Parallels Desktop Alternatives

Parallels Desktop is described as 'Virtualization tool enabling seamless operation of Windows and Linux on Mac. Support for Windows 11 on Apple Silicon with resource customization' and is a very popular compatibility layer tool in the network & admin category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Parallels Desktop for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, BSD and Android apps. The best Parallels Desktop alternative is VirtualBox, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Parallels Desktop are Wine, WinBoat, QEMU and VMware Workstation Pro.

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Parallels Desktop alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Portable-VirtualBox is a free and open source software tool that lets you run any operating system from a usb stick without separate installation. It unpacks and adjusts the paths and configuration of VirtualBox so it will run portably.

    39 Portable Virtualbox alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  2. WinApps icon
     8 likes

    Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office/Adobe in Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) and GNOME/KDE as if they were a part of the native OS, including Nautilus integration.

    38 WinApps alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  3. RVVM icon
     3 likes

    RVVM is a virtual machine / emulator for RISC-V guests, which emphasizes on performance, security, lean code and portability. It already runs a lot of guest operating systems, including Linux, Haiku, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Windows
    • Mac
     
  4. Multipass icon
     7 likes

    Multipass is a lightweight VM manager for Linux, Windows and macOS. It's designed for developers who want a fresh Ubuntu environment with a single command. It uses KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows and HyperKit on macOS to run the VM with minimal overhead.

    59 Multipass alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
     
  5. ProtonPlus icon
     5 likes

    A simple Wine and Proton-based compatibility tools manager.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Arch Linux
    • Flathub
    • Fedora
    • Nix Package Manager
    • Wine
    • Flatpak
    • Vala
    • Proton
     
  6. QEMU Manager icon
     8 likes

    Qemu Manager is an easy to use management tool for the open-source QEMU emulator. It has a wealth of features for creating, managing and running multiple virtual machines.

    49 QEMU Manager alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  7. VirtualBuddy icon
     1 like

    VirtualBuddy can virtualize macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon, with the goal of offering features that are useful to developers who need to test their apps on multiple versions of macOS, especially betas.

    52 VirtualBuddy alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
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