VirtualBox v. VMware Pros and Cons

So I have been an avid user of VMware Workstation for many years now. As such, I have never tried VirtualBox. I never had the need.

Other than the price, what benefits if any are there to VirtualBox? Coming from VMware Workstation, what would I lose?

I need the ability for my VMs to talk over Ethernet. I need USB support, though USB 2.0 is just fine for my needs. I only require Windows Host and Guest environments. Cloning and snapshots are a must. At first glance, VirtualBox appears to support these.

So for those VirtualBox users out there can you enlighten me?

Thanks in advance!

OG

I started with Virtualbox but switched to VMWare after a couple of hard crashes with Virtualbox that ended up with corrupt virtual drives.

There were things I liked better in Virtualbox but the reliability made me switch.

I use VirtualBox. I have never had any problems. The price is perfect.

You can have both VirtualBox and MVWare on the same machine. Download VirtualBox and give it a try. You can always switch back at no cost.

I couldn't get Virtual Box to run Mathcad so I used Fusion or VMPlayer.

I use Virtualbox on both Windows and Linux hosts, overall I am content with the results.

Have been using VirtualBox for a few years with little issues (did have some glitches with version 4.3.xx so went back to 4.2.24 with no problems). Have it running on various Windows and Linux hosts.
I run as many as four VMs (various OSs) at the same time and share folders and connections between VMs and across the network. Even use a VirtualBox VM as NAT router to some of the other machines linked together.

Corporate uses VMPlayer as a standard for VMs on the main Server. We support those VMs but all the techs and hardware support personel prefer VirtualBox for VMs running software.
Daily use software is no longer installed on the Host machines. We keep a backup of various appliances for quick recovery when a PC dies so a tech can be up and running again in under an hour without having to re-install and re-authorize all his software again.

Nothing against VMPlayer but my vote would be VirtualBox.

I've used both, and I prefer VMWare Workstation. Virtualbox works well, but Workstation is far more polished and has more features. I use the sharedVM and remote management features of VMWare Workstation and it works a lot better than setting up something equivalent in Virtualbox.

If you are going the free route, VMware Player and Virtualbox are really a tossup to me. Both are fine pieces of software.

The big issue I am facing is of course the cost. I need to roll out about 150 or so machines capable of running VMs. VMware Player worked brilliantly but is no longer free for commercial use. So at nearly $100 a pop for Player Plus, that is a big pill to swallow.

I only have a few machines that need to be able to create VMs. They can keep using VMware Workstation which we already have licenses for.

What I am curious about is the trouble people have run into. The crashes and "I couldn't get this software to work" like baldone and Peter mentioned. VMware has pretty much flawlessly run everything I have thrown its way.

I'm not terribly keen on introducing a new virtualization platform, but free versus $10-15K is tough to argue against.

OG

What are the main software packages you need run in the VM?
Perhaps someone has experience with running your specific apps in a VM with no problems.

I have run quite a wide variety in VMs.
I have only seen problems running programs that need 3D rendering or are processor intensive (i.e. - games, some CAD, heavy math applications). I have seen the same issues with both VirtualBox and VMPlayer and not sure but think it is more the Host OS having difficulting sharing the intense processing with the VM.

Been using VMPlayer for about 3 years now.
Have done just about anything to it.
I have yet to have a VM that hasn't booted when I asked it to boot.

Shutting down however.....that can be an issue sometimes...

Ours have 24/7 uptimes with heavy ethernet usage, running on a PC with rather heavy usage. And still going strong.

I switched from VMWare Workstation to Player (price) then to VirtualBox due to the 'no commercial use' limitation. Been running VirtualBox daily for about a year without any problems: I especially like how fast it boots. As some have mentioned, there may be some specific applications that have problems but I have yet to run into any - have been very happy with VirtualBox.

The VMPlayer Plus is €90 per client.
Which ain't really that bad tbh if you only got a handful of em.

I use both of them but VM Ware is better for the higher level networking options and it's better on intensive applications like AutoCAD, MathWorks, SolidWorks,etc.

VM Ware has better performance overall for high end applications so as always it depends on the use case.

But if you don't need bleeding edge performance or the high end features you can't beat the price of Virtual box.

VM Ware player has interlocking features with Workstation and VSphere / EXSI is another plus for me but if you don't need those the Virtual Box may be the answer.