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KVM vs Oracle VM VirtualBox vs VMware Workstation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Mindshare comparison

Server Virtualization Software
Server Virtualization Software
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
 

Featured Reviews

Lan Tuong - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful to manage the virtual environments
The most valuable features of KVM for us are the console, which allows us to build or clone VMs quickly, and the ability to take snapshots and recreate new VMs rapidly. That's one of the things we love about KVM. The built-in management console, Auto KVM, is the most valuable tool for managing our virtual environments. We use it most to create and fire up new VMs or clone them for customers based on requests. The migration tools have worked quite well for us. We're moving from an Oracle Solaris platform for KVM logical domains, upgrading, and using KVM from Red Hat. It's slightly different but very similar to Oracle Unbreakable Linux, which is basically a clone of Red Hat. Oracle's console is easier to use than Red Hat's, though.
Tomasz Pietas - PeerSpot reviewer
Good functionality and free to use with a useful snapshot feature
The functionality and productivity are very good. I can test and roll back features in my work. It's a big platform. It's very useful. I like that it has a snapshot feature. The virtual network is great. There are a lot of features. It has everything I need. The product is free to use. It's easy to set up.
Shambhu Narayan  Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
An easy-to-manage solution that has really good customer support compared to other market players
VMware Workstation makes it easy to manage all the resources that we are handling. VMware Workstation has reduced our infrastructure cost. If someone wants machines, I can create them easily using the solution. VMware Workstation is easier to manage than other workstations like Oracle Workstation. VMware Workstation is an easy-to-manage solution, and its support is really good compared to other market players. Overall, I rate VMware Workstation an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most helpful aspect of KVM is the fact that the interface is so minimal. It includes just what you need to set up the VMs and manage them, and it's very simple to do so."
"The GUI interface makes the management of KVM easier than ever before."
"The product's scalability is good...It's a very stable product."
"What I like most about KVM is that it's very easy to use. Everything is built-in, even when writing command lines."
"KVM has a rich options set which can be directly used or via wrappers, such as libvirt."
"The key aspect is that the KVM directly interacts with the Kronos. There's no clear indication of indirect communication with Kronos. It is not linked to Kronos, and interaction is straightforward without any intermediaries."
"Documentation and problem-solving troubleshooting are the most valuable features. Performance (when fine-tuned and with "special" HW) is awesome, equal to or more than other enterprise closed-source solutions."
"I think nine out of the ten supercomputers in the world use Linux KVM, so I think that attests to the fact that it is a scalable product."
"The flexibility and the closed platform, so it allows you to run in multiple platforms, Windows, Linux, Macintosh."
"I like that it is free and runs on Linux/Ubuntu - I wouldn't use any other solution. I am able to perform small developing tests."
"The solution is very convenient and easy to use."
"This is a highly scalable solution."
"This product is extremely easy to install, use, has a great GUI and is incredibly stable."
"The flexibility as well as performance wise and as well as data volume, we have huge volume stored."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution were the support and performance of the product and the flexibility it gives you to work."
"This product is very user-friendly and easy to use."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
"It's stable."
"The most valuable features of VMware Workstation are the DirectX support, you can run Microsoft Hyper-V in virtual environments which is good for me to test different installations. Additionally, you can set up different VLANs, and overall it is a complete solution."
"I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is an easy-to-use product."
"The initial setup is simple and takes only five minutes to complete."
"VMware Workstation allows multiple operating systems in the same physical machine."
"The simplicity of the deployment and the implementation, and the footprint for the hardware are some of the solution's valuable features."
 

Cons

"One thing that maybe could be improved is making it easier to scale. It needs to be more clear on how to scale the storage space for virtual machines."
"Some things are pretty basic, and they could be more robust with more detail."
"Its resource usage can be improved."
"The KVM tech support is really bad. They are not very responsive."
"Support for VF is needed, where you can, for example, export from VMware to KVM."
"Lacks high availability across clusters as well as support for Apache CloudStack."
"I have previously used VMware and KVM is easier to use. However, they both have their strengths depending on their use cases. They are mostly equal. One of VMware's advantages is it has better support."
"Business continuity features need to be added."
"Having live migrations to move a running server to other hardware would be great."
"This solution needs improvement with the business continuity planning, disaster and recovery management and using centralized data storage."
"The technical support needs to improve."
"The solution could be more user-friendly."
"It could improve slightly with enhanced reporting capabilities that show the current status of the network."
"Oracle’s support team should improve its response time."
"It's not as robust as server platforms, nor does it need to be."
"There are a few bugs that need to be updated."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
"The interface is a little wonky and needs to be improved."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"VMware Workstation could improve the export and import of virtual machines."
"The dashboard can be improved."
"VMware Player should provide a cloud version with no limitations to hardware resources."
"It would be helpful if VMware Workstation included an in-built monitoring tool for monitoring things."
"The product could provide the features available in Microsoft Hyper-V."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We had some problems with the licensing."
"I have no information on the cost of KVM because I downloaded it for the lab and not for production. It's free, but I don't know if that's the case for people using it in a production environment."
"It is cheaper than other competitors like VMware or Hyper-V."
"One only needs a subscription to Oracle Linux. So, it's cheaper with Oracle Linux's subscription. It is not very expensive. In short, the solution is open source, and you need only a subscription."
"KVM is an open-source product that works well for us."
"The product's pricing is above average but cheaper than that of VMware. I can't provide specific licensing costs, but we have a contract with Red Hat for client support that covers everything. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."
"KVM is an open-source solution."
"​It is free and can be run from your laptop, if needed, unlike VMware.​"
"The tool is not as expensive as other products."
"The license I use is free."
"It is an open-source solution."
"Oracle should consider reducing the cost of the product."
"It is pretty good for the price, which is free."
"There are no licensing fees."
"The solution is free."
"No licensing is required as it is open-source."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive tool. I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low or good price."
"It has the best licensing modules."
"It is an expensive solution."
"You need to pay for a license, but I don't think it costs that much. I think it's a one-time payment."
"With a VDI solution, there is always extra cost running a VDI solution but it's not for cost purposes anymore. In the beginning, it was to save money on hardware but at the moment it's other aspects that are more important why you should use a VDI solution."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Why KVM??? Help please!
KVM scales better, orchestration better, performs better and supports a wider range of hardware and, also, you can im...
Why KVM??? Help please!
Small support team, small cluster, low core count, use VMware products Large support team, large clusters with many c...
Why KVM??? Help please!
Far from being an expert, my opinion is that the positive sides of KVM are: Lower costs and open-source which gives ...
How does KVM compare to Oracle VM VirtualBox?
KVM is easy to use, stable and flexible. It is mature and very fast. It is an affordable open-source solution that is...
What do you like most about Oracle VM VirtualBox?
The product’s most valuable feature is the ability to manage multiple operating systems through one application.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle VM VirtualBox?
The pricing is flexible. When Oracle bought VirtualBox, they introduced some licensing issues. However, it did not af...
Which VMware solution would you go with - Workstation or vSphere?
VM Workstation’s setup is so easy, you can use it almost instantly, it works well with Windows and Linux. We like VM ...
What do you like most about VMware Workstation?
The product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up.
What needs improvement with VMware Workstation?
The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.
 

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Sample Customers

MediaWiki, Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wikidata, Wikiversity, Commons
Airbus, Colorado State University, SCS Africa, Wolf Medical Systems.
Akademiska Hus
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