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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 KVM service is well managed with a central policy interface."
"Scaling the solution is easy. You just have to add more hardware."
"I appreciate the network passcode feature in KVM, as it provides a convenient way to manage DNS and cloud hosting."
"The scalability part should be better."
"KVM has a rich options set which can be directly used or via wrappers, such as libvirt."
"Good screen and keyboard sharing feature."
"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 most valuable feature of KVM is its superior real-time performance, which results in lower latency compared to alternatives like VMware and Microsoft."
"The flexibility as well as performance wise and as well as data volume, we have huge volume stored."
"The solution is very convenient and easy to use."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"The good thing is that it is multi-platform. Once you create a virtual machine in one particular environment, you can switch over to see if you can run it in other environments. For example, if you are on Windows and you create this virtual machine, you can actually go ahead and change the operating system. You can switch it over to Linux or Mac OS and see if you can run the VirtualBox on those particular machines. It even runs on some of the commercial operating systems that are not mainstream, such as Solaris and BSD. These kinds of operating systems are also supported by VirtualBox. The other thing that is good about VirtualBox is that it is open source. So, if you need to do any modifications for your own purposes, you can just download the source, modify it, and deploy it in your environment. It is pretty good and very versatile. You can create and manipulate virtual machines from the command line, which is also very important. It's something that some other products on the desktop side do not have. VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop don't have a good command-line interface to create and manipulate virtual machines, whereas VirtualBox has it out of the box, which is pretty good."
"It's very simple to use."
"This is a highly scalable solution."
"The product is very easy to use."
"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 product is stable, very easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to configure, and easy to set up."
"I have found this product excellent for test/dev environments. This is 90% of what I use this product for."
"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."
"The initial setup is simple and takes only five minutes to complete."
"It is much more mature compared to Nutanix or SimpliVity when it's cross-platform based."
"VMware is incredible and is designed for simple use. They help with efficiency."
"VMware Workstation has tons of third-party support, the largest partner ecosystem. VMware works with a ton of different vendors. They have plugins for almost everything. Other hypervisors lack the flexibility that VMware Workstation offers."
"VMware Workstation’s most valuable feature is virtualization technology."
 

Cons

"In KVM, snapshots and cloning are areas where there could be a little more sophistication, like VMware."
"Support for VF is needed, where you can, for example, export from VMware to KVM."
"The grid interface of KVM needs improvement. It could be more beautiful, especially when compared to VMware."
"We are not getting good support from KVM, and it is not that user-friendly."
"The initial setup of this solution is more difficult than some of the competing products and it could be improved."
"Lacks high availability across clusters as well as support for Apache CloudStack."
"I think the management console has room for improvement. It could be more straightforward and user-friendly, like VMware's Console Management. This would make it easier for system admins to use and reduce training needs."
"The virtual manager and the graphical QEMU for KVM need some improvement."
"Basically, the GUI and command-line interface need improvement."
"I think that this solution should be more user-friendly."
"The solution is a bit less stable than I would like."
"The solution should have more enterprise features, like migration, high availability storage, disaster recovery, and the ability to deploy to enterprise-scale usage. They should not just offer desktop usage."
"The communications setup lags. It does not connect properly so the batching and networking is a bit slow."
"It's not as robust as server platforms, nor does it need to be."
"The memory and hardware usage could be a little bit lighter. Right now, it's quite heavy on the usage. The CPU usage should be lower."
"The installation is difficult and could be improved."
"I need to buy a newer version of the tool to support Windows Server."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"One improvement is mouse emulation. Some people in the office want to use a five—or seven-button mouse like they're used to at home, but they can't with the workstation setup."
"When you go to work on a server, it opens up the whole window, and that causes an error inside VMware Player."
"It takes too much time to load all the plug-ins and software."
"I have had issues with the virtual network adapters in the past that has taken some time to troubleshoot."
"The product’s virtual machine data backup feature needs upgrading."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"KVM is free."
"I use the free version of KVM, and I'm not sure if there is a paid version."
"We had some problems with the licensing."
"It is cheaper than other competitors like VMware or Hyper-V."
"There is no cost involved in the use of KVM, as it is open source."
"This solution came with the Linux license."
"The price is fair compared to others. But in our local market, it's a problem to get budget approval from management. That's why they are trying to get those products so we can give them the price benefit. But if you consider the international market or other products, it's sometimes better than their price."
"The solution is extremely cheap in China."
"The product is free to use."
"Price wise, Oracle VM VirtualBox is a six on a scale from one to ten."
"It is a very cost-effective solution."
"Oracle should consider reducing the cost of the product."
"The tool is not as expensive as other products."
"This is an open-source product and it can be used free of charge."
"It is an open-source solution."
"The license I use is free."
"The tool is not the cheapest."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"The product is expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is a bit steep in my opinion for testing and there are other options."
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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
16%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
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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MediaWiki, Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wikidata, Wikiversity, Commons
Airbus, Colorado State University, SCS Africa, Wolf Medical Systems.
Akademiska Hus
Find out what your peers are saying about Proxmox, VMware, Microsoft and others in Server Virtualization Software. Updated: November 2024.
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