Microsoft Hyper-V KVM (+ QEMU) OpenVZ docker Parallels Desktop Oracle VirtualBox VMware Xen
Host CPU x86-64 x86, x86-64, ARM, ppc64, IA-64, S / 390 x86, x86-64, ppc64, IA-64, SPARC64 x86-64, ARM (experimental) x86-64 x86, x86-64 x86, x86-64 x86, x86-64, ARM
Requirements & limitations Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU Guests inherit kernel version from host (it is not) (it is not) (it is not) Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU
Virtualization type Hypervisor Hypervisor (QEMU) OS container App container Hypervisor Hypervisor Hypervisor multiple
Typical use case Desktop, virtual servers Desktop, virtual servers / containers Virtual servers / containers App container Desktop Desktop Desktop, virtual servers Virtual servers / containers
Host OS: Windows Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No
Host OS: Mac OS No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes (as VMware Fusion) No
Host OS: Linux No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Host OS: Other Self-hosting FreeBSD, illumos No No No Solaris No No
Guest OS: Windows Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Guest OS: Mac OS No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No
Guest OS: Linux Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Guest OS: Other FreeBSD Any (in theory) No No FreeBSD, Solaris, Illumos, OS / 2, BeOS, Haiku, DOS FreeBSD, Solaris, Illumos, OS / 2, BeOS, Haiku, DOS, Syllable FreeBSD, Solaris, Illumos, Netware, OS / 2, BeOS, Haiku FreeBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, Plan 9
VM server capability Yes (as Hyper-V Server) No No No No No Yes (as VMware ESX Server) Yes (as XenServer)
License Proprietary GPL v2 GPL v2 Free Proprietary GPL v2 Proprietary GPL v2
Price Varies Free Free Apache 2.0 $79.99 Free Varies; free for non-commercial use (as VMware Workstation Player) Free