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Oracle VM vs Oracle VM VirtualBox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.7
Users reported mixed ROI from Oracle VM, noting low costs and savings, while some found it expensive and challenging to assess.
Sentiment score
5.3
Oracle VM VirtualBox offers quick ROI by reducing costs and streamlining processes, with users reporting high satisfaction and time savings.
I did not perform any long-term stress tests, just for a couple of hours or days on every application.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Oracle VM support improved over time; users appreciate knowledgeable staff, effective issue resolution, and global support availability.
Sentiment score
7.7
VirtualBox users prefer online documentation and community support over Oracle's support, which is seen as capable but slow.
Their forum and documentation is more than enough for technical support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Oracle VM scales efficiently meeting diverse needs, though concerns exist over infrastructure limits and licensing costs.
Sentiment score
7.2
Oracle VM VirtualBox is valued for scalable environments, though hardware limitations and memory overhead can impede performance.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Oracle VM stability depends on configuration; certified hardware and proper setups enhance performance, reducing upgrade and compatibility issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
Oracle VM VirtualBox is generally stable but faces occasional issues, especially on Windows, rated around eight for stability.
Not every upgrade goes smoothly, and after an upgrade, it sometimes stops working.
The snapshot functionality in Oracle VM VirtualBox is effective for management purposes.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle VM users face stability issues, user interface inconsistencies, limited features, and demand better performance and integration improvements.
Oracle VM VirtualBox users desire better networking, stability, resource management, and enhanced integration with diverse hardware and remote solutions.
If I have limited systems and there is maintenance on the hardware, the Oracle systems are impacted.
Not every upgrade goes smoothly, and after an upgrade, it sometimes stops working.
Having some kind of API to maintain Oracle VM VirtualBox would be beneficial.
 

Setup Cost

Oracle VM is affordable with zero license cost on Oracle hardware, though additional support may incur extra fees.
Oracle VM VirtualBox provides a free version popular for cost-effectiveness, with enterprise licensing seen as expensive by some.
Oracle VM is not a very expensive solution.
In the enterprise scenario, all software solutions, including Oracle VM VirtualBox, are expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle VM is praised for its features such as scalability, ease of use, free availability, and comprehensive virtualization capabilities.
Oracle VM VirtualBox is free, versatile, and easy to use, ideal for testing, education, and stable multi-platform virtualization.
If there is an issue with the operating system running on top of it, there's no primary and secondary domain, rather segregated I/Os, disks, memory, everything assigned to a logical domain.
It is easy to copy or clone one Oracle workstation to another.
The guest OS compatibility was tremendous because I used Oracle VM VirtualBox on Linux and ran Windows applications on top of that, working seamlessly.
Its snapshot functionality helps with backup management.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle VM
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Ranking in Server Virtualization Software
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Server Virtualization Software category, the mindshare of Oracle VM is 7.3%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle VM VirtualBox is 6.5%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rasika Sudasinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
A cheap option available for Linux environments which is useful for many workloads
Oracle VM is an obsolete product in that no new features are coming for it. The new version is called Oracle KVM. The only improvement needed for Oracle VM is the look and feel of the interface. When comparing the user console with vCenter, the interface used to control VMware environments, Oracle VM's user interface is not that rich in terms of user experience. If Oracle could improve that, it would be good. Besides that, we don't know if the solution comes with a roadmap because it comes free of charge with Oracle x86. We can't expect something similar to vCenter in KVM, but at least if you can improve what users can experience, then it would be good.
Tanvir Siddique - PeerSpot reviewer
Easily accesses open solutions with seamless compatibility for testing and development
The most valuable feature is the seamlessness. When I install a Linux operating system, I can use Windows applications through Oracle VM VirtualBox seamlessly. There are many applications that work only on Windows. For desktop testing purposes, I used Oracle VM VirtualBox, and it works fine. The guest OS compatibility was tremendous because I used Oracle VM VirtualBox on Linux and ran Windows applications on top of that, working seamlessly.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Oracle VM or KVM?
I would prefer if KVM was easier to scale and not so limited. Overall the product has been helpful. It is easy to use, and was quite straight-forward to set up. Since I have been using KVM, I have ...
Which is better - Oracle VM or VMware VSphere?
Oracle VM seems to me to be kind of outdated. Nevertheless, it is fairly straightforward to use and maintain. The solution can just be set and you can forget about it, and the scalability is consid...
What do you like most about Oracle VM?
If you want to access the VM from anywhere over the Internet, you put it in a public subnet. So, VMs are linked to that. The subnets are linked to it. So, it's perfectly secured if it's a private n...
How does KVM compare to Oracle VM VirtualBox?
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 manag...
What do you like most about Oracle VM VirtualBox?
The product’s most valuable feature is the ability to manage multiple operating systems through one application.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle VM VirtualBox?
Maintenance is not necessary because I did not use it for heavy loads.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ambulance Victoria, Australian Finance Group (AFG), Avnet Technology Solutions, CERN, cloudKleyer, Danish Tax Authority (SKAT), Data Intensity, Dubai World, Engineers Australia, Enkitec, Groupe FLO, Guerra S.A. Implemento, s Rodovišrios, Interactive One, IT Convergence, Jesta Digital, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, KT, Kyoto Prefecture, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory / National Ignition Facility, Multinet Pakistan, National Australia Bank (NAB), Navis LLC, Overhead Door, Overstock.com, Paragon Data, Parks Victoria, Pella, Sunway Shared Services, St. Louis Metro, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., University of Massachusetts, Versace,
Airbus, Colorado State University, SCS Africa, Wolf Medical Systems.
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle VM vs. Oracle VM VirtualBox and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.