Comparison of platform virtualization software
Platform virtualization software , specifically emulators and hypervisors , are software packages that emulate the whole physical computer machine, often providing multiple virtual machines on one physical platform. The table below compares basic information about platform virtualization hypervisors.
General
Name
Creator
Host CPU
Guest CPU
Host OS
Guest OS
License
86Box
Miran Grča
x86, x86-64, ARMv7, AArch64
x86 (Intel 8086 to Pentium II and compatible)
Windows , Linux
Windows , Linux , DOS , BSD , OS/2 , Haiku
GPL version 3
bhyve
FreeBSD
x86-64
x86 , x86-64
FreeBSD , Illumos
FreeBSD , FreeNAS , pfSense , OpenBSD , Linux , Windows , Illumos [ 1]
BSD
Bochs
Kevin J. Lawton
Any
x86 , x86-64
Windows , Linux , FreeBSD , Unix /X11 , Mac OS 9 , macOS , BeOS , MorphOS , OS/2 [ 2] [ 3]
Windows , Linux , DOS , BSD , OS/2 , Haiku
LGPL
Containers, or Zones
Sun Microsystems
x86, x86-64, SPARC (portable: not tied to hardware)
Same as host
Solaris 10, Solaris 11 , OpenSolaris 2009.06, illumos distributions
Solaris (8, 9, 10, 11), illumos , Linux (BrandZ )
CDDL
Cooperative Linux (coLinux)
Dan Aloni , other developers
x86
Same as host
Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista
Linux
GPL version 2
CHARON
Stromasys
x86, x86-64
PDP-11 , VAX , Alpha, HP3000 , Sparc
Windows, Linux
VMS, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, MPE/iX, RSX-11, RT11, RSTS, Solaris, SunOS
Proprietary
Denali
University of Washington
x86
x86
Denali
Ilwaco , NetBSD
Not distributed
DOSBox
Peter Veenstra, Sjoerd with community
Any
x86
Linux, Windows, classic Mac OS , macOS, BeOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX , IRIX, MorphOS, AmigaOS, Maemo , Symbian
Internally emulated MS-DOS shell; self-booting disks , unofficially Windows 1.0 to 98
GPL
DOSEMU
Community project
x86, x86-64
x86
Linux
DOS
GPL version 2
FreeBSD Jail
Poul-Henning Kamp / FreeBSD
Any running FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD
Same as host
FreeBSD , DragonFly BSD
same as host (shared *BSD kernel), plus Linux ABI through compat layer
BSD
GXemul
Anders Gavare
Any
ARM , MIPS , Motorola 88000 , PowerPC, SuperH
Unix-like
NetBSD , OpenBSD , Linux , Ultrix , Sprite
BSD
Hercules
Roger Bowler
Any
z/Architecture
Windows , FreeBSD , NetBSD , Linux , macOS
Linux on IBM Z , z/OS , z/VM , z/VSE , OS/360 , DOS/360 , DOS/VS , MVS , VM/370 , TSS/370
QPL
Hyper-V (2008)
Microsoft
x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V
x86-64, x86 (up to 8 physical CPUs)
Windows Server 2008 (R2 ) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server
Supported drivers for Windows 2000 , Windows 2003 , Windows 2008 , Windows XP , Windows Vista , FreeBSD , Linux (SUSE 10 released, more announced)
Proprietary
Hyper-V (2012)
Microsoft
x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, ARMv8[ 4]
x86-64, (up to 64 physical CPUs), ARMv8
Windows 8 , 8.1, 10, and Windows Server 2012 (R2 ) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server
Supported drivers for Windows NT , FreeBSD, Linux (SUSE 10, RHEL 6, CentOS 6)
Proprietary . Component of various Windows editions.
iCore Virtual Accounts
iCore Software
x86
x86
Windows XP
Windows XP
Proprietary
INTEGRITY
Green Hills Software
ARM, x86, PowerPC
Same as host
Linux, Windows
INTEGRITY native, Linux, Android , AUTOSAR , Windows (on some platforms)
Proprietary
Integrity Virtual Machines
Hewlett-Packard
IA-64
IA-64
HP-UX
HP-UX , Windows, Linux (OpenVMS announced)
Proprietary
JPC (Virtual Machine)
University of Oxford
Any running the Java Virtual Machine
x86
Java Virtual Machine
DOS, Linux, Windows up to 3.0
GPL version 2
KVM
Qumranet , now Red Hat
x86, x86-64, IA-64, with x86 virtualization , s390, PowerPC,[ 5] ARM [ 6]
Same as host
Linux, illumos
FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Windows, Plan 9
GPL version 2
Linux-VServer
Community project
x86, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, PowerPC 64, PA-RISC 64, SPARC64, ARM, S/390 , SH/66, MIPS
Compatible
Linux
Linux variants
GPL version 2
LynxSecure
LynuxWorks
x86
x86
No host OS
LynxOS , Linux, Windows
Proprietary
LXC
Community project, Canonical Ltd.
x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64, Itanium, ARM
Same as host
Linux
Linux variants
GPL version 2
OKL4 Microvisor
Open Kernel Labs , acquired by General Dynamics Corporation
ARM, x86, MIPS
ARM (v5, v6, v7, v8; paravirtualization ), ARMv7VE (hardware virtualization)
No Host OS
Various OSes and RTOSes including Linux, Android, QNX
Proprietary
OpenVZ
Community project, supported by SWsoft , now Parallels, Inc.
x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64
Same as host
Linux
same as host (shared Linux kernel), choice of userland distribution
GPL
Oracle VM Server for x86
Oracle Corporation
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
No host OS
Microsoft Windows, Oracle Linux , Red Hat Enterprise Linux , Solaris
GPLv2 , Oracle VM Server; Manager is proprietary
OVPsim
OVP
x86
OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/700, ARM; and public API which enables users to write custom processor models, RISC, CISC, DSP, VLIW all possible
Microsoft Windows, Linux
Depends on target machine, for example includes MIPS Malta that runs Linux or SMP-Linux; and includes public API which enables users to write custom peripheral and system models
Proprietary , Apache 2.0 for models
Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels, Inc.
x86
x86, x86-64, aarch64
macOS
DOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, Solaris, Haiku
Proprietary
Parallels Workstation (discontinued 2013)
Parallels, Inc.
x86
x86
Windows, Linux
Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2 , eComStation , DOS, Solaris, Haiku
Proprietary
PearPC
Sebastian Biallas
x86, x86-64, PowerPC
PowerPC
Windows, Linux, OS X , FreeBSD, NetBSD
Mac OS X , Darwin , Linux
GPL
PikeOS
SYSGO
PowerPC, x86, ARM, MIPS, SPARC, RISC-V
Same as host
No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts
PikeOS native, Linux, ELinOS , Windows , POSIX, AUTOSAR, Android, RTEMS , OSEK , ARINC 653 APEX, ITRON
Proprietary
Proxmox VE
Proxmox
x86-64
x86, x86-64
Debian Based
Windows, Linux, Linux variants, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances , Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku , Darwin
AGPLv3
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms)
Oracle Corporation
UltraSPARC T1 , UltraSPARC T2 , UltraSPARC T2+, SPARC T3 , SPARC T4
Compatible
Solaris 10, Solaris 11
Oracle support: Solaris; unsupported: Linux, FreeBSD
Proprietary
PowerVM
IBM
POWER4 , POWER5 , POWER6 , POWER7 , POWER8 , POWER9 , Power10
POWER4/5/6/7/8/9/Power10, x86 (PowerVM-Lx86 )
PowerVM Firmware
Linux PowerPC, x86; AIX , IBM i
Proprietary
QEMU
Fabrice Bellard , other developers
x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC, SPARC 32/64, ARM, S/390, MIPS
x86, x86-64, Alpha, ARM, CRIS, LM32, M68k , MicroBlaze, MIPS, OpenRisc32, PowerPC, S/390, SH4, SPARC 32/64, Unicore32, Xtensa
Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS
Changes regularly[ 7]
GPL /LGPL
QEMU w/ kqemu module
Fabrice Bellard
x86, x86-64
Same as host
Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Windows
Changes regularly[ 7]
GPL /LGPL
QEMU w/ qvm86 module
Paul Brook
x86
x86
Linux, NetBSD, Windows
Changes regularly
GPL
QuickTransit
Transitive Corp.
x86, x86-64, IA-64, POWER
MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, x86
Linux, OS X , Solaris
Linux, OS X , Irix, Solaris
Proprietary
RTS Hypervisor
Real-Time Systems GmbH
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
No host OS
Windows, Linux, Windows Embedded, QNX, RTOS-32, VxWorks, OS-9, T-Kernel
Proprietary
ScaleMP vSMP Foundation
ScaleMP
x86, x86-64
Same as host
No host OS
Linux
Proprietary
SIMH
Bob Supnik, The Computer History Simulation Project
Alpha, ARM, HPPA, x86, IA-64, x86-64, M68K, MIPS, MIPSel, POWER, s390, SPARC
Data General Nova , Eclipse ; Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 , PDP-4 , PDP-7 , PDP-8 , PDP-9 , PDP-10 , PDP-11, PDP-15 , VAX; GRI Corporation GRI-909; IBM 1401 , 1620 , 1130 , 7090/7094 , System/3 ; Interdata (Perkin-Elmer ) 16b/32b systems; Hewlett-Packard 2114, 2115, 2116, 2100, 21MX; Honeywell H316/H516; MITS Altair 8800 with 8080 and Z80 ; Royal McBee LGP-30 , LGP-21; Scientific Data Systems SDS 940
BSD, Linux, Solaris, VMS, Windows
Depends on target machine, includes NetBSD/VAX, OpenBSD/VAX, VAX/VMS , Unix v6 , Unix v7 , TOPS-10 , TOPS-20 , ITS
BSD-like, unique
Simics
Virtutech , acquired by Intel
x86, x86-64
8051, 68000, ARM (v4, v5, v6, v7), MIPS32, MIPS64, Cavium cnMIPS, Broadcom XLR MIPS, Freescale (e300, e500, e600, e5500, e6500), IBM (POWER, PPC44x, PPC46x, 47x), SPARC v8 (LEON), SPARC v9 (UltraSparc), x86 (from 80286 to Sandy Bridge), x86-64 (from Pentium4 to Sandy Bridge), TI TMS320C64xx , Renesas H8, Renesas SH
Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit
Depends on target machine, typically runs unmodified software stacks from the corresponding real target, including VxWorks , VxWorks 653, OSE , QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows, FreeBSD, RTEMS , TinyOS , Wind River Hypervisor, VMware ESX, and others
Proprietary
Sun xVM Server
Sun Microsystems
x86-64, SPARC
Same as host
No host OS
Windows XP, 2003 Server (x86-64 only), Linux, Solaris
GPL version 3
SVISTA 2004
Serenity Systems International
x86
x86
Windows, OS/2, Linux
Windows, Linux, OS/2, BSD
Proprietary
TRANGO
TRANGO Virtual Processors, Grenoble, France
ARM, XScale , MIPS, PowerPC
Paravirtualized ARM, MIPS, PowerPC
No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts
Linux, eCos , μC/OS-II , WindowsCE , Nucleus , VxWorks
Proprietary
User Mode Linux
Jeff Dike , other developers
x86, x86-64, PowerPC
Same as host
Linux
Linux
GPL version 2
VirtualBox
Innotek, acquired by Oracle Corporation
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, and VirtualBox 2 or later)
Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, eComStation
DOS, Linux, macOS,[ 8] FreeBSD, Haiku , OS/2, Solaris, Syllable, Windows, and OpenBSD (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, due to otherwise tolerated incompatibilities in the emulated memory management).[ 9]
GPL version 2; full version with extra enterprise features is proprietary
Virtual Iron 3.1
Virtual Iron Software, Inc., acquired by Oracle
x86 VT-x, x86-64 AMD-V
x86, x86-64
No host OS
Windows, Linux
Proprietary , some components GPLv2[ 10]
Virtual Machine Manager
Red Hat
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
Linux
Linux, Windows
GPL version 2
Virtual PC 2007 (discontinued)
Connectix and Microsoft
x86, x86-64
x86
Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise, Ultimate), XP Pro, XP Tablet PC Edition
DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux (SUSE, Xubuntu), OpenSolaris (Belenix)
Proprietary
Windows Virtual PC (discontinued)
Connectix and Microsoft
x86, x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V
x86
Windows 7
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008
Proprietary
Virtual PC 7 for Mac
Connectix and Microsoft
PowerPC
x86
Mac OS X
Windows, OS/2, Linux
Proprietary
VirtualLogix VLX
VirtualLogix
ARM, TI DSP C6000, x86, PowerPC
Same as host
No host OS
Linux, Windows XP, C5, VxWorks , Nucleus, DSP/BIOS , proprietary
Proprietary
Virtual Server 2005 R2
Connectix and Microsoft
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
Windows Server 2003, 2008, XP (Requires IIS)
Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu)
Proprietary
Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform
CoWare
x86, x86-64, SPARC v9
Devices including (multi) cores from ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, Toshiba MeP , Renesas SH, Texas Instruments , Tensilica , ZSP
Windows, Linux, Solaris
Depends on guest CPU; includes: Linux (various flavors), μITRON (various flavors), Windows CE, Symbian , more
Proprietary
Virtuozzo
SWsoft , now Virtuozzo Inc
x86, IA-64, x86-64
same as host
Linux
same as host (shared Linux kernel)
Proprietary
vkernel
Matthew Dillon / DragonFly BSD
x86-64
same as host
DragonFly BSD
any compatible vkernel binary of DragonFly
BSD
VMM
OpenBSD
x86, x86-64
same as host
OpenBSD
OpenBSD and Linux guests
BSD
VMware ESX Server
VMware
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
No host OS
Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances , Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku , Darwin , others: runs arbitrary OS[ a]
Proprietary
VMware ESXi
VMware
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
No host OS
Same as VMware ESX Server
Proprietary
VMware Fusion
VMware
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
macOS
Same as VMware ESX Server
Proprietary
VMware Server
VMware
x86, x86-64
x86, x86-64
Windows, Linux
Same as VMware ESX Server
Proprietary
VMware Workstation
VMware
x86-64[ b]
x86, x86-64
Windows, Linux
Same as VMware ESX Server
Proprietary
VMware Player , later VMware Workstation Player
VMware
x86-64[ c]
x86, x86-64
Windows, Linux
Same as VMware ESX Server
Proprietary , free for personal non-commercial use[ 11] [ 12]
Wind River Hypervisor
Wind River
x86, x86-64, PowerPC, ARM
Same as host
No host OS
Linux, VxWorks, unmodified guests (including MS Windows and RTOSes such ach OSE, QNX and others), bare metal virtual board
Proprietary
Xen
Xensource , Now Citrix Systems
x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive)
Same as host
Linux, Unix-like
Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (requires Intel VT-x (Vanderpool) or AMD-V (Pacifica)-capable CPU), Plan 9
GNU GPLv2 +
XCP-ng
By Vates SAS
x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive)
Same as host
No host OS
Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows, Windows Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9
GNU GPLv2 +[ 13]
XenServer
By Citrix Systems
x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive)
Same as host
No host OS
Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9
GNU GPLv2 +
XtratuM
fentISS
SPARC v8 LEON2/3/4, ARM v7
Same as host
No host OS
GPOS: Linux, RTOS: LithOS, RTEMS
Proprietary , GPL version 2 depending on versions
z/VM
IBM
z/Architecture
z/Architecture, z/VM does not run on predecessor mainframes
No host OS, itself (single or multiple levels/versions deep; e.g., VM/ESA running in z/VM 4.4 in z/VM 5.2 in z/VM 5.1.)
Linux on IBM Z , z/OS , z/VSE , z/TPF , z/VM, VM/CMS , MUSIC/SP , OpenSolaris for System z , predecessors
Proprietary
z LPARs
IBM
z/Architecture
z/Architecture
Integrated in firmware of System z mainframes
Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, MUSIC/SP, and predecessors
Proprietary
Name
Creator
Host CPU
Guest CPU
Host OS(s)
Guest OS(s)
License
Features
Name
Guest OS SMP available
Runs arbitrary OS
Supported guest OS drivers
Method of operation
Typical use
Speed relative to host OS
Commercial support available
Containers , or Zones
Yes, over 500-way on current systems
No
Uses native device drivers
Operating system-level virtualization
Server consolidation with workload isolation, single workload containment, hosting, dev/test/prod
Near native
Yes
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Yes, up to 4 VCPUs per VM
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, desktop virtualization, cloud computing
Up to near native[citation needed ] [3]
Yes
OpenVZ
Yes
No
Compatible
Operating system-level virtualization
Virtualized server isolation
Up to near native[citation needed ] [4]
Yes
KVM
Yes[ 14]
Yes
Yes
AMD-V and Intel-VT-x
Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes
Up to near native[citation needed ] [5]
Yes[ 15]
Linux-VServer
Yes
No
Compatible
Operating system-level virtualization
Virtualized server isolation and security, server consolidation, cloud computing
Up to near native[citation needed ] [6]
Yes
Oracle VM Server for x86
Yes
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization
Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms)
Yes
Yes, but needs porting[ 16]
Yes
Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization
Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
OVPsim
Yes
Yes
?
Full system simulation with optional component virtualization
Software development (early, embedded), advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, hobbyist
Depends on target architecture (full and slow hardware emulation for guests incompatible with host)[citation needed ]
Yes, with commercial license from Imperas[ 17]
PikeOS
Yes
Yes, but modifications required as paravirtualization is used
Yes
Paravirtualization
Safety and security critical embedded systems .
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
ScaleMP vSMP Foundation
Yes, up to 8,192 CPUs and 64 TB per VM[citation needed ]
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, Cloud computing
?
Yes
Simics
Yes
Yes
Yes
Full system simulation of processors, MMUs, devices, disks, memories, networks, etc.
Software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, bug transportation, automated testing, system architecture, long-term support of safety-critical systems, early hardware availability, virtual prototyping
Depends on host machine and target architecture. Runs at near-native speeds for x86-on-x86 using VT-x, cross-simulation of other architectures can be faster or slower than real-time depending on how fast the target is and how big the target is (number of processors, number of target machines, and how much the simulation can be parallelized)
Yes
Sun xVM Server
Yes
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization
Servers, Development
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
SVISTA 2004
No
?
?
?
Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation
?
?
TRANGO
Yes
Yes[7]
Yes
Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization
Mob. phone, STB, routers, etc.
Near native[8] [citation needed ]
?
User Mode Linux
?
No
special guest kernel+modules required
Porting
Developer (as a separate machine for a server or with X11 networking)
Non-significantly slower than native [9] (all calls to kernel are proxied)[citation needed ]
?
OKL4 Microvisor
Yes
Yes, (either with para-virtualization or HW virtualization)
Yes
Paravirtualization , Hardware assisted virtualization
Mobile, embedded, security, safety critical, networking, legacy OS, etc.
Near native
Yes
Oracle VirtualBox
Yes
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Business workstation, server consolidation, service continuity, developer, hobbyist
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes (with commercial license)
Virtual Iron 3.1
Yes, up to 8 way
Yes
Yes
Native virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test
?
Yes
Virtual PC 2007
No
Yes
Yes
Virtualization , guest calls trapping where supported
Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation
Up to near native[citation needed ] with virtual machine additions
?
Windows Virtual PC
Yes[citation needed ]
Yes
Yes
Hardware virtualization
Developer, Business workstation, support for Compatibility with Windows XP applications
Up to near native[citation needed ] with virtual machine additions
No
Virtual PC 7 for Mac
No
Yes
Yes
dynamic recompilation (guest calls trapping where supported)
Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation
Slow [citation needed ]
?
Virtual Server 2005 R2
No
Yes
Yes
Virtualization (guest calls trapping where supported)
Server, server farm
Up to near native with virtual machine additions but slower than with hypervisor due to proxied calls[citation needed ]
?
CoWare Virtual Platform
Yes
Yes
Yes ( Same compiled Software image as for the real device)
Full-system virtualization (Processor Core ISA + Hardware + External connections)
Early embedded software development and integration (from driver to application), Multi-core software debugging and optimization
Depending on the system characteristics and the software itself, ranges from faster than real time to slow[citation needed ] .
Yes
Virtuozzo
Yes
No
Compatible
Operating system-level virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, disaster recovery, service providers
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware ESXi Server 5.5 (vSphere)
Yes, add-on, up to 64 way
No
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing, business critical applications, Infrastructure as a Service IaaS
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware ESX Server 4.0 (vSphere)
Yes, add-on, up to 8 way
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware ESX Server 3.0
Yes, add-on, up to 4 way
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3
Yes, add-on, 2 way
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware Fusion
Yes
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware Server
Yes (2-way)
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Server/desktop consolidation, dev/test
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware Workstation
Yes (2-way)
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization (VMI ) and virtualization
Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer
Up to near native[citation needed ]
Yes
VMware Player
Yes[ 18]
Yes
Yes
Virtualization
Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer, end user on prebuilt machines
Up to near native[citation needed ]
No
Xen
Yes, v4.0.0: up to 128 VCPUs per VM
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization
Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode.
Up to native[ 19]
Yes
XCP-ng
Yes
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization
Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, desktop virtualization, public cloud services, hostings services and other purposes.
Up to native[citation needed ]
Yes
XenServer
Yes
Yes
Yes
Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization
Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode.
Up to native[ 19]
Yes
XtratuM
Yes
No
Yes
Paravirtualization
Embedded, safety critical, secure
Near to native[citation needed ]
Yes
z/VM
Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment
Yes
Yes, but not required
Virtualization (among first systems to provide hardware assists)
Servers
Near native[10]
Yes
z LPARs
Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment; up to 64 real cores
Yes
Yes, but not required
Microcode and hardware hypervisor
Servers
Native: System z machines always run with at least one LPAR
Yes
Name
Guest OS SMP available
Runs arbitrary OS
Supported guest OS drivers
Method of operation
Typical use
Speed relative to host OS
Commercial support available
^ Providing any virtual environment usually requires some overhead of some type or another. Native usually means that the virtualization technique does not do any CPU level virtualization (like Bochs), which executes code more slowly than when it is directly executed by a CPU. Some other products such as VMware and Virtual PC use similar approaches to Bochs and QEMU, however they use a number of advanced techniques to shortcut most of the calls directly to the CPU (similar to the process that JIT compiler uses) to bring the speed to near native in most cases. However, some products such as coLinux, Xen, z/VM (in real mode) do not suffer the cost of CPU-level slowdowns as the CPU-level instructions are not proxied or executing against an emulated architecture since the guest OS or hardware is providing the environment for the applications to run under. However access to many of the other resources on the system, such as devices and memory may be proxied or emulated in order to broker those shared services out to all the guests, which may cause some slow downs as compared to running outside of virtualization.
^ OS-level virtualization is described as "native" speed, however some groups have found overhead as high as 3% for some operations, but generally figures come under 1%, so long as secondary effects do not appear.
^ See[ 20] for a paper comparing performance of paravirtualization approaches (e.g. Xen) with OS-level virtualization
^ Requires patches/recompiling.
^ Exceptional for lightweight, paravirtualized , single-user VM/CMS interactive shell: largest customers run several thousand users on even single prior models. For multiprogramming OSes like Linux on IBM Z and z/OS that make heavy use of native supervisor state instructions, performance will vary depending on nature of workload but is near native. Hundreds into the low thousands of Linux guests are possible on a single machine for certain workloads.
Image type compatibility
Other features
Name
Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest
USB support
GUI
Live memory allocation
3D acceleration
Snapshots per VM
Snapshot of running system
Live migration
Shared folders
Shared clipboard
PCI passthrough
KVM
Yes
Yes
Yes[ 24]
Yes
Yes (via AIGLX )
Yes
Yes[ 25]
Yes[ 26]
Yes
User Mode Linux
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
N/A
Containers, or Zones
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Not needed
Yes[ 27]
Yes
No
Yes
Not needed
Not needed
DosBox
No
No
SVN builds only
No
Glide (SVN builds only)
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Oracle VirtualBox (formerly OSE, GPLv2), with Guest Additions (GPLv2)[ 28]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes branched[ 29]
Yes
Yes
with Guest Additions[ 30]
with Guest Additions[ 30]
No
Oracle VirtualBox with Extension Pack (PUEL) and Guest Additions (GPLv2)[ 28]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
OpenGL 2.0 and Direct3D 8/9[ 31]
Yes branched[ 29]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Retired (Until 6.0;[ 32] Linux only[ 33] )
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms)
Yes
USB 2.0
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
OKL4 Microvisor
Yes
Yes
VMs only
Yes
Yes
No
Static assignment
Virtual Iron 4.2
Yes
Virtual PC 2007
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Windows Virtual PC
No
partially
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
VirtualPC 7 for Mac
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2
No
Yes
No
No
?
Yes
No
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Yes
Partial support over remote desktop connections [11]
Yes
Yes
DirectX 9.0c [12] (via RemoteFX )
Yes branched
Yes
Yes
No
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
DirectX 9.0c [13] (via RemoteFX )
Yes branched
Yes
Yes
No
Virtuozzo
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
VMware ESX Server 3.0 atp
Yes
No
?
Yes
Yes
No
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3
Yes
No
No
VMware ESX Server 4.0 – 6.x (vSphere)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes[ 34]
VMware Fusion 2.0
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
DirectX 9 Shader model 2
No
No
VMware Server
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
1
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
VMware Workstation 5.5
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Experimental support for DirectX 8; also supported with VMGL [ 35]
Yes branched
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
VMware Workstation 6.0
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Experimental support for DirectX 8; Also supported with VMGL [ 35]
Yes branched
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
VMware Workstation 7.0 and 8.0
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Support for DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.13D.[ 36]
Yes branched
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
VMware Player
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
supported with VMGL [ 35]
No
No
No
Yes
No
Wind River hypervisor
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform
Yes
Xen
Yes
Yes[ 37]
Yes[ 24]
Yes
Supported with VMGL [ 35]
?
Yes
Yes
Yes
XCP-ng
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
XenServer
Yes
Yes[ 24]
Yes
Supported with VMGL [ 35]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
z/VM
Yes
Not applicable
Yes (zURM/HMC)
Yes
Not applicable
Yes (2011)
Not applicable
Not applicable
z LPARs
Yes
Not applicable
Yes (HMC)
Yes
Not applicable
Yes (2007)
Not applicable
Not applicable
Name
Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest
USB
GUI
Live memory allocation
3D acceleration
Snapshots per VM
Snapshot of running system
Live migration
Shared folders
Shared clipboard
PCI passthrough
^ Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 have limited support for redirecting the USB protocol over RDP using RemoteFX .[ 38]
^ Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds accelerated graphics support for certain editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 using RemoteFX.[ 39] [ 40]
Restrictions
This table is meant to outline restrictions in the software dictated by licensing or capabilities.
Name
Maximum host cores / CPUs
Maximum host memory
Maximum host disk volume size
Maximum number of guest VM running
Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest
Maximum amount of memory per VM guest
Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest
Maximum disk size per VM guest
Containers, or Zones
No theoretical limit (largest SPARC has 384 physical cores)
32 TB (largest SPARC)
No limit
8191
No limit
No limit
No limit
No limit
VMware Player 15.0[ 41]
No limit
No limit
No limit
No limit
16
4 GB (32-bit); 64 GB (64-bit)
?
8 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 4.1)[ 42]
160 logical cores
1 TB
2 TB minus 512 bytes
320
8
255 GB
4 IDE; 60 SCSI
2 TB minus 512 bytes
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.0)[ 43]
160 logical cores
2 TB
64 TB
512
32
1 TB
4 IDE; 60 SCSI
2 TB minus 512 bytes
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5) (free)[ 44]
16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs
4 TB
Depending on filesystem
512
8
1 TB
4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA
62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5)[ 45]
16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs
4 TB
Depending on filesystem
512
64
1 TB
4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA
62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 6.7)[ 46]
16 NUMA Nodes / 768 logical CPUs
16 TB
Depending on filesystem
1024
256
6128 GB
4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe
62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 7.0)[ 47]
16 NUMA Nodes / 896 logical CPUs
24 TB
Depending on filesystem
1024
768
24 TB
4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe
62 TB
VirtualBox
No limit
No limit
No limit
No limit[ 48]
32
No limit
4 IDE; no limit for SATA, SCSI, SAS
GUI: 2 TB Command line: no limit
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2[ 49]
64 cores / 8 CPUs[ 50]
1 TB
No limit
384
4
64 GB
4 IDE; 256 SCSI
2 TB
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012[ 51]
320 cores / 64 CPUs[ 52]
4 TB
No limit
1024
64
1 TB
4 IDE; 256 SCSI
64 TB
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016[ 53]
512 cores / 320 CPUs
24 TB
No limit
1024
240
12 TB
4 IDE; 256 SCSI
64 TB
Xen XCP-ng Xen Server[ 54] [ 55] [ 56] [ 57]
16383 CPUsx86 8 CPUsARM32 128 CPUsARM64
16 TBx86 16 GBARM32 5 TBARM64
No limit
No limit
512 PVx86 / 128 HVMx86 8ARM32 128ARM64
>1 TB PVx86 / 1 TB HVMx86 16 GBARM32 1 TBARM64
?
?
Name
Maximum host cores / CPUs
Maximum host memory
Maximum host disk volume size
Maximum number of guest VM running
Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest
Maximum amount of memory per VM guest
Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest
Maximum disk size per VM guest
Note: No limit means no enforced limit. For example, a VM with 1 TB of memory cannot fit in a host with only 8 GB memory and no memory swap disk, so it will have a limit of 8 GB physically.
See also
Notes
^ Can run a guest OS without modifying it, and hence is generally able to run any OS that could run on a physical machine the VM simulates.
^ Older versions of VMware Workstation support x86 .
^ Older versions of VMware Player /VMware Workstation Player support x86.
References