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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 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."
"I like that this is an open-source solution. It is very powerful, and it's easy."
"If you prefer command-line, there are all kinds of command-line options."
"The scalability part should be better."
"KVM is stable."
"The KVM service is well managed with a central policy interface."
"I find the density of the product most valuable. It is density that a technologist can just assign page merging. This is what makes KVM one of the important players of the virtualization market."
"The most valuable feature of KVM is its stability."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to copy bidirectionally between the desktop and the virtual machine."
"The pause feature is valuable. I can pause, which is something that not all hypervisors allow. The snapshot feature is also valuable."
"This is a highly scalable solution."
"Oracle VM VirtualBox has a platform where the support team responds to frequently asked questions by its users. Every time I have had issues with Oracle VM VirtualBox, I always get a solution from Oracle's online platform or GitHub."
"This solution creates a snapshot of virtual machines so you can create test environments."
"VirtualBox provides an isolated, consistent environment"
"The flexibility as well as performance wise and as well as data volume, we have huge volume stored."
"Oracle VM Virtualbox is easy to use and does not require much training."
"I have found this product excellent for test/dev environments. This is 90% of what I use this product for."
"The performance is good."
"Technical support is very good."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is an easy-to-use product."
"Great at solving connection problems."
"Instead of relying on dual-boot operating systems, I can utilize open-source tools within my infrastructure. This approach allows me to create an in-house cloud platform suitable for testing. VMware Workstation enables me to perform tasks across various operating systems using a single device. It has helped me save time."
"VMware Workstation allows you to run a virtual machine."
"The solution's customer service is good."
 

Cons

"The speed is around thirty percent slower than another competitor. This would be something to work on."
"We are not getting good support from KVM, and it is not that user-friendly."
"The stability of this solution is less than other products in the same category."
"The initial setup of this solution is more difficult than some of the competing products and it could be improved."
"They could provide a more comfortable and easier-to-manage interface for the product, whether text-based or graphical. It can be challenging to manage without the support of additional tools."
"KVM is very difficult to manage and run on daily operations."
"The only negative aspect of needing hardware support is a fully functional KVM can be dropped. It would be nice if the support for other platforms, like ARM or Risk, were as good as the x86 one. However, with the democratization of Chromebooks based on these chips and mobile devices, it will not take long for that to happen."
"The networking with wireless devices needs improvement."
"I think that this solution should be more user-friendly."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"We're working with them to be able to allow the local USB ports to be ported over to the remote desktop, running VirtualBox."
"I find the solution to be incredibly unstable, constantly falling over and not working properly."
"Having live migrations to move a running server to other hardware would be great."
"This should have better support for multiple network cards and some parts of the GUI should be improved."
"The tool has some stability issues."
"One valuable feature would be for it to work right the first time but it doesn't necessarily do that."
"VMware Workstation could improve the export and import of virtual machines."
"The support can be improved."
"I have had issues with the virtual network adapters in the past that has taken some time to troubleshoot."
"They could include official support for macOS virtualization within VMware Workstation."
"The price of VMware Workstation is an area of concern where improvements are needed."
"For some virtual machine configurations, you have to go to the text editor and make the configuration changes, which could be improved."
"Lacks the ability to clone onto another system rather than starting from scratch."
"The product is outdated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The tool is free."
"The solution is extremely cheap in China."
"KVM is priced reasonably."
"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 free."
"It is free for everyone."
"This solution is an open-source, free platform with paid support."
"The solution is free."
"Oracle should consider reducing the cost of the product."
"This is an open-source product and it can be used free of charge."
"Available for free use"
"There are no licensing fees."
"The tool is not as expensive as other products."
"The license I use is free."
"Price wise, Oracle VM VirtualBox is a six on a scale from one to ten."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The product has a moderate price."
"The pricing is a bit steep in my opinion for testing and there are other options."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The solution is moderately priced. I rate the pricing a six out of ten."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
"VMware Workstation has a high price than competitors in the market."
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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
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.
 

Comparisons

 

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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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