VirtualBox vs. VMware vs. Parallels

Feature

VirtualBox

Parallels Workstation / Desktop

VMware Server / Workstation

Supported host operating systems

Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris 10U5, OpenSolaris, FreeBSD (under development)

Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Linux, OS X

Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Linux (32bit and 64bit), Mac OS X

Supported guest operating systems

DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, OS/2, Solaris, OpenSolaris, others

DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux, OS/2

DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris

64bit host OS support

yes

no

yes

64bit guest OS support

no (planned)

no

yes

Intel VT-x support (CPU virtualization extensions)

yes

yes

limited

AMD-V support (CPU virtualization extensions)

yes

yes

limited

Virtual network cards

up to 4

up to 4

up to 4

Virtual Disk Controller

IDE or SATA (up to 32 disks in a guest)

IDE

IDE or SCSI

USB support

yes

yes

yes

iSCSI support (VMs can directly access storage servers over iSCSI)

yes

no

no

Serial ports

up to 4

up to 4

yes

Parallel ports

no

up to 4

yes

CD/DVD writing

yes

no

no

3D acceleration

no

no

limited

Support of VMware images

yes

no

n/a

Headless operation

yes

no

yes

Remote VM access

Integrated RDP server

no

limited

Remote USB support

Yes, arbitrary devices

no

no

Seamless Windows

yes

yes ("coherence")

yes

Guest power status reporting

yes

no

in beta

API

Full API, 100% scriptable

no

yes

Open source

yes (dual licensed, some enterprise features are closed source)

no

no

Customizations

yes, upon request

no

no

License costs

Free

$49.99 for Windows/Linux, $79.99 for Mac OS X

Workstation around $199, Server free for end users, not redistributable