Open-source Parallels Desktop alternatives

UTM emulates whole systems and hosts virtual machines on iOS and macOS, with a broad feature set. It is based on QEMU and lets you run Windows, Linux and other operating systems on a Mac, iPhone or iPad, with virtual machines created, managed and run directly from the device. The interface is written in Swift, and the project is released under the Apache-2.0 license.

Through QEMU, UTM supports more than thirty processor types, including x86-64, ARM64 and RISC-V, with VGA graphics through SPICE and QXL, a text terminal mode and USB devices. On macOS it adds hardware-accelerated virtualization using Hypervisor.framework and can run macOS guests through Virtualization.framework on macOS 12 and later. On iOS, full speed needs JIT, which requires a jailbreak or workarounds, so the project also offers UTM SE, a slower edition that uses a threaded interpreter and installs like a normal app.

Quickemu is a wrapper for QEMU that aims to do the right thing automatically when you create virtual machines. You choose the operating system you want to run, and the tools handle configuration. It is a set of shell scripts released under the MIT license, with no need to work through exhaustive QEMU options.

Two programs do the work: quickget downloads the upstream operating system and creates the configuration, and quickemu inspects your hardware and launches the virtual machine with settings that suit your computer. Virtual machines and their config can be stored anywhere, such as external USB storage or a home directory, and running them needs no elevated permissions.

Originally built for quickly testing Linux distributions, it now supports macOS releases from Mojave to Sequoia, Windows 10 and 11 including TPM 2.0, Windows Server, most BSDs and unusual systems such as FreeDOS, Haiku and ReactOS. The README cites nearly 1000 operating system editions. Features include SPICE clipboard sharing, VirtIO and Samba file sharing, and ARM64 guests. Hosts can be Linux or macOS.

VirtualBox is general-purpose full virtualization software for x86 64 hardware, with version 7.1 adding macOS on Arm. It is aimed at laptop, desktop, server and embedded use. This repository contains the source code for Oracle VirtualBox, written mostly in C, and the project is licensed under GPL-3.0.

It has a graphical user interface and is available for Linux, Windows, macOS and Solaris. The README calls out flexible networking and interactive performance as strong points. It is meant for anyone who needs to run several operating systems at once and has basic knowledge of PCs and operating system installation, with software testing named as a typical benefit.

Because VirtualBox is a complex product with many platform-specific dependencies, the README points to separate build instructions. The User Guide covers features and configuration, a technical documentation set is aimed at developers, and tutorials show how to install and run virtual machines. Oracle customers with a support contract use Oracle Support, while everyone else can use the forums and issue tracker.