Free VirtualBox Alternatives for Linux

There are many alternatives to VirtualBox for Linux if you are looking for a replacement. The best free Linux alternative is QEMU, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to VirtualBox and many of them are free and available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free Linux alternatives to VirtualBox are VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Workstation Player, WinBoat and virt-manager.

filter to find the best alternatives

VirtualBox alternatives are mainly Virtualization Tools, but if you're looking for Compatibility Layer Tools or Server Management Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Linux, Windows, Free, Open Source, Android, Mac and Online. 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 VirtualBox.
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Alternatives list

  1. QEMU icon
     307 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.

    46 QEMU alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
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    7
  2. 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
     
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    7
  3. 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
     
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    1
  4. WinBoat icon
     75 likes

    Runs Windows applications, individual apps, or full desktops inside Linux with native OS-level integration, sleek interface, advanced filesystem sharing, smartcard passthrough, and resource monitoring while supporting simple installation and ongoing feature updates.

    54 WinBoat alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Docker
     
  5. virt-manager icon
     85 likes

    Comprehensive desktop tool for managing virtual machines using libvirt, supporting KVM, Xen, and Linux Containers. It offers performance stats, resource allocation and virtual hardware configuration with VNC and SPICE clients for graphical consoles.

    35 virt-manager alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
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    3
  6. KVM (for Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). It consists of a loadable kernel module, kvm.

    42 KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Android
     
  7. Boxes icon
     33 likes

    A simple GNOME application to access virtual systems. It is based on a design from Jon McCann and Jakub Steiner.

    28 Boxes alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • GNOME
     
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    1
  8. Xen icon
     74 likes

    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 multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
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    5
  9. XCP-ng icon
     46 likes

    XCP-ng is a high-performance, enterprise-level hypervisor with a rich ecosystem and is the result of massive cooperation between individuals and companies. All commercial features are enabled with no commitment required to a support agreement.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • NVIDIA vGPU
    • AMD MxGPU
     
  10. 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
     
  11. Bochs icon
     17 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. OpenVZ icon
     13 likes

    OpenVZ is container-based virtualization for Linux.

    OpenVZ creates multiple secure, isolated Linux containers (otherwise known as VEs or VPSs) on a single physical server enabling better server utilization and ensuring that applications do not conflict.

    Each container performs.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
12 of 29 VirtualBox alternatives