Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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."
"The GUI interface makes the management of KVM easier than ever before."
"This solution is open source and easy to configure."
"Our production servers are running in Linux, and this solution supports that environment well."
"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."
"Scaling the solution is easy. You just have to add more hardware."
"KVM has benefited our organization by enabling us to assess different virtualization solutions with reduced latency, which is crucial for guaranteeing the reliability and real-time performance of our communication systems."
"If you prefer command-line, there are all kinds of command-line options."
"The snapshot feature is very powerful; it protects us from disaster."
"The flexibility as well as performance wise and as well as data volume, we have huge volume stored."
"The installation is easy."
"The versatility, simplicity, and stability of the product are it's most valuable features."
"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."
"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."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution were the support and performance of the product and the flexibility it gives you to work."
"The cloning is a very useful tool."
"I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use."
"Because the setup is so easy, this is a solution that can be used at a moment's notice."
"The product works well."
"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."
"VMware Workstation allows you to run a virtual machine."
"VMware is incredible and is designed for simple use. They help with efficiency."
"VMware Player helps you to virtualize and install Ubuntu or any other operating system, even on a Windows laptop."
 

Cons

"Its resource usage can be improved."
"The solution overall is just okay."
"One problem I have is that it's not very scalable when it comes to resizing the VM disk dimensions. For example, if you have initially set a virtual drive to 10 GB and you want to upgrade it to 15 GB, it's not that easy."
"The KVM tech support is really bad. They are not very responsive."
"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."
"The main drawback in the solution is probably disaster recovery."
"Although KVM meets our expectations, it can be somewhat fragmented with numerous management tools available, making it difficult to determine which tool to use."
"I would like to see more focus on microservices and integration with Kubernetes or OpenShift."
"It could improve slightly with enhanced reporting capabilities that show the current status of the network."
"Oracle VMs don't have a solid web interface of their own. This is an area where Oracle is lagging behind. Now, we use headless servers, install Oracle VMs, and manage them remotely. We could use phpVirtual Box, but it is a third-party solution. A lot of people contribute to it, and it's not authenticated by Oracle. As a result, I don't find it to be a good option. Therefore, I would like to see Oracle offer an extension pack or a licensed version that fixes this problem."
"The communications setup lags. It does not connect properly so the batching and networking is a bit slow."
"The product lacks scalability since it is for desktops and not for servers."
"When I select the Ubuntu operating system from within the virtual machine, it sometimes hangs."
"I think that this solution should be more user-friendly."
"It would be good if we could use Hyper-V Windows subsystems with Linux and VirtualBox on the same instance. Currently, to be able to use VirtualBox, we have to restart the machine into an instance of Windows where Hyper-V is disabled, which is understandably very inconvenient."
"This solution needs improvement with the business continuity planning, disaster and recovery management and using centralized data storage."
"It takes too much time to load all the plug-ins and software."
"They could add more integration between them, and compatibility with the standard virtualization format."
"The product's integration capabilities are an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"VMware Workstation uses more resources like CPU and disk space, especially the CPU, which is a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"It could have more platforms and CPUs."
"It would be great if VMware Workstation had more networking options and compatibility, that would be great. I would like to deploy virtual switches and play around with networking a bit more. Otherwise, I have to deploy ESXi Virtual Edition and emulate it, which is painful and clunky."
"I would want to see features included that make deployment easier."
"The big issue that we've always had with VMware, was the disparity between what was presented for a Windows-based client and a Linux-based client. The Windows client was always two or three releases ahead of the Linux client. We always wanted VMware to change and improve the feature sets between the client connector on Linux and on Windows."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"KVM is free."
"There is no cost involved in the use of KVM, as it is open source."
"It is cheaper than other solutions out there on the market."
"KVM is an open-source product that works well for us."
"This solution came with the Linux license."
"This solution is an open-source, free platform with paid support."
"The solution is extremely cheap in China."
"It is free for everyone."
"Price wise, Oracle VM VirtualBox is a six on a scale from one to ten."
"Pricing does not apply for us, we do not have to pay for the service."
"It is a very cost-effective solution."
"Everything is free within limitations. Once you go over a certain level of usage you have to license the product."
"Available for free use"
"It is pretty good for the price, which is free."
"There are no licensing fees."
"The product is free to use."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"The licensing costs are cheap. I pay approximately $100 per year."
"Licensing costs are paid on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is a bit steep in my opinion for testing and there are other options."
"VMware Workstation is an expensive solution in Asian countries."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Virtualization Software solutions are best for your needs.
817,653 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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.
 

Comparisons

 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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.
817,653 professionals have used our research since 2012.