTOR
• XO Proxy
• Vates VMS
• VAN (Vates Alliance Network)

Products and services

• Vates VMS (Virtualization Management Stack) Flagship commercial bundle combining the XCP-ng hypervisor, Xen Orchestra management interface, XO Lite, XOSTOR storage, and XO Proxy backup proxy into a turnkey virtualization stack with support, SLAs, and updates, targeting enterprises seeking to replace VMware.
• XCP-ng Production-grade Type-1 hypervisor based on Xen, providing bare-metal virtualization for datacenters and homelab environments with no licensing costs and no CPU/RAM limits.
• Xen Orchestra

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Vates Alliance Network (VAN)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEcosystem of technology and solution partners including MSPs, CSPs, resellers, and integrators. Partners receive deal registration, lead sharing, co-branded migration offers, and access to partner portal with training records.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Broadcom (VMware): VMware vSphere/ESXi is the incumbent virtualization platform that Vates explicitly targets for migration. While not a direct commercial peer, Broadcom's ownership and licensing changes are the primary catalyst creating Vates' pipeline, and VMware's installed base defines the addressable replacement market.
• Red Hat (OpenShift Virtualization / RHV): Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) and the newer OpenShift Virtualization offer enterprise-grade KVM-based virtualization, often bundled with Red Hat's Linux and cloud platform portfolio. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same enterprise VMware-replacement opportunities, particularly in hybrid cloud deployments.
• Microsoft (Hyper-V / Windows Server): Microsoft Hyper-V is a Type-1 hypervisor bundled with Windows Server, broadly deployed in enterprise Windows-centric environments. It is a common alternative for organizations leaving VMware but staying within the Microsoft ecosystem, and competes with Vates for enterprise virtualization budgets.

Emerging players

• oVirt: oVirt is an open-source virtualization management platform built on KVM, sponsored by Red Hat. It overlaps with Vates' management and orchestration layer for open-source virtualization, though with a smaller commercial ecosystem and community footprint.
• Nutanix: Nutanix provides hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) with built-in virtualization (AHV), directly competing with Vates' combined hypervisor-plus-XOSTOR hyperconverged storage stack. It is an emerging but well-capitalized player aggressively pursuing VMware migrations in mid-market and enterprise segments.
• Scale Computing: Scale Computing provides hyperconverged infrastructure with integrated virtualization (HC3) targeting edge and SMB deployments. It competes with Vates for cost-sensitive VMware-replacement opportunities, particularly in smaller and edge environments.

Regional players

• Sangfor Technologies: Sangfor is an Asia-Pacific-headquartered IT infrastructure vendor offering its own hypervisor and hyperconverged products. It is a regional player competing in similar virtualization and HCI categories but primarily outside Vates' core EMEA and global open-source markets.

Direct peers

• Citrix Hypervisor (XenServer): Citrix Hypervisor (formerly XenServer) is a Xen-based Type-1 hypervisor with commercial editions and management tooling. It shares the same Xen technology heritage as XCP-ng and is a direct technical and commercial peer in the enterprise Xen-based virtualization category.
• Proxmox Server Solutions: Proxmox VE is a mature open-source virtualization platform combining KVM hypervisor and a web-based management console, with commercial support subscriptions. It is the most direct open-source alternative to Vates' XCP-ng + Xen Orchestra stack and competes for the same VMware-displacement and homelab/dev audiences.

Others

• OpenStack: OpenStack is an open-source cloud computing platform that can incorporate virtualization (via KVM, Xen, or other hypervisors) for private cloud builds. It is an adjacent enabling technology rather than a direct competitor, but competes for the same enterprise infrastructure modernization budgets as Vates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vatesfr
• GitHubgithub.com/vatesfr
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/Vates_tech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vates-sas
• Facebookfacebook.com/vatesfr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vates