Alternatives to VirtualBox for all platforms with any license

  • VMware Workstation Pro

    VMware Workstation Pro is a commercial hypervisor that allows users to create and run virtual machines on one computer.

    • Expensive. If you want the free version for personal use, go with VMware Workstation Player. Guest • Jan 2020 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Very good but very expensive. Instead i'd reccomend VMWare Workstation Player. Guest • Mar 2020 Disagree   Agree
    • Easy to work with while it is an advanced software. I realy like it and have used it many times. Sunmaster • Apr 2018 • 4 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • i have no words its best win app Guest • Dec 2018 • 0 agrees and 8 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • very good software for virtualization androbuntu • May 2018 • 1 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Its much more user friendly and pleasant to work with. Guest • Mar 2017 • 12 agrees and 5 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Commercial $ $ $ Windows Linux

    Support for Android Things Bundled with macOS Multiple languages Virtualization Add a feature

    VMware Workstation Pro icon

  • QEMU

    QEMU (short for "Quick EMUlator") is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor that performs hardware virtualization. QEMU is a hosted virtual machine...

    • It is supported by various frontends such as Virt Manager and AQEMU. arpeters • Jan 2020 Disagree   Agree
    • It doesn't have a GUI to manage like Virtualbox or VMware. That's problematic. Guest • Jan 2020 • 2 agrees and 8 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It runs faster than virtualbox using KVM. Also is better suited for production level. Guest • Jan 2017 • 12 agrees and 5 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It also performs hardware visualization Guest • Jan 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

    Virtualization Operating system Portable Scriptable ... User mode emulation Add a feature

    QEMU icon

  • VMware Workstation Player

    VMware Workstation Player builds on the industry leading foundation of Workstation Pro, and delivers a streamlined user interface for creating and running operating...

    • Free and slightly more advanced. Less user friendly than virtualbox but also much more feature rich. Guest • Mar 2020 Disagree   Agree

    Free Personal Windows Linux

    Operating system Virtualization Add a feature

    VMware Workstation Player icon

  • virt-manager

    The virt-manager application is a desktop user interface for managing virtual machines through libvirt. It primarily targets KVM VMs, but also manages Xen and LXC (linux...

    • Fully open source alternative to VirtualBox available in Debian repository. I don't trust VirtualBox anymore since it was excluded from Debian main. arpeters • Jan 2020 Disagree   Agree
    • this is not vm but a vm manager. zinz • Apr 2017 • 1 agrees and 7 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Linux BSD Gentoo Linux Fedora Debian ... OpenBSD

    FOSS SSH VNC Viewer Live migration ... Virtual Machines Virtualization Add a feature

    virt-manager icon

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  • Xen

    Xen.org, home of the Xen hypervisor, the powerful open source industry standard for virtualization. It is a native (bare-metal) hypervisor providing services that allow...

    • This is a bare-metal hypervisor, not a software virtualization platform. Guest • Apr 2020 Disagree   Agree
    • xen appears to be a hypervisor, which is quite different than basic virtualization software... Guest • Apr 2017 • 11 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Hypervisor != Virtualization Desktop Guest • Sep 2017 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Linux

    Hypervisor Virtualization Add a feature

    Xen icon

  • VMware Fusion

    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...

    Commercial Mac

    Virtualization Add a feature

    VMware Fusion icon

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VirtualBox Comments

works fine

Comment by sophiaschuler600
about VirtualBox · Aug 2016 · Helpful Not helpful 2 Helpful Report as spam

i think this works just fine considering it's free. I really don't think vmware is worth it.

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Comment by JohnTucker
about VirtualBox · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 2 Helpful Report as spam

VirtualBox is great. Use it regularly to test software out so I do not have to worry about corrupting my primary desktop. Has saved me a couple times from bad installs / uninstalls.

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Comment by lunolas
about VirtualBox · Jul 2017 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

Fastest alternative for Windows as a host, good UI and tooling

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I like it

Comment by rafaellabertonili27
about VirtualBox · Oct 2016 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

I like it but I have had some problems when using it in my laptop, It makes everything work slower but still the best way to get a virtual machine to work.

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Comment by ParisFitts
about VirtualBox · Jan 2016 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

there are not so many alternatives for this and i have really been using this for a long time now and it really works great, i try everthing here first and it's good, i recomend it

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Needs more improvement

Comment by Eostyx
about VirtualBox · Feb 2012 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

Just as a performance gripe, it has this noticeable lag every second or so. I would only use this to test very basic things or to observe different operating systems. Otherwise, just install the OS on another petition. Experience it in it's glory, get drivers and stop the lag.

VirtualBox Oracle, if you can improve the performance limitations I would call this perfect for new users. Till then...

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Comment by OSienna
about VirtualBox · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

VirtualBox was kinda cool when it was owned by Sun. Now that Oracle has bought Sun they will probably let it die a slow death since there is no revenue in it for them... sad.

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Comment by Nikihayami
about VirtualBox · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

Laggy and raw under mac. Many options don't work. Parallels tools is much better instead. I'll never return to Vbox

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OlaMohammad · Sep 2014

It's your computer not the program

xphreedom · Feb 2015

I would disagree, it is not 'computer' problem. I been running VirtualBox under many different macs, with both low and high specs and the experience is always not perfect. However, it is free in contrast to Parallels, so there is not much of space to complain.


Comment by Aaron
about VirtualBox · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

This works great I am on Ubuntu and I sometimes want to run my windows programs and the ones that do not run in Wine I run in this. I have Windows XP installed on this and I can run it at pretty good speeds. Because it is being emulated it is not as fast as the operating system would be at native speeds, but it does good enough for me.

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Comment by hansencomputers
about VirtualBox · Dec 2019 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Super easy to setup and use Virtual machines. I use it on my Linux Mint desktop PC and run various versions of other OS's for experimentation, testing and learning. Works very well, and I use it almost daily.

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Comment by sl13kp
about VirtualBox · Nov 2019 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Open Source multiplatform

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Comment by MSXfan
about VirtualBox · Sep 2018 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Simply the best virtual machine ever... Free and functional!

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Anything like this?

Comment by jcarroll53
about VirtualBox · Aug 2013 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

I like VirtualBox but I'm looking for something that also allows a virtual network so that I can set up a dedicated virtual network for the virtual appliances to connect to (for DNS & RADIUS testing). Any idea on what is out there, if there is anything out there like this?

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Why is virtualbox more popular than vmware player?

Comment by Yazilliclick
about VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Player · Jul 2011 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Currently I've been using vmware player for a while but am evaluating whether to make a switch or stick with it. My only real issue with it is switching the network adapter used. Looking on the net though every review seems to say vmware player is better/faster (if only marginally) but on here the votes aren't even close with virtualbox in the lead. So just curious on opinions.

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OmgItsTheSmartGuy · Jul 2011

Virtualbox actually allows you to create virtual machines, not just to run them.

Yazilliclick · Jul 2011

So does vmware player...

OmgItsTheSmartGuy · Jul 2011

Well, VMWare Player wasn't able to create virtual machines before the release of Version 3. So I guess Virtualbox had a head start, since it's been around for years.

OmgItsTheSmartGuy · Aug 2011

Update: It turns out that VMWare Player can't make snapshots of a virtual machine (basically, restore points). Virtualbox has included this feature for a while, and it's pretty useful-- if you ever get a virus on your VM or mess up its boot files, you can always restore to a previous snapshot. So that's one thing.

Jatin · Feb 2013

1.Virtualbox is earlier than VMware Player.
2.You can not easily find download link of VMware player on website.
3.Virtualbox allows to make restore points easily(on VMware it's a typical task, but possible)
4.Oracle(formerly Sun Microsystems) has created it.
5.It has a more specific user interface(I can't actually tell it as good or bad)
6.All features are provided in a single free version.
7.It is Open Source

Some reasons may be incorrect, but I hope this is enough