# Best Virtualization Software - 2026 Reviews & Pricing > Find the best Virtualization Software for your organization. Compare top Virtualization Software systems with customer reviews, pricing, and free demos. Source: https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization --- [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / Virtualization Software Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. # Best Virtualization Software of 2026 Updated July 6, 2026 Written by [Amita Jain](https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/author/ajain/) Senior Content Writer Edited by [Carolyn Santa Maria](https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/author/carolyn-santa-maria/) Senior Editor On this page 1. Popular Comparisons 2. Buyers Guide 3. Related Software Filter products 70 results ### Compare Products Showing 1 - 25 of 70 products #### Company Size - Self-Employed - 2-10 - 11-50 - 51-200 - 201-500 - 501-1000 - 1000+ #### Pricing Options - $$$$$ - $$$$$ - $$$$$ - $$$$$ - $$$$$ ### Compare Products Sort by **Sponsored**: Sorts listings by software vendors running active bidding campaigns, from the highest to lowest bid. Vendors who have paid for placement have a ‘Visit Website’ button, whereas unpaid vendors have a ‘Learn More’ button. **Reviews**: Sorts listings by the number of user reviews we have published, greatest to least. **Average Rating**: Sorts listings by overall star rating based on user reviews, highest to lowest. **Alphabetically (A-Z)**: Sorts listings by product name from A to Z. ### Product: ManageEngine OpManager 4.56 [(309)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/it-management/manageengine-opmanager-profile/reviews/) Best for:Value for money ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary ManageEngine OpManager is a network management solution that includes network and server monitoring, bandwidth analysis, configuration management and fault management. The solution is suitable for businesses of all sizes. OpManager allows users to monitor the availability, traffic, packet loss, performance metrics and response time of various devices, including servers, routers, switches and virtual machines. If any equipment goes down, OpManager sends automatic notifications to relevant users via text message or email. OpManager analyzes network traffic patterns and bandwidth consumed by different devices and applications via sFlow, IPFIX, jFlow and NetFlow in order to configure traffic to balance the system. It helps users see bandwidth consumption and performance metrics on a single screen. OpManager supports Windows and Linux operating systems. OpManager can also be accessed via dedicated mobile apps available for Android and iOS devices. Pricing is a one-time fee. Support is via online forum and phone.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/it-management/manageengine-opmanager-profile/) ### Best rated features: Downtime Tracking 5.0 Performance Metrics 5.0 Third-Party Integration 5.0 Health Monitoring 5.0 ### Worst rated features: User Management 2.0 Third-Party Integrations 2.0 Vulnerability Scanning 3.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/it-management/manageengine-opmanager-profile/#key-features) ### Standard Edition $95.00/year The plan is also offered on an perpetual basis starting at $245 ### Professional Edition $145.00/year The plan also offers perpetual license starting from $345 ### Enterprise (Base Product) $4,595.00/year The plan is also available on an perpetual basis starting at $11545 [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/it-management/manageengine-opmanager-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: ManageEngine Applications Manager 4.62 [(266)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/database-monitoring/manageengine-applications-manager-profile/reviews/) Best for:Ease of use ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary ManageEngine Applications Manager is an application performance monitoring and observability solution that is designed to empower businesses with deep insights into the performance, health, and availability of their critical applications and infrastructure components. It enables IT admins, DevOps, and SREs gain in-depth visibility into the performance of their complex enterprise applications and cloud native workloads, identify potential performance issues, reduce MTTR, improve productivity, and ensure seamless end user experiences. With out-of-the box support for over 150 technologies - both on premise and cloud, the product provides deep application performance monitoring with byte-code instrumentation, infrastructure monitoring, cloud monitoring, and digital experience monitoring from a single console.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/database-monitoring/manageengine-applications-manager-profile/) ### Best rated features: Web Traffic Reporting 5.0 Baseline Manager 5.0 Capacity Planning 5.0 Dependency Tracking 5.0 ### Worst rated features: Status Tracking 3.0 Prioritization 3.9 Visitor Tracking 4.0 Third-Party Integrations 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/database-monitoring/manageengine-applications-manager-profile/#key-features) ### Applications Manager Professional Edition $395.00/year Perpetual license starts at $795 ### Applications Manager Enterprise Edition $9,595.00/year Perpetual license at $19195 [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/database-monitoring/manageengine-applications-manager-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Site24x7 4.71 [(352)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cloud-management/site24x7-profile/reviews/) Best for:Small businesses ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Site24x7 is a cloud-based website and server monitoring platform that helps small to large size businesses monitor websites, servers, clouds, networks, applications and real-time users. The platform enables users to derive insights on uptime, web applications’ performance, internet services and private networks. Prime features of Site24x7 include the monitoring of website performance, web page speed (browser) monitoring, DNS servers, website availability, website defacement monitoring, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) speed, Representational State Transfer (REST) API, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/ Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates and more. Site24x7 also allows mobile access. The product is available on a monthly subscription plan and support is extended via phone, email and an online help desk.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cloud-management/site24x7-profile/) ### What users love - Unified infrastructure monitoring platform - Easy and flexible monitor setup - Centralized cloud infrastructure visibility ### To take in mind - Alert noise and configuration issues ### Best rated features: Application Management 5.0 Email Monitoring 5.0 Continuous Integration 5.0 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) 5.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cloud-management/site24x7-profile/#key-features) ### Starter $10.00/month ### Pro $39.00/month ### Classic $99.00/month [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cloud-management/site24x7-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: CData Connect AI ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary CData Connect AI is the first managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform that enables enterprises to safely connect AI assistants, agents, and automation workflows to live data across 300+ business systems. Unlike traditional approaches that copy data into warehouses, Connect AI provides real-time, semantic-rich access to data in-place—preserving metadata, relationships, and user permissions from the source. This means AI understands your business context, not just raw data. Connect AI solves the critical challenge that causes 95% of AI pilots to fail: siloed data and poor governance. With point-and-click setup, enterprise-grade security (SOC2, GDPR, ISO 27001 certified), and inherited role-based access controls, Connect AI makes AI deployments both powerful and compliant. From enabling marketers to query campaign data conversationally, to helping finance teams automate reporting, to empowering product teams to embed data connectivity in their AI features—Connect AI transforms how organizations make AI enterprise-ready.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/450727-CData-Connect-Cloud/) ### Standard Custom Pricing available upon request STANDARD PLAN: $79/month (annual) or $99/month Included: 1 user, 1 Standard data source with 10 connections Features: MCP connectivity to AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.), Live data querying in-place, Data Copilot for querying within Connect AI, Fully hosted remote MCP server, Exposed data semantics for AI context, Source-level permissions, Connections to spreadsheets and BI tools Add-ons: Additional users at $29/month (annual) or $37/month. Additional Standard data sources at $59/month (annual) or $74/month Best for: Individual contributors and small teams testing AI connectivity to core business systems... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/450727-CData-Connect-Cloud/#pricing-and-plans) ### Growth Custom Pricing available upon request GROWTH PLAN: $159/month (annual) or $199/month Included: 1 user, 1 Standard or Growth data source with 10 connections All Standard features, plus: Access to Growth-tier data sources, Database caching for improved query performance, Curated datasets (virtual views) for focused context windows, Data blending across multiple sources Add-ons: Additional users at $49/month (annual) or $62/month. Additional Standard sources at $129/month (annual) or $162/month. Additional Growth sources at $129/month (annual) or $162/month Best for: Teams scaling AI usage across departments needing cross-system analysis and performance optimization... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/450727-CData-Connect-Cloud/#pricing-and-plans) ### Business Custom Pricing available upon request BUSINESS PLAN: Custom Pricing Included: Custom user count, 1 Standard or Growth data source, custom connections per source All Growth features, plus: Premium data source connectors unlocked, AI agents and workflow automation connectivity, Build custom MCP tools for specialized use cases, Single Sign-On (SSO) integration, Per-user authentication and advanced permission controls, Dedicated account management Best for: Enterprises requiring advanced governance, custom integrations, and organization-wide AI deployments... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/450727-CData-Connect-Cloud/#pricing-and-plans) [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/450727-CData-Connect-Cloud/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Inuvika OVD Enterprise 5.0 [(23)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/open-virtual-desktop-enterprise-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Looking for a cost effective alternative to Citrix or VMware Horizon (Omnissa)? Inuvika OVD Enterprise is a feature rich product that delivers Windows and Linux apps and desktops to any device. OVD Enterprise is built on Linux. With our resource containerization technology, our product allows data centers to run more efficiently, using far less infrastructure capacity. Inuvika OVD can be installed on premises, in private or public cloud, or in a hybrid environment. It is also offered by our worldwide hosting partner network as a DaaS offering.   Inuvika OVD works on any hypervisor including ProxmoxVE, KVM, Nutanix AHV, vSphere, VergeOS, Virtuozzo or Hyper-V.  It can be installed in hours as opposed to days for other products. We have lowered the total cost of ownership by up to 60% when compared to Citrix or VMware (Omnissa). We do this three ways: 1. The Linux back-end allows OVD Enterprise to eliminate most Windows server license requirements as well as Microsoft SQL Server license costs.  You will still need RDS CALs. 2. Our efficient design allows us to pack more users onto a server (up to twice as many, depending on the type of user); and 3. Our subscription prices are significantly lower and on a concurrent user basis allowing for significant savings over named user licenses at Citrix, Horizon or AVD. A single, easy to use admin console allows you to be an expert in a matter of hours. Complex tasks like multi-tenancy are just a click of a button. Best in class USB redirection allow you to replace desktops with thin clients. Inuvika embraces the zero-trust principle. So it is a perfect product for hybrid work environments. Our product is used by enterprise, government, healthcare, education, financial and telco customers around the world. Sign up to take a tour of our demo platform or to download and test in your own environment.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/open-virtual-desktop-enterprise-profile/) ### Best rated features: Authentication 5.0 Secure Login 5.0 Virtual Machine Monitoring 5.0 Secure Data Storage 5.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/open-virtual-desktop-enterprise-profile/#key-features) ### Basic $8.55/month Pricing is based on 500 concurrent users, on-premises, for 36 months, paid in advance and includes support.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/open-virtual-desktop-enterprise-profile/#pricing-and-plans) [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/open-virtual-desktop-enterprise-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: ManageEngine OpManager Plus 4.60 [(43)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/aiops-platforms/manageengine-opmanager-plus-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary ManageEngine OpManager Plus is an integrated IT operations management solution that offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities for the entire IT infrastructure. It enables IT administrators to monitor and manage networks, servers, IP addresses, switch ports, and storage devices from a centralized dashboard. IT admins can efficiently manage bandwidth, network configurations, firewall rules, logs, policies, application usage and storage devices, thereby ensuring full-stack visibility into all layers using a unified interface. Additionally, ManageEngine OpManager Plus facilitates proactive fault detection by offering instant alerts and notifications through various channels, such as email, Slack, SMS, and a web-based console.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/aiops-platforms/manageengine-opmanager-plus-profile/) ### Best rated features: Customizable Dashboard 5.0 Data Storage Management 5.0 Load Balancing 5.0 Compliance Tracking 5.0 ### Worst rated features: Event Tracking 2.0 Resource Optimization 4.0 Issue Tracking 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/aiops-platforms/manageengine-opmanager-plus-profile/#key-features) ### Subscription $1,233.00/year OpManager Plus's subscription pricing starts from $1,233 and goes upto $12,000. ### Perpetual $3,095.00 OpManager Plus's Perpetual pricing starts from $3,095 and goes upto $29,995. [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/aiops-platforms/manageengine-opmanager-plus-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Charon-AXP ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Charon-AXP is a solution that emulates the Alpha environment on standard Windows or Linux-based systems. The emulator enables the running of OpenVMS and True64 Unix operating systems, along with all host applications, without implementing any changes. Charon-AXP manages the application source code conversion, irrespective of the Alpha platform the software initially operated on. Charon-AXP accommodates both physical and virtualized storage. Physical storage is connected via local SCSI devices, while virtual storage can utilize any network storage supported by the host.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/449646-Charon-AXP/) ### Product: Charon-SSP ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Charon-SSP is a virtualization solution that creates virtual replicas of various SPARC family servers, including the Sun-4mV8, Sun-4uV9, and Sun-4vV9. It runs on Linux on top of physical hardware or a hypervisor. The solution caters to organizations that need to modernize their Sun SPARC Solaris hardware while maintaining the original software environment. Charon-SSP utilizes Stromasys' dynamic instruction translation (DIT) technology to improve the runtime execution speed of Sun SPARC instructions. This ensures the virtual SPARC systems deliver acceptable performance. The solution supports both hardware license keys and software licenses, giving users flexibility in their preferred protection method. Charon-SSP also eliminates the need for source code alteration or code conversion, allowing for seamless integration with Sun software and maintaining the original system environment. Charon Manager is an integrated component of Charon-SSP. It provides an easy-to-use and intuitive graphical interface to manage Charon-SSP and virtual SPARC legacy systems, either locally or remotely. This allows organizations to streamline their operations and efficiently maintain their Sun SPARC virtualization environment.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/449648-Charon-SSP/) ### Product: VM Backup [VM Backup](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/) 4.75 [(194)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/reviews/) Best for:Customer support ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary Hornetsecurity‘s VM Backup is a powerful, reliable and easy-to-use backup and replication solution for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines (VMs) and physical Windows servers, to protect against enterprise data loss. The award-winning solution provides robust, streamlined and enterprise-level functionality. Thanks to Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and WAN-optimized replication, your backup files are available in just minutes in the event of a data loss scenario, and your organization can continue working as usual. Storing immutable backups leveraging object locking on cloud storage locations gives you additional peace of mind as your backups are protected from ransomware attacks and other malicious actors. The unique Augmented Inline Deduplication also results in massive storage savings for your backups and reduces unnecessary costs. VM Backup is a robust Virtual Machine backup and replication solution for Hyper-V and VMware. One of its strengths is ease of use - you can get started with your first backup in less than 15 minutes. VM Backup offers enterprise-class functionality, providing all the tools needed by systems administrators without unnecessary complexity and cost. Finally, Hornetsecurity invests in Support, based on the belief that outstanding support should be part of the package when you buy a backup solution: we pride ourselves on our 24/7 lightning-fast support call response of less than 30 seconds.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/) ### Best rated features: Graphical User Interface 5.0 Differential Backup 5.0 Multi-OS 5.0 Self Service Portal 5.0 ### Worst rated features: Virtual Machine Monitoring 3.5 API 4.0 Activity Dashboard 4.0 Data Replication 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/#key-features) ### Unlimited Plus (Altaro VM Backup) $875.00/year This Unlimited Plus plan is intended for users needing an intuitive VM Backup solution that provides automatic Backup Retention and all the other essential features such as cloud management console, file level restore and more. It provides a complete package of all the features offered.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Unlimited (Altaro VM Backup) $695.00/year This Unlimited plan is intended for users needing an intuitive VM Backup solution that provides automatic backup retenction, file level restore, restore clone and more. The price is given per host.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Standard Edition (Altaro VM Backup) $595.00/year This Standard Edition (Altaro VM Backup) plan is intended for users needing an intuitive VM Backup solution that provides all standard features such as backup retention, flexible backup scheduling and more. The price is given per host.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/#pricing-and-plans) [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/business-continuity/altaro-vm-backup-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Runecast [Runecast](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/runecast-analyzer-profile/) 4.85 [(34)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/runecast-analyzer-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Runecast is a provider of one solution designed to help IT Security and Operations teams like yours effectively manage and mitigate risks. Our platform offers a range of valuable features to enhance your operational efficiency and ensure system stability. With Runecast and its agentless scanning capabilities, you gain access to comprehensive vulnerability management, security hardening guidelines, best practices, configuration management, container security, security compliance, and hardware compatibility validation. We aim to simplify the planning process for vSphere upgrades by offering a user-friendly method to validate hardware compatibility. Our platform automates vulnerability management and security standards compliance audits across various platforms, such as AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, VMware, Windows, and Linux OS. Through automated processes, we aim to save you time and effort, providing you with fit-gap analysis and remediation scripts. We also offer support for Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), and Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC). We strive to assist you in maintaining compliance with industry standards and frameworks that include BSI IT-Grundschutz, CIS, Cyber Essentials, DISA STIG, DORA, Essential 8, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, KVKK, NIST, PCI DSS, TISAX, VMware Security Hardening Guidelines, and the CISA KEVs catalog. Our AI knowledge parser, Runecast AI Knowledge Automation (RAIKA), provides your teams with regular updates and insights, helping them stay informed about potential risks. Designed with hybrid and multi-cloud environments in mind, Runecast aims to save you time and money while securing your workloads. We pride ourselves on providing actionable insights and customizable reporting capabilities. Our platform allows for tailored reporting based on specific needs, helping you analyze patterns and generate audit reports. Each finding is accompanied by remediation guidance to empower your team to take action. Your privacy and control over your data are important to us. Runecast operates fully on-premises, ensuring that your data remains under your control. We offer a customizable rules engine, allowing you to define your own security policies. Runecast holds certifications from VMware for VMware Cloud on AWS and CIS certifications for VMware, AWS, and Windows Server. In 2020, Gartner recognized us as a "Cool Vendor" in their Performance Analysis for Cloud-Native Architectures report.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/runecast-analyzer-profile/) ### Best rated features: Security Auditing 5.0 Alerts/Notifications 5.0 Compliance Tracking 5.0 Incident Management 4.0 ### Worst rated features: Risk Assessment 4.0 Incident Management 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/runecast-analyzer-profile/#key-features) ### Basic $500.00/year [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/runecast-analyzer-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: VMware Fusion [VMware Fusion](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/vmware-fusion-profile/) 4.88 [(24)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/vmware-fusion-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary VMware Fusion is a user-friendly application that lets users run Windows and other x86 operating systems on their Mac. With its drag-and-drop nature, VMotion, snapshots and other features that maximize the performance of their Mac and preproduction VMs, VMware Fusion can help users get the most out of their desktop computer.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/vmware-fusion-profile/) ### Best rated features: Virtual Machine Monitoring 5.0 Data Migration 4.7 Configuration Management 4.4 Virtualization 4.3 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/vmware-fusion-profile/#key-features) ### Product: Google Cloud [Google Cloud](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/) 4.68 [(2300)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/reviews/) Best for:Mid-size businesses ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services that allows businesses to build, deploy, and scale applications. The platform caters to a wide range of industries, such as retail, financial services, healthcare, media, telecommunications, gaming, manufacturing, supply chain, government, education, and automotive. At the core of Google Cloud is its technology through which businesses can build, deploy apps, and analyze data. The platform offers Gemini 20 and Google Agentspace. This includes AI agents, AI-enabled search, and NotebookLM for enterprises. Vertex AI is the fully managed AI platform enhanced by Gemini. It provides access to multiple foundation models. This empowers organizations to build and scale generative AI applications. Contact Center AI also delivers virtual agents and conversational AI products like Speech-to-Text to enhance customer service. Google Cloud's infrastructure includes Compute Engine. The platform features Google Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Run for automatically deploying, scaling, and managing containers. Cloud SQL is a fully-managed database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server. AlloyDB for PostgreSQL allows enterprises to scale workloads and build generative AI apps. Businesses can also leverage BigQuery for analytics at scale, and Looker, a platform for BI data applications and embedded analytics. Featuring G-Suite and GCP, Google Cloud provides a set of solutions provides secure storage options, integrated data analytics products and computation options. With its G-Suite platform, users can establish team chats and collaborate on projects through productivity tools like Google Docs, Hangouts, Calendar and Drive. Also, G-Suite provides customization options for Gmail accounts of users. GCP data centers all around the globe consist of physical assets which include computers, hard drives and other virtual machines that help streamline distribution of resources, which provides redundancy in case of any failure or latency reduction. Providing Global, regional and zonal resources, GCP has managed to bring people into a serverless environment which has eliminated the need for any infrastructure.The AppEngine on GCP helps scale the system to automatically provide the required resources.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/) ### What users love - Robust and scalable data storage - User-friendly and intuitive interface - Comprehensive security and permissions ### To take in mind - Complex and unpredictable pricing - Steep learning curve for beginners - Limited and slow customer assistance ### Best rated features: Pre-built Templates 5.0 Scheduling 5.0 Capacity Analytics 5.0 Reminders 5.0 ### Worst rated features: In-Database Processing 2.0 Release Management 3.0 Testing/QA Management 3.0 Offline Access 3.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/#key-features) ### Free Custom Pricing available upon request New customers get $300 in free credits to fully explore and conduct an assessment of Google Cloud. Users won’t be charged until they upgrade.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Pay as You Go Custom Pricing available upon request [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compliance/google-cloud-platform-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Cameyo [Cameyo](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/cameyo-profile/) 4.93 [(14)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/cameyo-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Cameyo is the secure and 70% more cost-effective alternative to virtual desktop products like Citrix & VMware. Cameyo's Virtual App Delivery (VAD) service provides ultra-secure access to all SaaS, legacy Windows & internal apps your people need to be productive on any device - without the cost & complexity of VDI & DaaS. Hundreds of orgs across all industries - incl. Sanmina, Bentley, Newsday, Nordward - utilize Cameyo to deliver business-critical apps to hundreds of thousands of global users. Cameyo is a desktop virtualization solution designed to help businesses deliver Windows and web applications from browsers to various devices, improving productivity across remote teams in a digital workspace. The platform includes HTTPS and single sign-on (SSO) to provide secure access and lets managed service providers (MSPs) add new customers and manage operations on a centralized dashboard. Key features of Cameyo include customizable branding, drag-and-drop interface, multi-factor authentication (MFA), reporting and cloud storage. Independent software vendors (ISVs) can utilize the platform to deliver SaaS solutions with quick free trials to automate the sales process. Additionally, it offers a mobile application for Android devices, allowing remote teams to access enterprise tools in real-time. Cameyo facilitates integration with various third-party systems. The product is available on monthly or annual subscriptions and support is extended via FAQs, documentation, phone, email and other online measures.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/cameyo-profile/) ### Best rated features: Backup and Recovery 5.0 File Management 5.0 Single Sign On 5.0 Application Management 5.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/cameyo-profile/#key-features) ### Basic $30.00/month [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/cameyo-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: CloudSigma [CloudSigma](https://www.softwareadvice.com/iaas-solutions/cloudsigma-profile/) 5.0 [(9)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/iaas-solutions/cloudsigma-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary CloudSigma is a pure-cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider that enables the digital industrial economy through its highly-available, flexible, enterprise-class hybrid cloud servers and cloud hosting solutions in Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Australia. CloudSigma is a customizable cloud provider, giving users full control over their cloud and eliminating restrictions on how users deploy their computing resources. With CloudSigma, customers can provision storage, processing, networks, and other fundamental computing resources, as well as easily deploy any compatible operating system or application with full root/administrative access. CloudSigma’s PaaS solution offers a container-based cloud platform with certified runtimes for Java, PHP, Ruby, Python, .NET, Node.js, and Go. This PaaS platform enables the provision of fully managed, scalable environments for Kubernetes and Docker environments in minutes. Users can also build and deploy scalable microservices quickly and effortlessly. CloudSigma PaaS helps businesses reduce their IT infrastructure management costs & efforts and focus on their business growth.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/iaas-solutions/cloudsigma-profile/) ### Basic $4.14/month [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/iaas-solutions/cloudsigma-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Amazon EC2 [Amazon EC2](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/) 4.66 [(173)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/reviews/) Best for:Cloud Computing ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service designed to help businesses with cloud computing, video encoding, batch processing and big data analytics for developing graphic-intensive applications. Key features include data migration, SLA monitoring, load balancing, log access, network monitoring, configuration management, data security and performance monitoring. Teams using Amazon EC2 can manage their network's access permissions, launch instances with multiple operating systems and load them with a custom application environment. The Amazon Machine Image (AMI) provides pre-configured templates, which allow developers to create an image comprising data, libraries, applications, and associated configuration settings. Enterprises can also run the virtual computing environment in multiple locations, attach persistent block storage to existing instances and employ static IP endpoints. Amazon EC2 helps application managers with data warehousing, distributed file systems, NoSQL databases to ensure accelerated computing. Pricing is available on usage basis that is billed monthly and support is extended via documentation, FAQs and email.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/) ### What users love - Flexible and scalable cloud platform - Helpful support and integrations - Versatile instance configuration options ### To take in mind - Complex and unpredictable pricing ### Best rated features: Customizable Reports 5.0 Real-Time Data 4.8 Cloud Computing 4.8 Reporting & Statistics 4.8 ### Worst rated features: Predictive Analytics 3.0 Application Management 3.8 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/#key-features) ### Basic Custom Pricing available upon request [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Softdrive [Softdrive](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/softdrive-remote-desktop-profile/) 4.85 [(13)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/softdrive-remote-desktop-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Softdrive is a high-performance GPU virtual desktop. Softdrive is the least expensive and only GPU Cloud-PC that has its own cutting edge remote desktop Software that feels like a local PC. Download Softdrive app on any old computer or thin client and stream a high-performance PC. Just like how Netflix streams movies, we stream a PC. Having issues with company computers? Instead of spending a large capital cost and all the labor setting them up, download an app and subscribe to streamable computers. Softdrive has a custom hypervisor that sits on top of a bare-metal server in a Tier 4 data center. Softdrive has custom streaming software that leverages GPU video encoding with custom UDP networking protocol to produce an experience that feels like a local computer.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/softdrive-remote-desktop-profile/) ### Best rated features: Server Monitoring 5.0 Backup and Recovery 5.0 Remote Access/Control 5.0 Disaster Recovery 5.0 ### Worst rated features: Screen Sharing 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/softdrive-remote-desktop-profile/#key-features) ### Basic Custom Pricing available upon request [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/softdrive-remote-desktop-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: StorMagic SvSAN [StorMagic SvSAN](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/stormagic-svsan-profile/) 4.79 [(14)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/stormagic-svsan-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary StorMagic SvSAN is a hyper-converged storage solution that ensures high availability and eliminates downtime for servers. With SvSAN, organizations can turn any x86 server into highly available shared storage within clusters of two or more servers. The solution works with various hypervisors like VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Linux KVM. SvSAN provides lightweight shared storage through active-active synchronous mirroring between servers. This architecture ensures continuous uptime with no single point of failure.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/stormagic-svsan-profile/) ### Best rated features: Data Synchronization 5.0 Remote Access/Control 5.0 Alerts/Escalation 4.8 Virtualization 4.7 ### Worst rated features: Reporting & Statistics 3.8 Data Visualization 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/stormagic-svsan-profile/#key-features) ### Basic Custom Pricing available upon request [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/stormagic-svsan-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: vCenter Server [vCenter Server](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-management/vcenter-server-profile/) 4.66 [(91)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-management/vcenter-server-profile/reviews/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary vCenter Server is a server management solution that helps businesses automate and build hybrid cloud infrastructures. Administrators can configure infrastructure-wide roles, permissions and licenses to allow specific users to log in, view and search through all vCenter servers. vCenter Server lets organizations utilize plug-ins to streamline operations related to data protection, network management and server security. Professionals can set up entities, metrics and events specific alerts and notifications, enabling users to trigger automated workflows for remediation and issue preemption. It lets supervisors schedule file-based application backups and define the number of retained backups. Additionally, users can maintain records of all configuration changes and utilize single sign-on methodology to ensure secure user experience. It comes with an application programming interface (API), allowing businesses to integrate the system with several third-party solutions. Pricing is available on request and support is extended via documentation, discussion forum, phone and email.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-management/vcenter-server-profile/) ### Best rated features: Backup and Recovery 5.0 Virtual Machine Monitoring 5.0 Data Migration 5.0 Third-Party Integrations 5.0 ### Worst rated features: Compliance Management 3.0 Event Logs 3.5 Performance Monitoring 3.8 Access Controls/Permissions 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-management/vcenter-server-profile/#key-features) ### Product: NovaBACKUP Server Agent [NovaBACKUP Server Agent](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/novabackup-server-profile/) 4.74 [(19)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/novabackup-server-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary NovaBACKUP Server Agent is a backup solution that delivers Windows Server, Hyper-V, and VMware backup for small and medium-sized organizations. The all-in-one solution provides quick and easy recovery of lost data to minimize downtime after a potential data loss and reduces disruption during work hours by keeping backups small and fast. Customers can compress files, set up data encryption, and configure password-based file access. NovaBACKUP Server Agent includes 256-bit AES encryption to keep data secure, at least 250GB of cloud storage, and aligns with regulations like HIPAA and GDPR. NovaBACKUP also offers world-class support from setup to ongoing updates – all at no additional cost.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/novabackup-server-profile/) ### NovaBACKUP Server Agent $399.95/year Includes Window Server Backup and Disaster Recovery with support for SQL, Exchange, and unlimited VM starting at $399.95/yr. Includes 250 GB of Cloud Storage.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/novabackup-server-profile/#pricing-and-plans) [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/novabackup-server-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: vSphere [vSphere](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/vmware-vsphere-profile/) 4.66 [(433)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/vmware-vsphere-profile/reviews/) Best for:Data Migration ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary vSphere is a server virtualization solution, which enables businesses to run, manage, connect and secure applications in a unified operating environment. The system automatically restarts VMs in case of hardware failures and sends alerts about compliance issues to supervisors. Key features of vSphere include business continuity, image management, content library and virtual machine encryption. Enterprises can protect their hybrid cloud infrastructure from malware or ransomware and utilize virtual machines, Kubernetes and containers to improve the computing environment for applications. Additionally, teams can centralize provisioning, monitoring and administration processes using cluster-level network aggregation capabilities. vSphere maintains software, patching and firmware updates for virtual machines. Pricing is available on request and support is extended via chat, email, phone, documentation, FAQs and other online measures.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/vmware-vsphere-profile/) ### What users love - Reliable large-scale virtualization platform - Comprehensive virtualization feature set - Streamlined server administration tools ### To take in mind - Expensive for smaller businesses - Sluggish and incomplete web interface - Complex and costly licensing structure ### Best rated features: Load Balancing 5.0 Dedicated Virtual Resources 4.9 Data Migration 4.7 Server Monitoring 4.7 ### Worst rated features: API 3.0 Model Training 3.0 Namespace Management 4.0 Data Cleansing 4.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/vmware-vsphere-profile/#key-features) ### Product: Cortado MDM [Cortado MDM](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/cortado-mdm-profile/) 5.0 [(4)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/cortado-mdm-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary Cortado MDM is engineered to efficiently optimize your Mobile Device Management processes. With just a few clicks, you can set up devices, oversee applications, and strengthen data security. This platform is highly adaptable, meeting the unique requirements of both iOS and Android operating systems with ease. Cortado's Mobile Content Manager streamlines the centralized management and distribution of files across mobile devices. This powerful tool allows administrators to effortlessly update and manage content while upholding stringent security measures to protect corporate data. Additionally, the integration of Mobile Asset Management into Cortado MDM enhances the overall management of mobile devices within an organization. Through centralized data collection, businesses can obtain a comprehensive view of all critical data related to their mobile devices, ensuring adherence to compliance standards and maintaining strong data security. Cortado MDM offers a suite of advantages designed to streamline mobile device management across diverse business environments: Ease of Use: With a user-friendly interface, Cortado MDM allows quick setup and management of mobile devices with minimal clicks, reducing the complexity and time required for administration. Cross-Platform Compatibility: It seamlessly supports both iOS and Android devices, ensuring a flexible and adaptable solution that meets the varying needs of different operating systems within a single framework. Enhanced Security: Cortado MDM prioritizes robust security measures, including data encryption and secure app management, to protect sensitive corporate information from unauthorized access. Centralized Management: Administrators can easily distribute, update, and manage content and applications centrally, enhancing efficiency and control over corporate mobile resources. Comprehensive Device Oversight: Through Mobile Asset Management integration, it provides detailed insights and analytics on device usage, compliance status, and security, helping companies make informed decisions and maintain regulatory compliance. These features make Cortado MDM a powerful, efficient, and secure choice for modern enterprises looking to optimize their mobile device management.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/cortado-mdm-profile/) ### Basic €4.75/month Your entry-level setup for centralized device management ### Pro €5.50/month More performance for administrators and end users ### Enterprise €7.50/month Tailored for larger companies and organizations [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/cortado-mdm-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Flaneer [Flaneer](https://www.softwareadvice.com/audio-editing/flaneer-profile/) 5.0 [(4)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/audio-editing/flaneer-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Flaneer is a virtual desktop provider. With Flaneer, your staff can access their work environment in 1 click, and in any situation (WFH, mobility, etc), and from any device (tablet, PC, laptop). With Flaneer you can configure a customized environment in terms of RAM, disk memory, pre-installed software, etc. Flaneer offers monthly subscriptions per machine.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/audio-editing/flaneer-profile/) ### Basic $10.00/month [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/audio-editing/flaneer-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Stackbill [Stackbill](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/stackbill-profile/) 5.0 [(3)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/stackbill-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Not available Free version: Available Software Advice Summary StackBill enables you to launch or enhance your public cloud business with highly efficient, cost-effective, reliable, and scalable solutions through Apache CloudStack Orchestration Engine. StackBill provides an enormous number of solutions for the CloudStack user and it will reduce the need for tech man support by its self-service portal which means a person can create a VM in a single click. Stackbill provides 24x7x365 support. And it's access, network, and application-level controls mitigate the security risks through its inbuilt State of Art features like VPC, VPN, L2 network firewall & 3’rd party firewall hardware integration.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/stackbill-profile/) ### Best rated features: Cost Management 5.0 Performance Monitoring 5.0 Performance Analysis 5.0 Data Migration 4.7 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/stackbill-profile/#key-features) ### Product: Thinfinity Remote Workspace [Thinfinity Remote Workspace](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/) 5.0 [(2)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Thinfinity Workspace is an advanced, unified platform designed to help organizations modernize their IT environments through a range of integrated capabilities. It combines Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Desktop as a Service (DaaS), and Remote Privileged Access Management (RPAM), offering a highly secure, scalable, and automated approach to IT resource management. Thinfinity seamlessly supports public cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, GCP, and IONOS Cloud, as well as on-premise hypervisors like VMware, Hyper-V, and Proxmox, making it versatile for hybrid or multi-cloud deployments. Central to Thinfinity Workspace is its Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capabilities, which allow IT teams to automate the management, provisioning, and scaling of resources across cloud and on-premise infrastructures. This automation reduces manual interventions, enabling faster deployments, dynamic scaling, and minimizing operational costs, all while ensuring consistency and efficiency across environments. IaC automation simplifies the delivery of virtual desktops and applications, allowing businesses to scale rapidly based on demand or specific operational requirements. The platform’s ZTNA features provide secure access without the need for traditional VPNs, making it an excellent alternative to legacy solutions. ZTNA enables secure, encrypted connections by leveraging advanced network segmentation, load balancing, and fault tolerance, all while protecting sensitive applications and data by eliminating the need for inbound ports. Thinfinity's VDI and DaaS capabilities empower organizations to deliver secure, high-performance virtual desktops and applications across any device, ensuring centralized management and scalability for distributed environments. IT administrators benefit from cloud automation features that enhance performance, reduce costs, and optimize infrastructure usage through dynamic scaling and automatic virtual machine provisioning. For organizations working with contractors, vendors, or third-party partners, Thinfinity’s RPAM module offers secure, time-limited access to virtual resources. This feature is vital for third-party risk management, ensuring that external users can only access required resources for the necessary time. With built-in session monitoring, auditing, and recording, Thinfinity ensures secure and compliant access for all users, whether internal or external. In addition to access and virtualization, Thinfinity Workspace offers comprehensive cloud management with its Cloud Manager module. This module allows businesses to govern their cloud environments across Azure, AWS, GCP, and IONOS Cloud, with full control over resource allocation, performance monitoring, and cost optimization. Thinfinity’s deep integration with on-premise hypervisors like VMware, Hyper-V, and Proxmox extends its flexibility, supporting diverse deployment models. Automation and orchestration are core elements of Thinfinity Workspace, streamlining IT operations. The platform enables seamless resource scaling, task scheduling, and application delivery, simplifying complex workloads and reducing management overhead. Organizations looking to replace legacy VPNs and Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) will find Thinfinity a powerful and secure alternative. By offering Zero Trust security, cloud-native features, and comprehensive automation, Thinfinity provides full control over IT infrastructures, enabling secure access, management, provisioning, and scaling across various environments.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/) ### Best rated features: Remote Monitoring & Management 5.0 Load Balancing 5.0 Desktop/Application Virtualization 5.0 Access Controls/Permissions 5.0 ### Worst rated features: File Transfer 3.0 [See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/#key-features) ### Annual Subscription Custom Pricing available upon request The Thinfinity annual licensing plan is designed with flexibility in mind, offering two models: concurrent users and named users. Concurrent User Licensing allows multiple users to be registered, but only a limited number can be logged in simultaneously. This is ideal for organizations with large user bases but limited simultaneous usage. Named User Licensing is specific to individuals, where each user has their own license, providing consistent access. Billing options are also flexible, with organizations able to choose between annual, quarterly, or monthly payments based on their use case. This makes it easier to adjust costs to match the organization’s needs, providing a tailored, scalable licensing solution.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Permanent License Custom Pricing available upon request Permanent license plans offer a one-time purchase option for Thinfinity, providing lifetime access to the platform. Additionally, customers can subscribe to an optional maintenance service that includes updates and technical support, ensuring continued product performance and access to the latest features.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/#pricing-and-plans) [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/remote-support/thinfinity-remote-workspace-profile/#pricing-and-plans) ### Product: Traverse [Traverse](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/157546-Traverse-Monitoring/) 5.0 [(2)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/157546-Traverse-Monitoring/) ### Pricing availability Free trial: Available Free version: Not available Software Advice Summary Traverse is a cloud-based network monitoring solution that offers tools to monitor hybrid cloud and network infrastructure. The solution is designed to help service providers and enterprises manage their data flow across multiple networks and distributed data centers. Traverse creates a service-oriented view of IT infrastructure and identifies network issues that can impact business activities. The solution automatically discovers applications, servers, systems and networks upon deployment. It also captures their key attributes in order to establish a relationship between every physical and virtual device. Traverse offers an integrated network configuration and change management module which enables IT teams to automatically backup configurations of entire IT infrastructures. The solution is capable of collecting, storing and analyzing performance data from various devices. Traverse offers a dashboard for drilling down data sets and monitoring key performance indicators. Other key features include reporting, URL transaction monitoring, network flow analysis and integration with the third-party applications through Open API.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/157546-Traverse-Monitoring/) ### Basic $6.00/month [See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/157546-Traverse-Monitoring/#pricing-and-plans) 1 [2](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/?page=2)[3](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/?page=3) ## Popular Comparisons [ Datadog vs Google Cloud ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datadog-profile/vs/google-cloud-platform/)[ ManageEngine OpManager vs vSphere ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/it-management/manageengine-opmanager-profile/vs/vmware-vsphere/)[ ManageEngine Applications Manager vs Site24x7 ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/database-monitoring/manageengine-applications-manager-profile/vs/site24x7/)[ Amazon EC2 vs vCenter Server ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtualization/amazon-ec2-profile/vs/vcenter-server/) With a number of employees using personal networks (and devices) for remote work, IT managers are tasked with the challenges of handling multiple mobile devices spread across the globe while protecting sensitive business data. One way IT managers can resolve this issue is by making the infrastructure of technology more efficient with virtualization. Virtualization tools can help you extend the capabilities of your existing hardware and software without commanding huge investments in physical servers. It can connect your remote desktops to virtual servers created with minimal hardware support, and lets you monitor and upgrade them from anywhere with just a click. With several virtualization systems available in the market, selecting the right one can be confusing and time consuming. This buyers guide has all the information you’ll need to make a software choice that works for your business. Here's what we'll cover: - [What is virtualization software?](#Whatisvirtualizationsoftware) - [Common features of virtualization software](#Commonfeaturesofvirtualizationsoftware) - [What type of buyer are you?](#Whattypeofbuyerareyou) - [Benefits of virtualization software](#Benefitsofvirtualizationsoftware) - [Key considerations](#Keyconsiderations) ## What is virtualization software? Virtualization software is a solution that allows users to run multiple operating systems virtually on single computer hardware. It splits the central processing unit (CPU), server, storage, and memory into several virtual machines (VMs)–a piece of software that pretends to be a computer–each with its own operating system and applications. For example, you can operate a Linux virtual machine on Windows hardware. The software enables companies to consolidate their IT resources on fewer physical machines which helps them improve overall IT turnaround in less space, power, and administrative overheads. Desktop virtualization tools are also used by developers and testers to test applications in multiple environments, say Windows and Mac, on one piece of hardware. _A view of the virtual machine manager in_ [Virtual Box](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/virtualbox-profile/) _(_[Source](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/virtualbox-profile/)_)_ ## Common features of virtualization software These are the common features most buyers seek when purchasing virtualization software: **Configuration Management** Maintain your system by preventing unapproved changes from altering your virtual machine and the host machine. Identify the components of the system (servers, configuration, or software) with problem configurations and reconfigure them to your desired state. **Data Migration** Move data from a virtual machine without suffering data loss or service lags. Upgrade to a higher version of the software even when working in a virtual environment with next to no downtime. **Virtual Machine Monitoring** Create and manage multiple virtual environments on one physical machine and deploy different operating systems and applications. Also called a hypervisor, virtual machine monitoring creates a thin software layer between the host operating system and virtual environments. **Access Controls/Permissions** Regulate user rights to certain areas of the host or virtual machine by setting permissions and issuing passwords. Control who can administer, run, suspend, or stop the virtual environments. **Backup and Recovery** Create backups of your virtual machine within the system or remotely to save all of your data and the entire configuration, and resume productivity even if the system breaks down or requires an upgrade. **Performance Monitoring** Monitor the performance of virtual machines and track the oversized, downsized, or unused VMs. Reallocate storage and memory between virtual environments as per business needs. ## What type of buyer are you? Before you start evaluating software options, you'll want to know which buyer category you belong to. Most buyers of virtualization software fall into one of these categories: - **Small businesses (less than 100 employees):** These are startups and small organizations that work with a small group of IT developers, freelancers, testers, and programmers to build a technological product. Software tools providing virtualization on desktops with multiple OS support and group sharing features are ideal for them. These software solutions are cheaper than business-grade versions and provide easy-to-setup virtual machines with minuscule downtime. - **Midsize businesses (from 100 to 500 employees):** These buyers have a small employee base with growing IT requirements. But they expect to host fewer virtual machines compared with large businesses. They opt for virtualization software with desktop as well as server virtualization options to be able to control the workload centrally as their teams work remotely. They look for slightly more advanced features than small businesses, such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), multi-factor authentication, and easy data migration. Another aspect of determining a good fit for software for these buyers is to assess the compatibility of existing hardware, including CPU, RAM, and hard drive storage, with the workload they plan to manage on the virtual systems. - **Large businesses (over 500 employees):** These buyers are large IT organizations comprising different teams and departments with varying business needs. They have deeper customization and integration requirements than SMBs. As such, they will need a solution with server virtualization that can allow for scalability of virtual machines, and storage virtualization to have more control of their data and information. These buyers should opt for a full-featured solution that offers advanced virtual machine monitoring or Type 1 hypervisor support, easy integration and deployment, configuration management, storage virtualization, disaster recovery, and responsive customer support. They should also look at the compatibility of old applications with hardware virtualization so that the data can be easily shared with the virtual machines. ## Benefits of virtualization software Let’s go through some of the key benefits of using a virtualization software solution in your business: - **Reduced costs with hardware virtualization:** Virtualization tools allow many operating systems and applications to run on fewer servers. This dramatically reduces the costs of acquiring the physical servers and the prices associated with storing and cooling them. Beyond savings on physical servers, virtual desktops save companies in software licensing costs by distributing computing power between users. - **Improved business resilience:** Virtualization technology makes a return to normalcy faster after a disaster. It allows businesses to back up mission-critical applications on a few servers stored at an alternate location, and live migration enables businesses to resume productivity with minimum to no interruption. - **Efficient** [IT asset management](https://www.softwareadvice.com/help-desk/it-asset-management-comparison/)**:** Software virtualization reduces software deployment time and administration efforts with one-click control and provides IT departments the flexibility to redistribute virtual hardware as per every user’s requirements. This enables IT teams to become much more adaptable and responsive to business needs. ## Key Considerations Listed below are some key considerations to keep in mind when purchasing a virtualization tool. - **Hardware:** Even though virtualization enables software resources to better utilize the underlying hardware, it doesn’t mean that the hardware itself has no bearing on the success of virtualization. Check for the type and ability of your hardware, whether it’s a workstation or a physical server, to host your virtualization solution. - **System compatibility:** Check if the virtualization tool you’re planning to buy supports the different types and versions of the operating system you intend to use. If you are purchasing virtualization tools for your software and IT development teams, ensure the solution you’re selecting supports the platforms on which they want to test their applications. - **Budget:** Investing in software features that your IT teams don’t need will not benefit your business. Discuss your needs with team members first. Understand your workload requirements and jot down a list of must-haves versus good-to-have virtualization features. Also, take a look at the licensing costs versus the total cost of ownership. After that, select a tool that best offers what you need without stressing your budget. **_Note:_** _The application selected in this guide is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. It has been taken from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication._ ### Related Virtualization Software - [Cloud PBX Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/category/4757-cloud-pbx/) - [Data Center Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-center-management/) - [Desktop as a Service (DaaS) Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/daas/) - [Operating Systems Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/operating-systems/) - [Remote Desktop Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/help-desk/remote-desktop-comparison/) - [Server Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-management/) - [Server Monitoring Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/server-monitoring/) - [VDI Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/vdi/) - [Virtual Machine Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/virtual-machine/)