Oracle VirtualBox vs. Parallels Desktop for Mac

Oracle VirtualBox

154 Reviews and Ratings

Parallels Desktop for Mac

87 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Oracle VirtualBox	Score9.3 out of 10	N/A	Oracle VirtualBox is an open source, cross-platform, virtualization software, enables developers to deliver code faster by running multiple operating systems on a single device.	$0 per month
Parallels Desktop for Mac	Score9.7 out of 10	N/A	Parallels® Desktop for Mac is used to run Windows on Intel or Apple silicon. Users can switch between Mac and Windows applications, while retaining the macOS appearance, or use the familiar Windows desktop aesthetic.	$99.99 per year

Pricing

Oracle VirtualBox

Parallels Desktop for Mac

No answers on this topic

Parallels Desktop Standard Edition: $99.99
per year
Mac App Store: $99.99
per year
Parallels Desktop Pro Edition: $119.99
per year
Parallels Desktop Business Edition: $149.99
per year

Pricing Offerings
Oracle VirtualBox	Parallels Desktop for Mac
Free Trial
No	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

—

—

Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Oracle VirtualBox	Parallels Desktop for Mac
Considered Both Products	Oracle Alejandro Daniel Copati CoFunder & Hardware Head in Engineering at Xavia IOT (Internet, 1-10 employees) Chose Oracle VirtualBox While Parallels Desktop has always positioned itself better than VirtualBox, it will never be able to compete against free and open-source software. Yes, it is true that it has some extra seasonings that can make the scale move towards Parallels at the time of the election, … Incentivized Helpful? Aaron Pinsker Owner in Information Technology at Colorado Computer Care (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Oracle VirtualBox The main benefits of Oracle VM VirtualBox are its licensing terms (it is free), its open-source nature, and its active community. However, its various competitors do a much better job when it comes to both ease of use and, most importantly, speed. For example, Parallels Desktop … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Oracle VirtualBox I have used Parallels as well as VMware Workstation and have always returned to VirtualBox. VirtualBox is free which makes it easy to try. Compared to the others, it does everything I need. In +7 years I have not been able to justify the cost of a Parallels Desktop or VMware … Incentivized Helpful? Nate Dillon Front-End Web Developer, Office of Mediated Education in Information Technology at Kansas State University (Higher Education, 5001-10,000 employees) Chose Oracle VirtualBox We primarily use Oracle VM VirtualBox because it's free, and it is the default provider for Vagrant, which we use for our development VMs. The user interface of VirtualBox looks a little clunky in macOS, but I actually almost never see the main VirtualBox interface because I … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Oracle VirtualBox With regards to how some of the other virtualization software packages stack up again VirtualBox, I would say VirtualBox is ahead of the game especially when it comes to cost savings, as there is no ongoing cost for running the software. A big disadvantage to one of the other … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Oracle VirtualBox Parallels works very nicely on Macintosh computers, but I prefer to use VirtualBox when possible because of the costly subscription fees and poor networking support of Parallels. I recommend VirtualBox as well for any user that wishes to experiment with various operating systems. Incentivized Helpful?	Alludo Eduardo Ponce de León Managing Director in Corporate at Webreria (Publishing, 11-50 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac The decision was based on ease of use, price and technical support. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Parallels Desktop is faster when compared to other solutions, assuming that is for Mac computers only, is the fastest option and easiest to run Incentivized Helpful? Eddie Galvez VP in Engineering at Cloud Software Group (Computer Software, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Performance for graphically intensive apps or development tools isn't as smooth as Parallels achieves, at least on M-chip MacBooks. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Parallels Desktop has better experience for MacOS if we compare to VMware Workstation Pro. It has more extensions and feature that working great on MacOS environment. Support working multi virtual machines on the same time and no limit (if you have a powerful laptop) I am … Incentivized Helpful? Will Goad VP - Solutions in Professional Services at Workgroups DaVinci (Computer Software, 1-10 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac If you can follow a prompt and click a button, you can install Parallels. We chose Parallels because they make it so simple to buy, install, set up, and add licenses. I work with Creatives and getting them to run a Windows environment is a painful task. With Parallels, we can … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac At the end of the day, it seemed like Parallels Desktop has the fastest product with a feature set that was most important to our users. Additionally, it seemed to hit a mark where it was easy enough for our less tech-savvy users, but powerful enough for our users that really … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Parallels Desktop ends up filling the sweet spot between free, but basic application (VirtualBox), and fully featured enterprise application (VMware Fusion.). Even at this point, we don't use all of the features of Parallels, but the perceived performance boost over VirtualBox … Incentivized Helpful? Damien Dolan Business Analyst Developer in Information Technology at Silberline (Chemicals, 501-1000 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac It's cheaper for one, it also is the company's sole focus so you know it is getting a lot of support on their end. I also feel it is easier to use. It is its own standalone and doesn't have any other flavors or variations like VMware. One stop software solution that works. Incentivized Helpful? Stefan Boeykens sr. BIM Manager in Research & Development at D-studio (Construction, 1-10 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac I have used VirtualBox on Windows as a free alternative, as I only used it to access an old scanner without recent drivers. So far, I stick with Parallels, but the OpenGL limitations are said to be resolved better with VMware Fusion. But I currently don't want to migrate to … Incentivized Helpful? Aaron Pace Operations Manager in Corporate at Icon Distributing (Wholesale, 11-50 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Prior to using Parallels, I ran under Boot Camp. Of course, the OS runs just fine that way, but having to power down and back up each time I wanted to switch environments just wasn't working for me. That's what sent me looking for another solution. I tried Oracle VM VirtualBox, … Incentivized Helpful? Denise Wade IT support specialist /Mac Support in Information Technology at Graduate Center (Information Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees) Chose Parallels Desktop for Mac Parallels Desktop for Mac was chosen because of its robust features and great price. Even though VirtualBox is free it does not provide the same features. In Parallels you can download extra patches to accommodate printer and usb drivers. Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

Features

Oracle VirtualBox

Parallels Desktop for Mac

Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Oracle VirtualBox and Parallels Desktop for Mac
Feature	Oracle VirtualBox 8.2 50 Ratings	Parallels Desktop for Mac - Ratings
Virtual machine automated provisioning	8.036 Ratings	00 Ratings
Management console	8.846 Ratings	00 Ratings
Live virtual machine backup	8.236 Ratings	00 Ratings
Live virtual machine migration	7.033 Ratings	00 Ratings
Hypervisor-level security	9.029 Ratings	00 Ratings

Comparison of Application Virtualization features of Oracle VirtualBox and Parallels Desktop for Mac
Feature	Oracle VirtualBox - Ratings	Parallels Desktop for Mac 8.7 2 Ratings
Application support	00 Ratings	8.12 Ratings
Ease of deployment	00 Ratings	9.12 Ratings
Security	00 Ratings	9.12 Ratings

User Ratings
	Oracle VirtualBox	Parallels Desktop for Mac
Likelihood to Recommend	9.7 (53 ratings)	9.2 (32 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (4 ratings)	10.0 (2 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (7 ratings)	10.0 (4 ratings)
Availability	8.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Performance	10.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Support Rating	10.0 (2 ratings)	9.0 (6 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (2 ratings)	10.0 (2 ratings)
Configurability	9.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Product Scalability	8.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)