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Development
Virtual-Machines
What is the best Virtual Machine (VM) for developers?
8
Options
Considered
72
User
Recs.
Sep 14, 2022
Last
Updated
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8
Options
Considered
Best Virtual Machine (VM) for developers
Price
Platforms
Based On
26
Oracle VirtualBox
Free / paid
Windows, Linux, Mac
-
--
QEMU
Free
Windows, Linux, Mac
-
--
Gnome Boxes
Free
Linux
-
--
VMWare Workstation
Free / paid
-
-
--
Parallels Desktop
-
-
-
See Full List
26
Oracle VirtualBox
My Rec
ommendation
for
Oracle VirtualBox
My Recommendation for
Oracle VirtualBox
All
6
Pros
3
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Works with Vagrant
Works with Vagrant, an awesome tool for managing and deploying virtual machine images.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Inferior performance
Apart from second-class performance in virtualization, there are some visual glitches with Windows 8.1 on Mavericks.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Free, mostly open source and cross-platform
VirtualBox is available for free with source code available here. A "VirtualBox Extension Pack" that includes virtual USB 2.0, VirtualBox RDP & PXE boot support is available only under a commercial license. VirtualBox is available on Windows, Linux, OSX and Solaris.
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Top
Con
•••
Confusing interface and lacking usability features
VirtualBox might be a bit confusing for beginners - it requires an understanding of a lot more technical details than other VMs.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
VirtualBox is capable of taking whole-system snapshots and writing them to a backing file.
See More
Hide
See All
Free / paid
Recommend
27
6
--
QEMU
My Rec
ommendation
for
QEMU
My Recommendation for
QEMU
All
7
Experiences
2
Pros
3
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Near-native performance
See More
Top
Con
•••
No official GUI
See More
LuckyErecura's Experience
tv
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
QEMU is available for free with source code available here.
See More
Winnie Brockett's Experience
QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer. QEMU running the ReactOS operating system on Linux.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
QEMU is capable of taking whole-system snapshots and writing them to a backing file.
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
9
--
Gnome Boxes
My Rec
ommendation
for
Gnome Boxes
My Recommendation for
Gnome Boxes
All
5
Experiences
1
Pros
2
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Esay to use
See More
Top
Con
•••
Only Linux
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EnthusiasticVidarr's Experience
Easy and free & open
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Linux
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
7
3
--
VMWare Workstation
My Rec
ommendation
for
VMWare Workstation
My Recommendation for
VMWare Workstation
All
7
Pros
4
Cons
3
Top
Pro
•••
Works with Vagrant
Works with Vagrant, an awesome tool for managing and deploying virtual machine images.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No snapshotting support in the free version
See More
Top
Pro
•••
High-availability
There is very little to no downtime of the Virtual desktops that are hosted in a datacenter.
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Top
Con
•••
Pro version is overpriced
The pro version which has snapshot support is ridiculously overpriced. What's worse, major releases require a brand new license, but generally don't add much more functionality.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
Workstation is capable of taking whole-system snapshots and writing them to a backing file.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Horrible user interface
Too often you get "vm is used by another user" or "can't revert to snapshot" for whatever reasons without simple solutions. In most cases, it just throws knowledge base links to you. Not even clickable. Way overpriced.
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Top
Pro
•••
Windows / Linux host
Can be installed on Windows and Linux systems.
See More
Hide
See All
Free / paid
Recommend
7
1
--
Parallels Desktop
My Rec
ommendation
for
Parallels Desktop
My Recommendation for
Parallels Desktop
All
4
Pros
2
Cons
2
Top
Con
•••
Mac only
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
Parallels has an easy to learn and use UI. All important features are wizard based. It requires only a few clicks for the wizard to download and set up the latest Chrome OS, Windows or Linux build.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Requires buying a new version of the software with each new OS X release
Chances are that the same version of Parallels won't work with different OS X releases, requiring a separate purchase of Parallels for each OS X version.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can run Windows apps as native OS X apps
Parallels has a "Coherence View" mode that allows running Windows applications as if they were native OS X apps. In this mode Windows is virtualized in background and Windows features like Jump Lists, Taskbar, Start Menu, etc can be embedded directly within OS X.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
4
--
Proxmox
My Rec
ommendation
for
Proxmox
My Recommendation for
Proxmox
All
4
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free
Free with no restrictions like missing backup facilities.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No Windows installer
Proxmox is Debian based, and although it can be installed in an existing Debian system it is easier to install from the .iso image.
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RickZeeland's Experience
Not as well known as VMware and Hyper-V, but a good and open source alternative without restrictions that allows working with Windows, Linux, lightweight Linux containers and Mac guest operating systems.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Linux
Based On:
Debian stable
Init-System:
Systemd
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
3
--
virt-manager
My Rec
ommendation
for
virt-manager
My Recommendation for
virt-manager
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
2
--
Windows Virtual PC
My Rec
ommendation
for
Windows Virtual PC
My Recommendation for
Windows Virtual PC
All
3
Pros
1
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Abandoned
Hasn't been updated since 2011
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
Virtual PC is capable of taking whole-system snapshots and writing them to a backing file.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
2
1
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