VirtualBox Alternatives for Windows, Mac and Linux

Oracle VirtualBox is a free, open source hypervisor for running other operating systems in a window. It is still maintained: the downloads page lists version 7.2.22 for Windows, Linux, Solaris, and separate Intel and Apple silicon Mac packages. The catch for companies is the Extension Pack, which adds features many people expect from VirtualBox. It is offered under the PUEL for personal and educational use only. Using it for a business or other organisation needs a separate commercial licence from Oracle.

The seven picks below are grouped by host. VMware comes first because it is now free for business use on Windows, Linux and Mac. Then come Hyper-V for Windows, Parallels and UTM for Macs, and three Linux-friendly tools. If you only run VirtualBox to host Linux services, a container engine may be lighter than any VM; Multipass, at the end, points to that option.

Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro

The licence reason for leaving VirtualBox mostly disappeared in November 2024. Broadcom's licensing article says VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro have been free for commercial, educational and personal users since November 11, 2024. Workstation runs on Windows and Linux hosts; Fusion is the Mac version.

Because Fusion Pro is the Mac edition, one free vendor covers Windows, Linux and Mac desktops in a mixed team. The 25H2 release in October 2025 dropped the old 17.x numbering and added a command-line tool and USB 3.2 support. The later 25H2 U1 fixed four CVEs.

Best for: Companies that want a free desktop hypervisor with no Extension Pack licence question.

Pricing:

• Free for commercial, educational and personal use since November 11, 2024
• Download requires a free Broadcom Support Portal account

Watch out for:

• You must register on the Broadcom Support Portal to download it; there is no anonymous direct download link.
• Updates broke for a while. Neowin's 25H2 U1 report says the app threw a connection error when checking for updates until that release re-enabled in-app updates.

Official site: VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro.

Hyper-V

On Windows Pro there is already a hypervisor in the box. Hyper-V is an optional Windows feature you turn on from PowerShell or Windows Features; nothing to download, nothing to license. Microsoft's install guide lists Windows 10 or 11 Pro or Enterprise, a 64-bit CPU with SLAT, and at least 4 GB of memory.

It is the same hypervisor family Microsoft ships in Windows Server, and Windows guests are its home turf. For a single developer who mostly runs Windows test machines, it removes one more app to update.

Best for: Windows Pro users running Windows or Linux guests who want nothing extra installed.

Pricing:

• Included with Windows 10 and 11 Pro and Enterprise
• Not available on Home editions

Watch out for:

• The Hyper-V role cannot be installed on Windows 10 Home or Windows 11 Home, per the install guide.

Official site: Hyper-V.

Parallels Desktop

On an Apple silicon Mac, Parallels Desktop is the commercial choice. Microsoft has authorised it to run the Arm version of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise on those Macs, which matters for licensing compliance at work.

Standard is sold as a subscription or a one-time purchase and limits each VM to 8 GB of virtual memory and 4 vCPUs. Pro and Business are subscriptions and add a command-line tool, developer tools, and for Business, central licence management with Jamf and Intune, per the buy page.

Best for: Mac users who need Windows 11 apps running well with little setup.

Pricing:

• Standard: subscription or one-time purchase; 8 GB vRAM and 4 vCPUs per VM
• Pro and Business: 1-year or 2-year subscriptions
• Enterprise: contact sales
• Price shown by region on Parallels' buy page
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Watch out for:

• Parallels Desktop 27 requires a Mac with Apple silicon, per the buy page FAQ. Intel Mac owners have to stay on version 26.
• It is paid and Mac only. Each licence covers one Mac.

Official site: Parallels Desktop.

UTM

UTM wraps QEMU and Apple's Virtualization framework in a Mac app. Arm64 guests run at near-native speed through Apple's Hypervisor framework, and it can virtualize macOS itself on Apple silicon, per the UTM site. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, and the GitHub DMG is free.

Because QEMU can emulate other CPUs, UTM also runs x86 systems and DOS on an M-series Mac, alongside native Arm Linux and Windows guests. Version 5.0.8 was tagged on October 16, 2026.

Best for: Mac users who want a free, open source VM app, including x86 emulation.

Pricing:

• Free from GitHub, Apache 2.0
• The Mac App Store build adds automatic updates
• UTM SE for iOS: free

Watch out for:

• Intel x86 and x64 guests run through slower emulation on Apple silicon, so a Windows x64 VM will feel sluggish.
• It is for Apple platforms only, and the iOS SE version can only emulate, not virtualize.

Official site: UTM.

QEMU with virt-manager

On Linux, QEMU with the kernel's KVM module is the standard way to run VMs, and it is fully open source. QEMU 11.1.3 was tagged on October 28, 2026. virt-manager adds a desktop app over libvirt with creation wizards, live performance graphs and a built-in VNC and SPICE console, per its site.

Packages are in Fedora, Debian and most other distributions. VMs defined in libvirt can also be started headless on a server, which VirtualBox users usually do with VBoxManage.

Best for: Linux users and homelabs that want the fastest, fully open source VM stack.

Pricing:

• Free, open source (QEMU GPL-2.0)

Watch out for:

• virt-manager primarily targets KVM, so it is a Linux tool. Windows and Mac users get no benefit from it.
• Setup has more moving parts than VirtualBox: libvirt, user groups, bridges and storage pools.

Official site: QEMU with virt-manager.

GNOME Boxes

GNOME Boxes is the opposite of virt-manager: you pick an operating system and Boxes downloads and installs it. It can set up several Linux distributions and Windows automatically, take snapshots, redirect USB devices and share the clipboard and folders, per its app page.

Version 50.0 came out on March 14, 2026, and it installs from Flathub on almost any distribution.

Best for: Linux desktop users who want to try another distro in two clicks.

Pricing:

• Free, open source

Watch out for:

• It runs only on Linux, and its page pitches it as virtualization made simple; for custom networks or tuning, Linux users usually move to virt-manager.

Official site: GNOME Boxes.

Multipass

A lot of VirtualBox use is a developer starting an Ubuntu VM to test something. Canonical's Multipass does that with one command on Windows, macOS or Linux, and configures the VM with cloud-init like a public cloud instance. Its product page says it uses the native hypervisor on each host: Host Compute System on Windows, Apple Virtualization on macOS and QEMU on Linux.

It is GPL-3.0, and 1.17.1 was tagged on October 21, 2026. If what you really want is to run Linux services rather than full machines, our Podman alternatives page compares container engines that use less memory than any VM.

Best for: Developers who want disposable Ubuntu VMs on any OS without a GUI.

Pricing:

• Free, GPL-3.0

Watch out for:

• Multipass runs Ubuntu images. For Windows, Fedora or other guests you need another tool.

Official site: Multipass.

How to choose

When to stay with VirtualBox

Stay with VirtualBox if you need one free tool on Windows, Linux and both Intel and Apple silicon Macs, or if you use Vagrant boxes built for it. It is still updated, and the base package is open source. At work, check if anyone has installed the Extension Pack. If so, either buy Oracle's commercial licence or move to VMware Workstation Pro, which is now free for business.

Frequently asked questions