FREEDOM251

Freedom251 › IT & Infrastructure

Free and open first

Best Server Virtualization Software in 2026

  1. 1

    KVM

    Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted

    KVM offers Linux-hosted virtualization with a broad set of documented VM features and integration options. Check that the host has the required processor extensions before choosing it.

    8.8 Free plan Visit site
  2. 2

    oVirt

    Free plan Open source AndroidAPIiPhone+5

    oVirt offers self-hosted virtualization management with centralized storage, automation interfaces, and community support.

    8.8 Free plan Visit site
  3. 3

    QEMU

    Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2

    QEMU covers whole-machine and cross-architecture process emulation, with disk-image utilities included.

    8.8 Free plan Visit site
  4. 4

    Harvester

    Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Harvester provides virtualization and distributed storage for bare-metal workloads, with VM management and live migration.

    7.6 Free plan Visit site
  5. 5

    Firecracker

    Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted

    Firecracker combines microVM isolation with an API, resource controls, and a companion jailer. Check the supported host requirements and the aarch64 RTC limitation for your workload.

    7.5 Free plan Visit site
  6. 6

    ACRN Hypervisor

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    ACRN offers virtualization, device emulation, and resource partitioning for embedded systems on a specified hardware host.

    7.4 Free plan Visit site
  7. 7

    OpenNebula

    by OpenNebula
    Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Choose OpenNebula if you need a unified platform for virtualization and cloud infrastructure across on-premises, public cloud, or edge environments.

    7.3 Free plan Visit site
  8. 8

    IPFW

    Free plan Self-hosted
    6.9 Free plan Visit site
  9. 9

    Xen Orchestra

    Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

    Xen Orchestra combines self-hosted infrastructure management with backup and automation features, and its Free feature set remains available after the trial.

    6.8 Free plan Visit site
  10. 10

    Xen Project Hypervisor

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    Xen offers a free hypervisor with guest isolation and a separate toolstack for managing virtual machines across hosts.

    6.6 Free plan Visit site
  11. 11

    Citrix XenServer

    Free trial LinuxSelf-hostedWindows

    Choose XenServer if your organization needs virtualization on dedicated x86 servers, with live migration, high availability, and GPU pass-through.

    6.4 Pricing on request · 90-day trial Visit site
  12. 12

    Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines

    Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    OpenShift Pipelines is designed for CI/CD workflows within OpenShift, with Tekton-based definitions and console management.

    6.1 Pricing on request Visit site
  13. 13

    Scale Computing Platform

    by Scale Computing Platform
    Paid APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Choose Scale Computing Platform if you need combined infrastructure and centralized management across distributed or edge locations, with automation and Azure integrations.

    5.5 Pricing on request Visit site
  14. 14

    IBM z/VM

    by IBM z/VM
    Paid Self-hosted

    IBM z/VM is aimed at organizations consolidating virtualized workloads on IBM Z or LinuxONE systems.

    5.4 Visit site
  15. 15

    Huawei FusionCompute

    Paid Self-hostedWeb
    5.3 Pricing on request Visit site
  16. 16

    IBM PowerVM

    by IBM PowerVM
    Paid LinuxSelf-hosted

    IBM PowerVM combines virtualization, workload mobility, placement controls, and IBM management integrations for enterprise Power environments.

    5.3 Pricing on request Visit site
  17. 17

    HPE VM Essentials

    Paid LinuxWeb
    5.0 Visit site
  18. 18

    Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager

    Paid LinuxWeb

    Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager provides operational management features for Oracle Linux KVM in a self-hosted package.

    4.6 Open source Visit site
  19. 19

    VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

    by Broadcom (VMware)
    Paid On_premise

    Choose VCF if your organization wants self-hosted, on-premise software with configuration management and the listed routing and traffic features.

    4.1 Pricing on request Visit site
  20. 20

    VMware Cloud Foundation Operations

    Paid Web

    Choose VMware Cloud Foundation Operations if your infrastructure matches its supported platforms and you need configuration management with traffic controls.

    4.1 Pricing on request Visit site
  21. 21

    VMware Avi Load Balancer

    Paid
    4.0 Pricing on request Visit site
  22. 22

    VMware vSphere

    by VMware (Broadcom)
    Paid On_premise
    4.0 Visit site

#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price

More in IT & Infrastructure