VMware Workstation Player Alternatives for Mac

VMware Workstation Player is not available for Mac but there are some alternatives that runs on macOS with similar functionality. 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 VMware Workstation Player and nine of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to VMware Workstation Player are QEMU, Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion and UTM.

VMware Workstation Player alternatives are mainly Virtualization Tools but may also be Web Browsers. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of VMware Workstation Player.

VMware Workstation Player alternatives page was last updated

VMware Workstation Player

241

Free Personal • Proprietary
Virtualization Tool

VMware Workstation Player builds on the industry leading foundation of Workstation Pro, and delivers a streamlined user...

More about VMware Workstation Player

VirtualBox
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Solaris
61 VirtualBox alternatives
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 VMware Workstation Player.
- - VirtualBox is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to VMware Workstation Player.
Suggest and vote on features
VirtualBox Features
1. LightweightVirtualBox consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. Container VirtualizationVirtualBox can make use of isolated user spaces called "containers" to run applications.
3. PortableVirtualBox can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
Multiple languages
Comments about VirtualBox as a Alternative to VMware Workstation Player
Most users think VirtualBox is a great VMware Workstation Player alternative.
ph soft
Open source but problems with 3D accelerations (works better in VMWare for me).
Positive comment•
0

Felippe Henrique Diniz de Castro
Way better than VMware and Open Source.
Positive comment•
-1

Guest
Windows guest sound are crackle.
Negative comment•
-9
QEMU
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
42 QEMU alternatives
QEMU (short for "Quick EMUlator") is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor that performs hardware virtualization.
Suggest and vote on features
QEMU Features
1. LightweightQEMU consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
2. PortableQEMU can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
3. Privacy focusedQEMU is considered a privacy friendly alternative.
4. Support for scriptingQEMU supports scripts and macros to automate or customize tasks.
5. Container VirtualizationQEMU can make use of isolated user spaces called "containers" to run applications.
6. Command line interfaceQEMU either have CLI support or is a CLI-only app.
GPU Acceleration
Security focused
User mode emulation
Emulation
Opinions about QEMU as a Alternative to VMware Workstation Player
Most users think QEMU is a great VMware Workstation Player alternative.
Parallels Desktop
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Virtualization Tool
Mac
47 Parallels Desktop alternatives
Parallels Desktop gives Mac users the ability to run Windows, Linux or any other operating system and their critical applications at the same time as macOS. Parallels Desktop is optimized for Intel and Apple M1 chip.
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Parallels Desktop Features
1. Support for Multiple MonitorsParallels Desktop supports the use of multiple displays.
Run Windows software
Support for Apple M1
Office 365 integration
VMware Fusion
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free Personal • Proprietary
Virtualization Tool
Mac
39 VMware Fusion alternatives
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...
VMware Fusion has no features, suggest some!
UTM
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
iPhone
iPad
51 UTM alternatives
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 VMware Workstation Player.
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UTM Features
Multi System Emulator
Emulation
Multipass
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
55 Multipass alternatives
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.
Multipass has no features, suggest some!
Lima
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
55 Lima alternatives
Lima launches Linux virtual machines on macOS, with automatic file sharing, port forwarding, and containerd.
Lima has no features, suggest some!
Add a screenshot
JavaQemu
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
Windows
Linux
16 JavaQemu alternatives
JavaQemu is a Graphical User Interface Front End for QEMU, written in Java.
Suggest and vote on features
JavaQemu Features
Emulation
Discontinued
Website states: "This project is no longer active because I stopped playing with Java since a long time."
VirtualBuddy
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Mac
49 VirtualBuddy alternatives
VirtualBuddy can virtualize macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon, with the goal of offering features that are useful to developers who need to test their apps on multiple versions of macOS, especially betas.
VirtualBuddy has no features, suggest some!