Virtual machines (VMs) allow users to run multiple operating systems on a single physical computer. Virtualization software emulates physical hardware, creating VMs that utilize the underlying physical resources. This enables greater flexibility and efficiency in computing. Users can run different operating systems or multiple instances of an OS without needing separate physical machines for each one. Some key virtualization software providers include VirtualBox and VMware.
VirtualBox is a free, open source virtualization product from Oracle. VMware offers proprietary commercial virtualization software. While both allow virtual machine creation, there are key differences between VirtualBox vs. VMware in terms of features, performance, ease of use, security and cost. This article provides an overview of both solutions.
Background on VirtualBox
VirtualBox was originally developed by Innotek GmbH and first released as open source software in January 2007 under the name “VirtualBox OSE” (Oracle VM VirtualBox, n.d.1). In 2008, Sun Microsystems acquired Innotek and continued development on VirtualBox. The product was renamed “Oracle VM VirtualBox” after Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010 (VirtualBox explained | infosec-jobs.com, 20222).
Some key milestones in VirtualBox’s history include the release of 64-bit guest support in version 2.0 in 2008 and the addition of remote machine display in version 4.0 in 2010. More recently, VirtualBox 6.0 added support for exporting virtual machines to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in 2018 (Oracle VM VirtualBox, n.d.1). Throughout its history, VirtualBox has focused on expanding platform support, adding new features, and improving performance and usability.
Background on VMware
VMware was founded in 1998 by Diane Greene, Mendel Rosenblum, Scott Devine, Edward Wang and Edouard Bugnion. Rosenblum was a professor at Stanford University and came up with the initial concept of virtual machine technology as part of a research project. He, along with his wife Diane Greene, decided to create a company around this virtualization technology and thus VMware was born.
The first product launched by VMware was VMware Workstation in 1999 which allowed software developers and engineers to run multiple operating systems on a single PC. This was followed by VMware GSX Server in 2001 which provided server consolidation and paved the way for VMware’s venture into enterprise data centers. Over the years, VMware expanded its product portfolio with offerings like VMware Infrastructure, VMware Server, VMware Player, VMware Fusion etc.
Some key developments in VMware’s history:
– In 2007, VMware IPO’d and became a publicly traded company under VMW.
– In 2008, VMware acquired Thinstall, expanding capability to virtualize applications.
– In 2009, vSphere 4 was launched as next generation virtualization platform.
– In 2016, VMware announces Cross-Cloud Architecture for cloud flexibility.
– In 2019, VMware acquires Pivotal Software and Carbon Black to expand capabilities.
(History of VMware: Evolution Timeline)
Key Features of VirtualBox
As an open source solution, VirtualBox can be downloaded and used completely free of charge. This makes VirtualBox an attractive option for personal use or smaller businesses looking to cut costs (Source).
One of the biggest advantages of VirtualBox is its support for a wide variety of host and guest operating systems. VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and Solaris hosts, and allows you to install over 100 different guest OSes including Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD and others (Source). This cross-platform flexibility makes it easy to run VirtualBox in mixed IT environments.
In summary, as a free and open source solution with broad cross-platform support, VirtualBox provides an accessible and flexible virtualization option for personal and business use cases (Source).
Key Features of VMware
As an enterprise-focused virtualization platform, VMware has several proprietary key features that set it apart (Introduction to VMware Infrastructure):
VMware ESXi is the proprietary bare-metal hypervisor at the core of vSphere. It provides efficient and secure partitioning of server hardware resources to support virtual machines (Introduction to VMware Infrastructure).
vMotion allows live migration of virtual machines between physical hosts with no downtime. This provides high availability and workload balancing (Introduction to VMware Infrastructure).
VMware vSphere High Availability provides automated failover and recovery of virtual machines in case of physical host failure (Key features and capabilities | VMware Cloud Foundation).
vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler balances and optimizes computing resource utilization across hosts (What Is VMware Horizon 8?).
Overall, VMware provides comprehensive enterprise-grade virtualization capabilities, security, and automation. But it comes at a high licensing cost compared to open source alternatives.
Performance Comparison
When it comes to speed and efficiency, there are some key differences between VirtualBox and VMware in benchmarks. According to this performance benchmark, VMware generally performs better than VirtualBox in measures like CPU utilization for common tasks. The benchmark found VirtualBox utilizing 33.2% CPU on average for a Windows 10 VM, compared to 35% for VMware Player.
However, VirtualBox used slightly less RAM on average – the benchmark showed VirtualBox using 4.5GB RAM for a Windows 10 VM with 3GB assigned, while VMware Player used 4.3GB RAM. So while VMware may have a performance edge for CPU-intensive workloads, VirtualBox can be a bit more efficient for RAM usage.
Overall, VMware tends to outperform VirtualBox in most standard benchmarks. But for less demanding tasks, the open source VirtualBox can provide good enough performance for many use cases, with the benefit of being free and open source.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use and learning curves, VirtualBox tends to have an advantage over VMware. As an open source platform, VirtualBox aims to be accessible and user-friendly for a wide range of users. The graphical user interface is straightforward with easy to understand terminology, making it relatively easy for beginners to get started (Source).
In contrast, VMware’s products have a steeper learning curve. The terminology and workflows can be more complex for new users. VMware Workstation Player has a simpler UI than full VMware Workstation, but still requires more configuration than VirtualBox. The VMware ecosystem also includes various components like vSphere and ESXi, which adds more layers of complexity (Source).
However, VMware offers more powerful capabilities and customization for advanced users. The UI allows intricate configuration and optimization of virtual machines once the initial learning curve is overcome. So VMware edges out VirtualBox in terms of features and performance for expert users, while VirtualBox is generally regarded as more beginner friendly.
Security
When it comes to security, both VirtualBox and VMware have some vulnerabilities that have been discovered over the years. However, overall VMware tends to have a slight edge.
For VirtualBox, there have been some critical vulnerabilities found that allow attackers to escape the virtual machine and gain code execution on the host [1]. These have included issues like CVE-2022-2423 discovered in 2022. While patches are released, it can take time for users to update leaving a window of vulnerability.
VMware has also had its share of vulnerabilities, with important bugs disclosed in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion [2]. However, VMware appears to have a stronger security focus, with a vulnerability disclosure program and quick turnaround on fixes. They also have more granular security controls in areas like virtual networking.
Overall, while neither product is perfect on the security front, VMware seems to have a slight edge with more rapid patching of issues and stronger virtualization security features out of the box.
Cost Comparison
When it comes to cost, there are some key differences between VirtualBox and VMware. VirtualBox is an open source platform that is completely free to download and use, even in enterprise environments. There are no licensing restrictions or fees associated with using VirtualBox [1].
VMware, on the other hand, offers paid proprietary software and services. For personal and non-commercial use, VMware provides some free options like VMware Workstation Player. But for commercial use in enterprise environments, VMware requires the purchase of paid licenses. Some of the paid options include VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Fusion Pro, and the VMware vSphere product suite [2].
The pricing for VMware varies based on the specific product, features, and number of hosts/virtual machines. VMware vSphere starts at around $500 per CPU socket for the basic edition. VMware Workstation Pro is around $250 for a perpetual license. So while VirtualBox has no licensing costs, VMware can become quite expensive for large deployments [3].
Use Cases
When choosing between VirtualBox and VMware, it’s important to consider your specific use case and requirements. Here are some key factors to consider:
VirtualBox may be better for personal or home use, especially for users who want a free virtualization solution. It has a smaller resource footprint and fewer requirements than VMware Workstation. VirtualBox is good for testing software, running old operating systems, or isolating applications.
VMware Workstation is more full-featured and performant. It has better compatibility with more operating systems, supports more virtual hardware configurations, and has snapshotting for multiple machine states. VMware is a good choice for software developers, QA testing, running production environments, and other professional uses.
For larger server deployments, VMware vSphere is an enterprise-level solution with clustering, resource management, and automation capabilities beyond VirtualBox capabilities. VMware also offers cloud virtualization solutions.
In general, VMware has more robust virtualization capabilities, while VirtualBox is lighter weight. For personal use or small-scale testing, VirtualBox offers a free alternative. But for professional or enterprise use cases, VMware may be worth the extra cost.
When evaluating, consider your budget, usage requirements, and need for advanced features. This can help determine whether VirtualBox or VMware is the better virtualization platform for your needs.