Parallels Desktop Alternatives for Mac
There are many alternatives to Parallels Desktop for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac 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 Parallels Desktop and 17 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Parallels Desktop are Wine, QEMU, CrossOver and VMware Fusion.
Parallels Desktop alternatives are mainly Virtualization Tools but may also be Compatibility Layer Tools. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Parallels Desktop.VirtualBox
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Virtualization Tool
61 VirtualBox alternatives- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Solaris
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as...
- - VirtualBox is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Parallels Desktop.
- - VirtualBox is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Parallels Desktop.
VirtualBox Features
Comments about VirtualBox as a Alternative to Parallels Desktop
John FastmanUnlike Parallels, Virtualbox is free, open source and runs natively on Windows, Mac and Linux. What's not to like?
8LéanaI like it because it's FOSS, however, it's really glitchy. It has a lot of display issues with my guest OSs (screen flickering, black screen).
0ChristianFerrettifree, lighter, even if less simple to use
0Wine
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Compatibility Layer Tool
30 Wine alternatives- Mac
- Linux
- Android
- Android Tablet
- BSD
Wine is a free, open source application for running Windows software on operating systems that are normally not supported. With Wine, you can install and run these applications just like you would in Windows.
- - Wine is the most popular Android & Android Tablet alternative to Parallels Desktop.
Wine Features
Opinions about Wine as a Alternative to Parallels Desktop
QEMU
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Free • Open Source
- Virtualization Tool
42 QEMU alternatives- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
QEMU (short for "Quick EMUlator") is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor that performs hardware virtualization.
QEMU Features
CrossOver
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo- Paid • Open Source
- Compatibility Layer Tool
29 CrossOver alternatives- Mac
- Linux
- Android
- Chrome OS
CrossOver allows you to install many popular Windows applications and games on your Intel OS X Mac or Linux computer.
Opinions about CrossOver as a Alternative to Parallels Desktop
VMware Fusion
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo39 VMware Fusion alternatives- Free Personal • Proprietary
- Virtualization Tool
- Mac
Seamlessly run your favorite Windows applications and devices, on any Intel-based Mac. Built from the ground up for the Mac, VMware Fusion is the easiest way to switch to Mac—letting you bring all of your Windows applications with you, making the most of your Windows software...
UTM
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo51 UTM alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Virtualization Tool
- Mac
- iPhone
- iPad
UTM is a full featured system emulator and virtual machine host for iOS and macOS. It is based off of QEMU. In short, it allows you to run Windows, Linux, and more on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
- - UTM is the most popular iPhone & iPad alternative to Parallels Desktop.
UTM Features
Multipass
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo55 Multipass alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
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.
Wineskin Winery
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo22 Wineskin Winery alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Wine
Wineskin is a tool used to make ports of Windows software to Mac OS X. The ports are in the form of normal Mac application bundle wrappers. It works like a wrapper around the Windows software, and you can share just the wrappers if you choose.
Wineskin Winery Features
DiscontinuedHasn't been updated in over 6 years and doesn't work on most modern versions of macOS: https://sourceforge.net/projects/wineskin/, https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer#wineskin
Lima
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo55 Lima alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Virtualization Tool
- Mac
Lima launches Linux virtual machines on macOS, with automatic file sharing, port forwarding, and containerd.
Karton
Is this is a good alternative?YesNo18 Karton alternatives- Free • Open Source
- Compatibility Layer Tool
- Mac
- Linux
Run Linux programs on macOS, a different Linux distro, or a different architecture.
Using Wineskin technology, Porting Kit is a PaulTheTall.com app that can install games and apps compiled for Microsoft Windows® in Mac OS X. It has access to a server where we store WSI files for more than 300 games, which can be installed by any Porting Kit user.
Porting Kit Features
Run your Windows applications on OSX without the need of buying a Windows license.
WinOnX 64 Features
DiscontinuedThe application has not been updated for almost three years, and also, judging by the reviews, does not work on the latest versions of macOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winonx-64/id421346233