KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) Alternatives for Windows

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is not available for Windows but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on Windows with similar functionality. The best Windows alternative is VirtualBox, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and 13 are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) are QEMU, VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Workstation Player and Windows Sandbox.

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Alternatives list

  1. VirtualBox icon
     2954 likes

    Open source VirtualBox offers powerful x86/AMD64 virtualization available freely under GNU GPL v2. Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris hosts. Supports a vast array of guest OS like Windows, Linux, Solaris. Portable, lightweight, ad-free, with dark mode.

    69 VirtualBox alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Oracle Solaris
     
  2. QEMU icon
     304 likes

    QEMU, an open-source hypervisor, performs hardware virtualization, emulates CPUs using dynamic binary translation, and supports various architectures. It runs diverse unmodified guest OS, provides device models, and offers mixed translation modes for efficient execution.

    45 QEMU alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
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    QEMU vs KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) Comments
    Guest
    Negative
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    KVM is a kernel module that QEMU can use to speed up the emulation

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • QEMU is Free and Open SourceKVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is also Free and Open Source
  3. VMware Workstation Pro Lets You Run Multiple Operating Systems as Virtual Machines (including Windows VMs) on a Single Windows or Linux PC. VMware Workstation Pro is the industry standard for running multiple operating systems as virtual machines (VMs) on a single Linux or...

    37 VMware Workstation Pro alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  4. VMware Workstation Player builds on the industry leading foundation of Workstation Pro, and delivers a streamlined user interface for creating and running operating systems and applications in a virtual machine.

    41 VMware Workstation Player alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  5. VMware vSphere Hypervisor ( based on ESXi ) is a free bare-metal hypervisor that virtualizes servers so you can consolidate your applications on less hardware.

    44 VMware vSphere Hypervisor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • NVIDIA vGPU
    • AMD MxGPU
     
  6. (formerly XenServer) Citrix Hypervisor is a leading virtualization management platform optimized for application, desktop and server virtualization infrastructures.

    42 Citrix Hypervisor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • RadeonPro
    • NVIDIA vGPU
    • AMD MxGPU
     
  7. Portable-VirtualBox is a free and open source software tool that lets you run any operating system from a usb stick without separate installation. It unpacks and adjusts the paths and configuration of VirtualBox so it will run portably.

    40 Portable Virtualbox alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  8. RVVM icon
     3 likes

    RVVM is a virtual machine / emulator for RISC-V guests, which emphasizes on performance, security, lean code and portability. It already runs a lot of guest operating systems, including Linux, Haiku, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Windows
    • Mac
     
  9. QEMU Manager icon
     8 likes

    Qemu Manager is an easy to use management tool for the open-source QEMU emulator. It has a wealth of features for creating, managing and running multiple virtual machines.

    50 QEMU Manager alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  10. Multipass icon
     7 likes

    Multipass is a lightweight VM manager for Linux, Windows and macOS. It's designed for developers who want a fresh Ubuntu environment with a single command. It uses KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows and HyperKit on macOS to run the VM with minimal overhead.

    63 Multipass alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
     
  11. Bochs icon
     16 likes

    Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms. It includes emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom BIOS. Currently, Bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486...

    40 Bochs alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
12 of 13 KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) alternatives