Best Virtual Machines Compared: Performance, Features, and Best Use Cases

By Lloyd Ingram Updated September 18, 2026

Quick Tips

There is no shortage of choices out there, and they are made to suit different purposes and price ranges.
VMware is a major name in virtualization, and Workstation is well-supported.
Hyper-V is Windows 11’s native virtual machine and comes with the OS.
Oracle VirtualBox is a beloved open-source VM, with plenty of support and plugins.

If you’re an enthusiastic systems developer, nostalgic game enthusiast, or just want an OS sandbox to play in that’s different from your own, a virtual machine can be a great thing. There is no shortages to choose from out there, and all are made to suit different purposes and price ranges. It can be hard to decide.

In this article, we’ll be looking at the best virtual machines for Windows 11 and why.

Our Rundown of the Best Virtual Machines

Let’s get straight into it. Below we have some good choices for virtual machines. Ultimately, the best free virtual machine is one that suits your purposes.

VMWare Workstation

Best Virtual Machines Compared Performance Features and Best Use Cases 1

Let’s start with one of the big names. VMware is perhaps the premium name in virtual machines, with a sizeable catalog to choose from. For a Type 2 hypervisor (one that runs on a host OS), Workstation Pro is a strong option. It is admittedly resource-intensive, as are many Type 2 hypervisors, but it can handle graphics technologies such as OpenGL and DirectX 11.

It supports a wide range of operating systems and provides the ability to run Kubernetes clusters. It’s great for building, testing, and running apps, and also for network topologies. Finally, it supports virtual networking and integration with VMware environments such as vSphere.

If you’re going to be using Workstation Pro in a personal capacity, the software is available for free.

Microsoft Hyper-V

You can’t mention the best virtual machines for Windows 11 without the one that comes built-in with it: Hyper-V. Yes, if you have Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education, you’ll be able to enable and use Hyper-V. The price is included with Windows itself.

This is a Type 1 hypervisor and installs an OS directly to a partition. It doesn’t run as an app, making it much faster and more agile. As it’s part of Windows, all the best features of the OS are yours to use. Things do get difficult when trying to use advanced networking, which you would need for USB connectivity.

Another great plus is the ability to share GPU resources between partitions, making graphics performance much better than Type 2 counterparts.

Oracle VirtualBox

Best Virtual Machines Compared Performance Features and Best Use Cases 2

If your PC is perhaps not as powerful as it used to be, Oracle’s VirtualBox is a solid Type 2 virtualization platform that offers an open-source base package. It uses a simple, if dated interface and is a lot friendlier than other options. For developers, Oracle has pre-built VMs with additional plug-ins for the performance you need. VBoxManage also allows for command-line scripting and easy automation.

The performance does suffer due to the older nature and hypervisor type of the VM, but if you need something supported and loved by the development community, you can’t go wrong.