Virtualization Software reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 218 Reddit reviews across 16 subreddits and 42 posts to rank the best Virtualization Software brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/homelab, r/virtualization, r/linuxquestions, r/debian, r/osx. Top-rated brands include VMware (4.2/5), Proxmox (4.3/5), Oracle (3.9/5).
Stats
Reviews218
Subreddits16
Posts42
Brands45
Products27
218 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
VMware
4.2
(45)
"VMware pro is now free for private use."
"I would recommend vmware workstation pro 17 every time, literally every fricking time!!!"
"VMware workstation pro works great."
"Give VMWare Workstation a try, it’s free for personal use. Easy to install, and anyone can create a VM and attach an iso and boot an OS on it."
"I just downloaded VMWare Workstation Pro (free for personal use)."
"Vmware Workstation Pro is now free"
"ESXi is the best hypervisor at this very moment."
"The best one for me is ESXi 6.7."
"The most reliable options are esxi, hyperv, kvm and xen."
"Nothing really beats VMware."
#2
Proxmox
4.3
(24)
"If you are willing to learn proxmox, you may find your use becomes more than casual, and you can run a ton of stuff on it."
"If you have a separate machine dedicated to this then proxmox. It’s enterprise grade but super easy to learn."
"I use Proxmox almost exclusively these days, but learned the ropes of creating VMs in VBox and VMWare."
"Proxmox. Fantastic. Well documented."
"Proxmox is the way to go. I'm also using a Intel i3 (dualcore) with 4gb of ram running 1 VM and serval LXC containers. Very fast response and low power usage."
"Hyper-V, ESXI, Proxmox, Plain jane KVM, Xen, they all are great tools for this. Personally, I use Proxmox."
"Proxmox does LXC, but not docker/k8s/etc."
"If the former, Proxmox is decent."
"Proxmox or XCP-NG."
"As an alternative, Proxmox."
#3
Oracle
3.9
(25)
"I've been using virtual box on windows with Linux guests as a development platform for a number of years now."
"Virtualbox is better."
"Virtualbox."
"If it’s on your main PC then virtual box or vmware workstation pro (if the free tier still exists)."
"Oracle VirtualBox sounds like something that might be up your alley..."
"Virtual box is cross-platform pretty straightforward and is decent."
"There isn't really anything better than VirtualBox for casual usage that is also cross-platform."
"On windows, virtualbox, and if you like to use both interchangeably use virtualbox since it runs on either."
"For the simplest experience, VirtualBox. This is cross-platform and will work on Windows, Linux or macOS and is made to be relatively accessible."
"VirtualBox"
#4
KVM
4.0
(20)
"Anything that uses KVM, since it's the best hypervisor for linux."
"I recently switched to Ubuntu + KVM with Windows 10 virtualized for Steam games."
"If you want something open-source and more ethical, use KVM, QEMU or Proxmox but be prepared for more of a learn"
"On linux, virt-manager with the KVM backend"
"On a Linux host, KVM/virt-manager"
"Need performance (gaming, graphics editing, or other intense work): Qemu/KVM."
"I prefer KVM w/ QEMU myself."
"I run OpenSUSE 15.1 which comes with KVM and it seems to work great."
"IMHO, Kvm +vmm are great."
"If you want something easy to set up, use KVM or Xen in OpenSUSE."
#5
Microsoft
4.0
(14)
"Rápido, seguro, e muito prático de usar."
"Hyper V if you're on Windows"
"Hyper-V is free and comes with windows."
"It is built into windows and will do what you want."
"If the latter, Hyper-V can be enabled with a Pro or above Windows license. VirtualBox also works well."
"If you have Windows 10/11 Pro, Hyper-V exists."
"Hyper-v or vbox should be good. i like the GUI of vbox more than hyper-v, but hyper-v typically performs better."
"If you have Windows 10/11 Pro, use Hyper-V."
"Hyper-V? Free and included with Windows 10"
"Hyper-V in Win10 does some level of USB pass thru."
#6
Parallels
4.0
(13)
"Parallels. 100%. I tried UTM, VMware fusion, Virtualbox, It's not even close."
"I settled on Parallels Desktop Pro. It seemed one step ahead of Fusion in performance."
"I have fallen for Parallels."
"My experience is that Parallels is the easiest to use but paid."
"Parallels and UTM"
"Parallels was the only one that had native M1 support."
"I use both, Parallels and Fusion but I ended up using VM for Windows and Linux."
"For someone tied to archaic work programs from the early 2000s, Parallels works best for me."
"I own both, and I'm currently using Parallels, mostly because it has better graphics capabilities."
"I've found the overall performance to be better on Parallels also."
#7
VMware Fusion
4.0
(10)
"VMware Fusion Player has a free perpetual license for personal use."
"VMware Fusion is super polished and by far the best available solution."
"The new version runs quite well."
"Vmware fusion is free and runs win-arm."
"VMware Fusion and Workstation feature vmrun tool that allows starting a program on a guest machine on its boot."
"I have used vmware fusion for years with no issues."
"I prefer VMWare Fusion... Feels lighter on the system."
"I use Fusion, because I have need of a Bootcamp partition as well as the occasional VM."
"I've had excellent luck with VMware Fusion."
"Virtualbox has significantly *worse* performance than VMware Fusion or Parallels."
#8
VirtualBox
3.6
(9)
"Virtualbox I think can do like a bat script on the host to start a vm and put it into full screen."
"Virtualbox will do just fine for your purposes."
"You can go with Virtualbox or Linux KVM."
"[virtualbox] has a similar set of features."
"I know VirtualBox guys your first two requirements."
"If you want something fast and easy, use Virtualbox."
"The other common option is VirtualBox."
"Try switching to something other than virtualbox then."
"You can't run Virtualbox on Arm processors."
#9
QEMU
3.9
(8)
"Qemu / kvm? I’m on Mac m1 and can run the ARM versions of windows / Linux OS"
"Qemu w/KVM is considered type 1."
"Qemu/KVM"
"Personally I use qemu or vmware workstation depending on the guest."
"You may want to look instead at using Qemu to emulate Mac OS 9.2"
"The audio emulation is implemented by QEMU (KVM is just the kernel-level hardwave virtualization part)."
"Qemu w/libvirt is type 2."
"I use QEMU, but good luck getting OSX to run in it."
#10
Unraid
4.5
(4)
"Unraid is also easily the most accessible out of the box so to speak."
"I recently bought in on unRAID and i have been completely floored by how perfect it is for a plex server / hypervisor."
"Unraid comes to mind."
"Unraid does more than vms, it doubles as a torrent box, plex server and ddns management for host."
#11
Microsoft Hyper-V
4.0
(3)
"Hyper-V is a nice option on Windows."
"Hyper-v. It is built into windows and will do what you want."
"Have you tried Hyper-V yet? It is built in to Windows 10 Pro, so you just need to enable it."
#12
Virt-Manager
4.0
(3)
"I like using this one https://virt-manager.org/"
"Virtual machine manager works well and is easy to setup."
"I’ve been enjoying virtual machine manager for my vms."
#13
Parallels Desktop
5.0
(2)
"Parallels are kings of virtualisation."
"I have been able to run anything I’ve thrown at Win11 Arm running in Parallels on Apple Silicon, even games"
#14
KVM/QEMU
5.0
(2)
"That is IMO the best solution, or rather KVM/QEMU is, and VMM is a great interface to it."
"I'd go with KVM/QEMU with VirtManager."
#15
VMware ESXi
4.5
(2)
"In my opinion, there is only one 'best' solution: ESXi with vCenter."
"Overhead-wise, ESXi is most efficient."
#16
XenServer
4.0
(2)
"I run Xenserver at home. All free and easy to manage."
"I have Xenserver set up on a couple laptops at work and it's very nice for free."
#17
UTM
4.0
(2)
"Free UTM is good for most tasks."
"Apparently UTM is available for intel macs too, the other common option is VirtualBox."
#18
Hyper-V
4.0
(2)
"Unless you need some decent GPU performance or need to pass through some specific USB devices to your virtual machines I would say the built-in Hyper-V should be sufficient."
"A simple Windows 10 installation with Hyper-V will do everything you need."
#19
QEMU/KVM
4.0
(2)
"I recommend it."
"Definitely go for QEMU/KVM."
#20
libvirt
5.0
(1)
"I'd second $FAV_LINUX (Debian for me) with libvirt - not only will the host OS be pretty idle."
#21
Docker
5.0
(1)
"Docker!"
#22
QEMU/KVM/Libvirt
5.0
(1)
"Qemu/kvm/libvirt for command-line management. Easily the best way to manage vm's if you're running a headless server."
#23
Incus
5.0
(1)
"Has os containers, docker containers and kvm virtual machines all in one cli. It's what I've been using in my systems at home and it's been great."
#24
Xen Orchestra
5.0
(1)
"If you are using xen and not using xenorchestra with it, you're missing out!"
#25
Linux KVM
4.0
(1)
"IMHO, ones based on Linux kvm. Because then you don't have to worry about everything being broken on an update."
#26
KVM Switch
4.0
(1)
"In general you'll get better performance on type 1."
#27
Linux OS
4.0
(1)
"Probably a linux flavor of your choice with virsh library."
#28
Proxmox VE
4.0
(1)
"You can install proxmox on top of Debian, but might not be what you're looking for."
#29
GNOME Boxes
4.0
(1)
"You could also use GNOME Boxes, which is a frontend to to libvirt just like VMM is."
#30
Harvester
4.0
(1)
"Coolest one I've started hearing about recently is Harvester."
#31
VMware Workstation
4.0
(1)
"Vmware workstation is paid version."
#32
Citrix Xen
4.0
(1)
"Xen by Citrix is not bad, they have a free version."
#33
SheepShaver
4.0
(1)
"SheepShaver is a great option for pre-OSX."
#34
oVirt
4.0
(1)
"Ovirt all in one as Hypervisor with Foreman VM to do the provisioning"
#35
Veeam
4.0
(1)
"If you have a VMWare license then you can't go wrong with Veeam."
#36
GhettoVCB
4.0
(1)
"GhettoVCB is what I used to use before I got my VMUG licenses. Works pretty well."
#37
Xen
4.0
(1)
"I have had great success with Debian as dom0 with Xen."
#38
VMware Workstation/Player
4.0
(1)
"You have a bunch of options to choose from: the free version of VMware Workstation/Player, Microsoft Hyper-V (built-in Windows 10 Pro), and VirtualBox."
#39
ESXi
4.0
(1)
"ESXI or Proxmox is the only real way to go."
#40
Xen Hypervisor
4.0
(1)
"Yep xen hypervisor"
#41
Virtualization Software
4.0
(1)
"Don't overthink it. Any of those solutions will work for you."
#42
VM Solutions
3.0
(1)
"Different vm solutions have different benefits."
#43
OpenVZ
3.0
(1)
"They all have their pros and cons. To be honest, it's more about what your prefer."
#44
5nine
3.0
(1)
"There's this for the GUI part, haven't tried it myself yet though."
#45
OpenStack
3.0
(1)
"OpenStack can be very daunting to set up manually, but it has a lot of deployment tools going for it"
Discover your audience
GummySearch is an audience research toolkit for 130,000 unique communities on Reddit.
If you are looking for startup problems to solve, want to validate your idea or find your customers online, GummySearch is for you.
Sign up for free, get community insights in minutes.
Tell me more
Get started
