Hyper-V vs Oracle VM VirtualBox comparison

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40,342 views|33,545 comparisons
85% willing to recommend
Oracle Logo
31,194 views|21,336 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 12, 2022

We performed a comparison between Hyper V and Oracle VM Virtual Box based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of both of these solutions tell us they are straightforward and easy to install.
  • Features: Hyper-V is a Microsoft product so it works seamlessly with all Microsoft products, and integrates very well with other solutions. The Hyper-V is a great end-to-end solution that has an amazing failover feature. Some of our users tell us Hyper-V can have some stability issues; your stack can become bloated very easily. If you are looking to scale up or down you will need to purchase the data center license, which can be costly.

    Oracle VM Virtual Box users like that the solution is multi-platform. Once you create a virtual machine in one environment, you can easily switch over to see how it will run in other situations. Other valued features are the pause and snapshot features. Users feel the memory and hardware are too heavy; CPU usage should be lower
  • Pricing: Hyper-V users are satisfied with the pricing and licensing structure. Oracle VM Virtual Box is open source, so there is no cost.
  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions are satisfied with the service and response they have received.

Comparison Results:

Our users like Hyper-V best. Many of our users are deeply committed to the Microsoft ecosystem, so it is an excellent seamless fit. Additionally, users find the failover feature very important and, as Hyper-V is not a heavy solution, it does not overuse resources. Hyper-V makes it easy to move any virtual machine across push servers without complication. Finally, Hyper-V is very easy to manage and offers great performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Hyper-V vs. Oracle VM VirtualBox Report (Updated: May 2024).
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Hyper-V can expand storage. For instance, if I have a VM running on NetApp or another platform, I can expand the storage without interrupting operations. It is useful when I need to quickly allocate more storage without causing downtime or performing maintenance tasks.""It's a very manageable product.""Hyper-V's technical support is good - they're responsive and sort cases based on criticality and category, so they get dealt with quickly and by the correct team.""The solution is highly stable.""The most valuable feature of the solution is the storage virtualization.""Microsoft has documentation that is easy to find, helpful, and readily available.""The initial setup is simple. There's not much to do. We input one command or just one or two clicks on the UI. Initial setup in the Windows environment for any software is not that difficult.""The solution is very powerful, easy to use, user-friendly, and integrates well with Windows. If you are looking for a hundred percent Microsoft environment it would be a good idea to go with Hyper-V. They work wonderfully together."

More Hyper-V Pros →

"The most valuable aspects of the solution were the support and performance of the product and the flexibility it gives you to work.""The good thing is that it is multi-platform. Once you create a virtual machine in one particular environment, you can switch over to see if you can run it in other environments. For example, if you are on Windows and you create this virtual machine, you can actually go ahead and change the operating system. You can switch it over to Linux or Mac OS and see if you can run the VirtualBox on those particular machines. It even runs on some of the commercial operating systems that are not mainstream, such as Solaris and BSD. These kinds of operating systems are also supported by VirtualBox. The other thing that is good about VirtualBox is that it is open source. So, if you need to do any modifications for your own purposes, you can just download the source, modify it, and deploy it in your environment. It is pretty good and very versatile. You can create and manipulate virtual machines from the command line, which is also very important. It's something that some other products on the desktop side do not have. VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop don't have a good command-line interface to create and manipulate virtual machines, whereas VirtualBox has it out of the box, which is pretty good.""The flexibility and the closed platform, so it allows you to run in multiple platforms, Windows, Linux, Macintosh.""Oracle VM VirtualBox has a platform where the support team responds to frequently asked questions by its users. Every time I have had issues with Oracle VM VirtualBox, I always get a solution from Oracle's online platform or GitHub.""Technical support is good.""The product gives us the flexibility to try different machines.""VirtualBox provides an isolated, consistent environment""The configuration and installation is pretty straightforward."

More Oracle VM VirtualBox Pros →

Cons
"Storage via SMB3.""I think there is room for improvement in terms of the cloud solutions.""In an upcoming release, they can improve by having better cloud integration. We are all moving towards the clouds and the integration is only through the Azure Stack, there should be tools built in to move the VMs natively to the cloud and infrastructure. Additionally, they could provide some form of multi-cloud integration.""The solution could improve by having virtual restore.""It would be nice if they provided a free management console that we could use to manage all of the hosts for no additional fee.""The area revolving around operations in the product has certain shortcomings where improvements are required.""It needs to improve compatibility with third party software.""In my opinion, it would have been better to truncate the site-to-site replication."

More Hyper-V Cons →

"The solution lacks some open source remote administration tools. The reload of individual virtual machine definitions through the vboxweb service (via its API) without restarting it and the access to shared storage (to use teleport functions) need to be improved.""Oracle VM VirtualBox is not flexible, It's not like VMware.""We're working with them to be able to allow the local USB ports to be ported over to the remote desktop, running VirtualBox.""It would be good if we could use Hyper-V Windows subsystems with Linux and VirtualBox on the same instance. Currently, to be able to use VirtualBox, we have to restart the machine into an instance of Windows where Hyper-V is disabled, which is understandably very inconvenient.""Having live migrations to move a running server to other hardware would be great.""Oracle’s support team should improve its response time.""The solution should work to simplify the system. However, it should be flexible enough to allow for special cases.""The solution needs to improve the methods used for starting and stopping the machine."

More Oracle VM VirtualBox Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's cheap, but not the best."
  • "Once we bought the datacenter version of the server, we did away with worrying about the cost of licensing our VMs separately"
  • "It comes with all the features and goodies inside the box, so you do not have to purchase anything else."
  • "We did not have to pay extra money for the Failover Clustering feature."
  • "We chose this solution because of the pricing and the simplicity of the product."
  • "I do not have any comments about pricing or licensing of the product."
  • "Microsoft recently tacked on a higher price for their software to use the storage migration in the Storage Spaces Direct array. That was just terrible."
  • "The pricing isn't too bad, because you can do the bare metal hypervisor, and it is pretty fair. Other competitors are more expensive."
  • More Hyper-V Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is a very cost-effective solution."
  • "Pricing does not apply for us, we do not have to pay for the service."
  • "The product is free to use."
  • "Everything is free within limitations. Once you go over a certain level of usage you have to license the product."
  • "It is pretty good for the price, which is free."
  • "This is an open-source product and it can be used free of charge."
  • "There are no licensing fees."
  • "The license I use is free."
  • More Oracle VM VirtualBox Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:KVM is better. But let's just look at the software instead of judging Hyper-V was a free solution from Microsoft to virtualize Server or Client OS as it is a feature on Windows Server since 2008 and… more »
    Top Answer:One of the best things about Proxmox VE is that it is open-source and very inexpensive. You get all of the same features as with the more well-known products. Proxmox VE is very easy to deploy - it… more »
    Top Answer:The initial setup is not difficult at all. It is very easy.
    Top Answer:KVM is easy to use, stable and flexible. It is mature and very fast. It is an affordable open-source solution that is easy to set up and manage. It offers very good security. It has a virtual manager… more »
    Top Answer:The product’s most valuable feature is the ability to manage multiple operating systems through one application.
    Ranking
    Views
    40,342
    Comparisons
    33,545
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    399
    Rating
    7.8
    Views
    31,194
    Comparisons
    21,336
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    356
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Learn More
    Overview

    Hyper-V is a hardware virtualization tool that allows users to create virtual computer environments with multiple operating systems on a single physical server. Each virtual machine has computer parts, such as memory, processor, storage, and networking, and acts like a standard computer - running its own operating system and software programs. Each component of the virtual machine can be configured to meet your specific requirements.

    Hyper-V creates a cost-effective, stable, and productive server virtualization environment by running multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and more, in parallel on one machine or server. Each virtual machine runs in its own isolated space, which means you can run many virtual machines simultaneously but independently of each other. This helps prevent problems such as a crash affecting the other workloads and enables different users to separately access various systems.

    Benefits of Hyper-V

    • Simplify application testing: With Hyper-V you can easily add and remove operating systems from your virtual machines, enabling you to run and test your applications on each of them all from one single computer.

    • Minimize resource usage and scalability: Virtual machines are easier to manage than physical hardware and less expensive. You can also maximize your server use by allocating its resources more efficiently than you can with physical hardware alone.

    Hyper-V key features:.

    • Replication and migration: Hyper-V can replicate virtual machines for backups onto different sites. Hyper-V also provides a migration tool for moving a virtual machine from one Hyper-V host to another without causing any downtime.

    • Remote connection: Hyper-V’s remote connectivity tool allows administrators to remotely access a virtual machine.

    • Security: Hyper-V keeps virtual machines secure from malware attacks, unauthorized access, and data breaching attempts.

     Reviews from Real Users

    Hyper-V stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its flexibility, its replication capabilities, and the fact that its virtual machines utilize a small amount of resources..

    Liam L., the owner of a tech services company, writes, “It is actually very low on resources. It doesn't use many resources. It is also very easy to tailor. You can change things like the amount of memory and storage on the fly. It is very stable and reliable. I like its replication feature, which is very good. It is also very easy to move the virtual machines across push servers without any difficulty. Its performance is also very good. Now with this pandemic, a lot of workers are working from home. A lot of workers have been using laptops as their desktop computers, and they would remote into a virtual PC. There is no difficulty, and they can't tell the difference between this and the real one. It is much easier to manage.”

    Kevin E. an IT director at Homeland Technology Group, LLC, notes, “We've probably seen a 50 percent speed increase on our SQL server. Hyper-V has also significantly reduced our downtimes with faster boot-up and reboot. If we have to reboot a server, there is maybe two or three minutes of downtime. When we were on a bare-metal server, it could be five to ten minutes due to the total boot time.”

    Oracle VM VirtualBox is a robust AMD64/Intel64 and x86 next-generation virtualization solution that functions well for home use and is also powerful enough to handle the needs of a busy enterprise organization. This professional solution is open source and provides super-fast high performance in addition to many outstanding value-added features. VirtualBox functions effectively on Windows, macOS, Solaris, Linux, and more. Users can benefit from VirtualBox's dedication to continually developing the product and providing continual progressive updates and releases. The solution is supported by a trusted dedicated professional community and is backed by Oracle, which guarantees that the product is able to consistently meet and exceed quality controls and protocols at all times.

    Oracle VM VirtualBox Features

    Oracle VM Virtual Box provides many value-added features.  Some of these features include:

    • Consolidation: Oracle VM VirtualBox makes it easy for users to seamlessly run numerous virtual machines on a small number of hosts and will also facilitate comprehensive balancing of the loads between VMs. This helps to minimize and consolidate the hardware needed throughout the organization.
    • Diagnostics: VirtualBox provides excellent testing and disaster recovery. Users can use the virtual hard disk like a container. This container can be copied, frozen, backed up, or transported between hosts. Using the virtual machines (VMs), users can easily test multi-node network services for any networking, software configuration, or operating system issues.
    • Snapshots: Using snapshots, users are able to save or freeze a specific state of a VM and choose to revert back to the protected state if/when they desire. Users are able to make changes or experiment within the computing space. Should a problem arise, users can revert back to the selected snapshot; this makes the need for frequent backups and restores unnecessary.
    • Flexibility: The solution makes it easy to run different operating systems (OSes) at the same time. Users can run software designed for one OS on another OS. For example, users can easily run Windows on a MAC and not have to perform a reboot. As users can configure the kinds of virtual hardware to be presented with each OS, there is greater flexibility on which OS can be selected, and users can even choose older OSes or ones that are not currently supported by the original OS.
    • Cost-effective: Virtualization with Oracle VM VirtualBox enables users to considerably minimize overall costs by reducing the amount of hardware needed and the associated expenses of running the physical machines throughout an organization. This tremendous cost savings results in ROI being achieved in a very short period of time.

    Reviews from Real Users

    “Oracle VM VirtualBox is easy to use and does not require much training. It uses fewer resources. Teams using new operating system releases can quickly test and implement. This would make the development of new software releases faster and easier. It also helps users to write the program, test, and support it on multiple platforms. It has a good community as it is open-source.” - Satishbabu G., Oracle ACE

    “It is easy to use and does not require complex knowledge. It uses less resources, which is a requirement as it is used to onboard hardware with very little resources available.” - A PeerSpot user who is an IT Architect - AI at CGI

    Sample Customers
    Large customer base from all industries, all over the world. Two major Hyper-V customers are Telefonica and EmpireCLS.
    Airbus, Colorado State University, SCS Africa, Wolf Medical Systems.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Outsourcing Company8%
    Energy/Utilities Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization30%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm16%
    University13%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Computer Software Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Educational Organization8%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business47%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise28%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise37%
    Large Enterprise42%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise24%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    Buyer's Guide
    Hyper-V vs. Oracle VM VirtualBox
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Hyper-V vs. Oracle VM VirtualBox and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Hyper-V is ranked 3rd in Server Virtualization Software with 134 reviews while Oracle VM VirtualBox is ranked 5th in Server Virtualization Software with 61 reviews. Hyper-V is rated 8.0, while Oracle VM VirtualBox is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Hyper-V writes "It's a low-cost solution that enabled us to shrink everything down into a single server ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Oracle VM VirtualBox writes "The solution is versatile, simple to use, and stable". Hyper-V is most compared with VMware vSphere, VMware Workstation, Proxmox VE, KVM and Nutanix AHV Virtualization, whereas Oracle VM VirtualBox is most compared with Proxmox VE, KVM, Oracle VM, VMware Workstation and VMware vSphere. See our Hyper-V vs. Oracle VM VirtualBox report.

    See our list of best Server Virtualization Software vendors.

    We monitor all Server Virtualization Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.