We performed a comparison between KVM and Oracle VM VirtualBox based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Both KVM and Oracle VM VirtualBox have their strengths and weaknesses. Oracle VM VirtualBox seems to be the more favorable choice of the two, since it offers good scalability whereas scalability seems to be an ongoing issue for KVM users.
"It is an open ecosystem, and we see there is a benefit in open-source solutions."
"The most valuable feature is hypervisor. I can host at the same time different operating systems in Linux Windows."
"If you are a Linux desktop user, KVM is the solution to go with if you have to start virtual machines with Linux or other operating systems with almost zero extra configuration needed."
"Documentation and problem-solving troubleshooting are the most valuable features. Performance (when fine-tuned and with "special" HW) is awesome, equal to or more than other enterprise closed-source solutions."
"I like that this is an open-source solution. It is very powerful, and it's easy."
"The key aspect is that the KVM directly interacts with the Kronos. There's no clear indication of indirect communication with Kronos. It is not linked to Kronos, and interaction is straightforward without any intermediaries."
"Scaling the solution is easy. You just have to add more hardware."
"KVM is stable."
"Technical support is good."
"This is a highly scalable solution."
"It's very simple to use."
"Oracle VM Virtualbox is easy to use and does not require much training."
"Oracle VM VirtualBox is easy to use."
"It's a pretty good product in terms of monitoring."
"This product is extremely easy to install, use, has a great GUI and is incredibly stable."
"The solution has high performance and is easy to use."
"We are not getting good support from KVM, and it is not that user-friendly."
"There are some issues with the graphics and some software that is very complex."
"Business continuity features need to be added."
"In KVM, snapshots and cloning are areas where there could be a little more sophistication, like VMware."
"I have previously used VMware and KVM is easier to use. However, they both have their strengths depending on their use cases. They are mostly equal. One of VMware's advantages is it has better support."
"Technical support could be better. In the next release, I would like to see an improved user interface and dashboard. This type of improvement will make it easy or help our engineers understand the solution from a requirement point of view."
"Monitoring and resolution could be improved."
"The initial setup of this solution is more difficult than some of the competing products and it could be improved."
"The solution needs to improve the methods used for starting and stopping the machine."
"When I select the Ubuntu operating system from within the virtual machine, it sometimes hangs."
"This should have better support for multiple network cards and some parts of the GUI should be improved."
"Oracle’s support team should improve its response time."
"They could improve the graphics functionality of the product."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"The product lacks scalability since it is for desktops and not for servers."
"The communications setup lags. It does not connect properly so the batching and networking is a bit slow."
KVM is ranked 4th in Server Virtualization Software with 39 reviews while Oracle VM VirtualBox is ranked 5th in Server Virtualization Software with 61 reviews. KVM is rated 8.0, while Oracle VM VirtualBox is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of KVM writes "Delivers good performance because of kernel-based virtualization". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Oracle VM VirtualBox writes "The solution is versatile, simple to use, and stable". KVM is most compared with Proxmox VE, Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, VMware Workstation and Oracle VM, whereas Oracle VM VirtualBox is most compared with Proxmox VE, Hyper-V, Oracle VM, VMware Workstation and VMware vSphere. See our KVM 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.