Parallels Desktop Alternatives for Windows

Parallels Desktop 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 50 alternatives to Parallels Desktop and 19 are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to Parallels Desktop are QEMU, VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Workstation Player and Windows Sandbox.

filter to find the best alternatives

Parallels Desktop alternatives are mainly Virtualization Tools, but if you're looking for Cloud Computing Services or Compatibility Layer Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Free, Mac, Open Source, Mac + Open Source, Virtualization and Mac + Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Parallels Desktop.
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Alternatives list

  1. VirtualBox icon
     2957 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
     
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    3
  2. QEMU icon
     305 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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    1
  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. 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
     
  6. AQEMU icon
     14 likes

    Cross-platform GUI virtual machine manager using QEMU as backend. Support Linux/BSD/Windows 8/10/11

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  7. Multipass icon
     8 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
     
  8. RVVM icon
     4 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
     
12 of 19 Parallels Desktop alternatives