VirtualBox 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page

Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

VirtualBox

4.6

(883)

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

About VirtualBox

VirtualBox is an on-premise desktop virtualization platform that helps businesses run and manage virtual machines across different operating systems (OS). Using the open virtualization format (OVF), professionals can import appliances and export virtual machines with additional product details such as vendor information or license text.

VirtualBox allows enterprises to customize the user interface by adding the menu widget, mini toolbar or status bar as per individual requirements. Managers can enable Extensive Firmware Interface (EFI) for virtual machines and utilize the drag-and-drop interface to create ad hoc VM groups. Additionally, it lets users store and access the hard disk, CD/DVD or floppy images in Virtual Disk Image (VDI), ISO or RAW format.

Key features of VirtualBox include remote machine display, branched snapshots, guest multiprocessing (SMP) and remote desktop (RDP) authentication. The product is available for free and support is extended via documentation, phone, email and other online measures.

VirtualBox Screenshots

VirtualBox Pricing and Plans

Starting price: Pricing available upon request

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

Pricing available upon request

No plan information available

VirtualBox Features

Popular features found in Virtual Machine
Configuration Management
Remote Access/Control
Virtualization
Virtual Machine Monitoring
More features of VirtualBox
API
Authentication
DaaS
Data Synchronization
Desktop/Application Virtualization
Desktop Virtualization
Graphical User Interface
Multi-Device Support
Remote Monitoring & Management
Remote Update/Installation
VDI
Virtual Server

VirtualBox User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.6

Ratings Breakdown

62%

32%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.3

Value for money

4.7

Customer support

4.1

Functionality

4.5

Nicolas R.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2019

Great choice for VMs in Mac

I use Virtualbox to setup environments. I'm Mac user and I use daily vm to configure and deploy mainly linux distributions.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

When I started using Mac it was a problem for me, but when I started using VirtualBoxVM everything became easier. Easy Setup, Easy VM setup and administration, Easy everything. Runs fast. Even if I keep some VMs open.

Cons:

I don't find any cons at all. Maybe the resource consumption, but that's really not on VirtualBoxVM, is cause of VMs assigned resources.

Reasons for switching to VirtualBox

Tryed parallels, but princing and performance made me decide for VirtualBoxVM

Benny B.

Verified reviewer

Computer & Network Security

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2023

VirtualBox review

Free Opensource & Multi platform application for managing and deployment of Virtual machines. No matter if a new OS inside your main system or virtualize your own computer and use it as a Sandbox...

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Easy to deploy new machines in no mater what your original desktop system comes from; you can virtualize a bunch of Linux, MacOS, Windows machines and ChromeOS & Android too!

Cons:

In a Windows Server environment, the Virtual machines can't start when booting the main Server OS (only after you login with Administrator credentials) and you need the help of third party programs to do that. In Linux environment is easier to deploy thanks to Cron.

Reasons for choosing VirtualBox

Because not only the price, but the availability to choose Open Source software.

Reasons for switching to VirtualBox

We switch to VirtualBox caused by the same available options as VmWare (we solved the trouble about starting as a service using a third party app) and VirtualBox is not only free but Open Source and multiplatform.

Verified

Reviewer

Education Management

501-1000 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2019

Great Virtual environment

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Previously 3

Value for money

Previously 3

Customer support

Previously 4

Functionality

Previously 4

Pros:

This is a great product for making a virtual backup of my physical machine. I can use my computer virtually if it crashes until the hardware is repaired.

Cons:

I had some trouble with the virtual machine format.

Marc F.

Verified reviewer

Research

201-500 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2023

Thinking Outside the Box: Virtualization with VirtualBox

As someone who enjoys developing mobile games with Android but preferring Apple hardware, I've found VirtualBox to be an incredibly useful tool. It's saved me a lot of money by allowing me to test my games on multiple virtual environments without having to purchase additional hardware.Altogether, I would highly recommend VirtualBox to anyone looking to create and manage virtual environments, especially if you're interested in developing mobile games using different hardware, or if you are looking for a solid playground for your software projects.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I've found VirtualBox to be a powerful and versatile tool for developing Android apps and creating custom operating systems. It's flexibility and free-access allowed me to test my applications on multiple environments without having to purchase additional hardware, and thus saved me a lot of time and especially money!

Cons:

As someone who has used VirtualBox for various projects, I've come across a few cons worth noting. Firstly, the limited support for 2D/3D graphics can be a hindrance for developers working on graphics-intensive applications like mobile-games. Secondly, I've experienced occasional stability issues when running complex virtual environments or multiple virtual machines simultaneously. However, these kind of issues can be resolved by using VirtualBox Enterprise for little money.

Reasons for choosing VirtualBox

From my personal experience, I find VirtualBox to be a better option compared to Docker for certain use cases. VirtualBox's ability to run multiple operating systems and applications simultaneously using hardware virtualization is a huge advantage over Docker's limited support for running a single application or service. Additionally, VirtualBox offers stronger isolation between virtual environments, making it a great option for running multiple applications with conflicting dependencies. While Docker has its own advantages, I still find VirtualBox to be a reliable and versatile virtualization tool that suits my needs especially because VirtualBox allows VDI access.

Kevin M.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

Self-Employed

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2020

Virtualization is awesome.

I use Virtual Box to provide multiple services while retaining a single server. For the classroom VirutalBox provides students with an environment where they can experiment while keeping the base operating system secure and locked. The ability to preserve aging software is critical to many companies I deal with. Inability to upgrade or lack of migration options often means that they need to keep these programs running while replacing broken or old hardware. Snapshots help me to keep perfect copies of system content and provide 100% restores.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

The ability to quick install and work inside a virtual operating system with having to build an entirely new system. No messing around with hard disks and bios. Its great when you want to test out Operating System alternatives or when testing current systems via hard disk imaging.

Cons:

No "out of the box" compatibility with Apple IOS operating system. This is obviously no fault of its creators as Apple has made use of its Operating System near impossible with its hardware but from a teaching perspective its a wasted opportunity especially for those learning helpdesk skills.

Reasons for choosing VirtualBox

Virtual Box is quick and very easy to install and configure and its survive the test of time while others are either become outdated or become not as simple to use.

Verified

Reviewer

Information Technology and Services

10000+ employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2019

Best virtalization tool by oracle

Mainly we use it to test on all major Operating systems as its portable to any System structure form UNIX to Windows

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Due to its open source nature and ease to use this is a best tool for any one from business to normal users allows use of any OS inside Windows (mainly) which makes testing easy on other OS like Linux (all flavors)

Cons:

Not much any cons about this tool but it could be built more ease to use though its good but can be improved and all connections should be automatically detected inside virtual machine such though they work doesn't feel like real OS can adopt "NEW DESKTOP"like tech and improve it.

Reasons for switching to VirtualBox

Virtual machine is complicated and takes lot of time and system memory.

Verified

Reviewer

Government Administration

10000+ employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2022

VirtualBox as a tool to model configurations on virtual servers

Virtualbox allows us to simulate environments using virtualization in a practical way, accelerating implementations and configurations in services

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

It is cross-platform, which allows easy installation on different operating systems.

Cons:

In some occasions it is necessary to have hardware that supports virtualization

Reasons for choosing VirtualBox

The economic cost was higher, which does not allow all team members to use it

Richard S.

Verified reviewer

Machinery

2-10 employees

Used monthly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2022

Excellent alternative for virtual machines

I am somewhat experienced with VMWare Workstation, so I wasn't sure about switching to VirtualBox. Although it did require a little bit of getting used to, after learning the ropes I found that all of the features I knew and used were available to me, and for a significantly cheaper price.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

One important distinction between VirtualBox and its more well-known counterpart, VMWare Workstation, is the noticeably lower price-tag on the former. VirtualBox does not share the almost absurd price of VMWare, yet possesses most, if not all, of the same features.

Cons:

It is slightly less intuitive than VM Workstation, leading to a steeper learning curve for those who are less familiar with virtual machine programs. It's not severe, but it is worth mentioning.

Reasons for switching to VirtualBox

The price difference was undeniable and necessary

Verified

Reviewer

Telecommunications

10000+ employees

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed December 2020

VirtualBox review

I am satisfied with VirtualBox, as it has proven itself more than reliable, especially during the long sessions of troubleshooting on my Virtual Machine.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Sometimes I tend to use VirtualBox for my Lab in order to replicate some issue reported by the Customer or to check certain settings in the Software which I support, because VirtualBox has proven itself as good and reliable in this field.

Cons:

I don't like the amount of space which normal lab requires for daily use, especially because I need sometimes to switch between a couple of Virtual Machines on my company's laptop, which lacks disc space.

Reasons for switching to VirtualBox

I was using VMware Workstation for some of my own projects, but after I started using VirtualBox on work, I completely switched to that Software instead.