Open-source alternatives to Xhyve

QEMU is a cross-platform system emulator and hardware virtualization platform that enables the execution of multiple isolated operating systems on a single host machine. It functions as a processor architecture emulator, translating machine instructions between different hardware platforms to allow software designed for one architecture to run on another. The project distinguishes itself through a modular target architecture that separates core emulation logic from specific hardware definitions, supporting a wide range of processor and peripheral configurations. It utilizes dynamic binary tra

VirtualBuddy is a graphical user interface and manager for creating and running macOS virtual machines on Apple Silicon. It serves as an interface for the native Apple Virtualization Framework, allowing users to provision and boot guest operating systems on ARM-based hardware. The tool provides a dedicated environment for managing virtual machine administration and software compatibility testing across different macOS versions. It enables the execution of guests via local files, remote URLs, or image catalogs, and supports booting into recovery mode for system repairs. The system covers hard

seL4 is a formally verified microkernel whose C implementation is backed by machine-checked mathematical proofs of correctness, confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It enforces strict isolation between processes through hardware-enforced address space separation and a capability-based access control system, where each process holds explicit rights only to the resources it has been granted. The kernel exposes hardware resources through a minimal API of system calls that manage threads, address spaces, and inter-process communication, with synchronous IPC supporting sender-identifying b

x11docker is an OCI container GUI orchestrator and hardware bridge designed to execute graphical applications and full desktop environments inside containers. It functions as a Linux GUI sandbox, linking containerized processes to host X11 or Wayland display servers and audio systems. The project differentiates itself by providing deep system integration for hardware acceleration, including NVIDIA driver automation and GPU passthrough. It supports cross-architecture GUI emulation and provides remote access capabilities through VNC, SSH forwarding, and browser-based HTML5 rendering. The tool

Auto-unlocker is a collection of utilities designed to modify virtualization software libraries to bypass system restrictions on guest operating systems. It primarily functions as a binary patcher that enables the selection and booting of macOS guests within VMware. The project modifies core system libraries to unlock hidden operating system selection options and bypass boot checks for unsupported guests. It also includes a guest tools installer that downloads and applies the driver packages necessary for hardware integration and performance. The toolset provides capabilities for managing vi

macintosh.js is an Electron-based system emulator designed to run legacy operating systems and vintage software within a modern desktop application. It functions as a virtual machine that replicates the hardware and software environment of a Macintosh Quadra to execute System 8. The project includes a UDP network bridge and virtual Ethernet integration, which routes network traffic to specific ports to enable communication between multiple emulated instances on a local network. The emulator supports virtual disk management and disk-image mounting to transfer files between the host machine an

Cloud Hypervisor is a Rust-based hypervisor and KVM virtual machine monitor designed to execute 64-bit guest operating systems. It functions as a user-space virtual machine manager that employs a minimal emulation layer to reduce memory overhead and latency for cloud workloads. The project distinguishes itself through the use of a memory-safe language to implement a virtio device emulator and a user-space device model. It provides a standardized web API for managing virtual machine lifecycles and resource configurations. The platform covers broad virtualization capabilities, including the em

microvm.nix is a declarative virtual machine manager and orchestrator for defining, building, and managing isolated guest environments using Nix. It functions as a virtual machine image builder that transforms system specifications into bootable disk images and runner scripts. The project provides a hypervisor abstraction layer, enabling the deployment of guest images across multiple virtualization backends through a unified configuration. It includes specialized tools for PCI hardware passthrough, granting virtual machines direct access to physical host USB and PCI devices. The framework co

OrbStack is a native macOS application that replaces Docker Desktop, providing an all-in-one environment for running Docker containers, full Linux virtual machines, and local Kubernetes clusters. It runs Linux VMs directly on the macOS hypervisor framework for near-native performance, uses VirtioFS for fast bidirectional file sharing between macOS and Linux, and leverages Rosetta for near-native x86 emulation on Apple Silicon. The system assigns predictable local domain names to containers and VMs with automatic HTTPS certificate generation, forwards ports via event-driven updates, and stores

Winboat is a virtualization manager that provides a graphical interface for automating Windows installations and running Windows environments on Linux. It functions as a system for integrating Windows applications directly into a Linux desktop, allowing them to appear as native windows. The platform utilizes hardware-accelerated virtualization to manage guest operating systems and includes utilities for mapping physical USB hardware directly into virtual environments. It supports cross-platform data exchange by mounting host directories within the guest system, enabling direct file access bet

This is a virtualization tool designed to run macOS guest operating systems, such as Catalina, Mojave, and High Sierra, inside VirtualBox on Windows, Linux, or Mac hardware. It provides a system for deploying these operating systems on x86 CPUs using official installation files. The project includes specialized utilities to manage EFI and NVRAM settings, enabling the emulation of device serial numbers and board identifiers to allow connectivity for cloud services and messaging. It also features a configurator for adjusting CPUID profiles and display resolutions to ensure hardware compatibilit

Tools to set up a quick macOS VM in QEMU, accelerated by KVM.

Unlocker is a patching tool designed to enable the installation and booting of macOS guest operating systems on non-Apple hardware. It functions as a macOS guest enabler by modifying virtualization software binaries to bypass hardware restrictions and support OS combinations that are not supported by default. The project provides a mechanism to emulate Apple-specific device signatures by intercepting calls between the virtual machine manager and the hardware. It also includes a driver image provider that delivers ISO images containing the necessary utilities and drivers for guest installation

This project provides a specialized UEFI boot environment and hardware emulation layer designed to run proprietary network-attached storage operating systems on generic x86 and x64 hardware. It functions as a bootloader and recovery environment that enables these systems to initialize on devices not originally manufactured by the vendor. The system employs a hardware emulation layer that mimics specific vendor IDs and boot parameters to ensure operating system compatibility. It includes a virtual machine image generator to create bootable images in multiple formats for deployment within virtu

OSX-KVM is a project that enables running macOS as a virtualized guest operating system on non-Apple hardware using QEMU/KVM and the OpenCore bootloader. It provides the core capability to install and boot macOS on a Linux host, supporting GPU passthrough for improved graphics performance and remote access via SSH and VNC for headless management. The project distinguishes itself by offering a complete virtualization stack for macOS, including hardware passthrough for physical GPUs and other devices, integration with libvirt and virt-manager for graphical VM management, and the ability to boot

pvetools is a configuration toolkit and suite of scripts designed to automate the setup and optimization of Proxmox VE virtualization environments on Debian. It provides automated toolsets for configuring hypervisors, optimizing hardware, and deploying network file services. The project features a container runtime deployer for installing engines and web management interfaces within isolated environments, and a storage manager for resizing root partitions, managing ZFS RAM usage, and relocating container data across disks. It includes optimization scripts for nested virtualization and PCI pas

Waydroid is a containerized mobile runtime that executes a full Android operating system directly on Linux desktop environments. By utilizing Linux kernel namespaces, it isolates the mobile environment while sharing the host kernel to provide native-like performance and hardware access for mobile applications. The project distinguishes itself through deep integration with the host system, bridging mobile display buffers to native desktop windows and translating host input events into mobile gestures. It enables multi-window management, allowing mobile applications to run alongside native desk

CloudStack is an infrastructure-as-a-service orchestration engine designed to automate the deployment and lifecycle of computing, storage, and networking resources within a software-defined data center. It serves as a management layer for provisioning private clouds and managing the delivery of virtual machines and persistent storage across virtualized physical infrastructure. The platform features a multi-hypervisor orchestrator that utilizes a hypervisor-agnostic abstraction layer to control diverse virtualization technologies through a unified set of standardized API calls. It further prov

DPDK is a packet processing framework and kernel bypass networking library designed to accelerate network data plane performance. It provides a user space network stack that moves network data directly from the network interface card to user space, eliminating operating system kernel overhead to achieve high throughput and low latency. The framework utilizes a poll mode driver architecture that replaces interrupt-driven networking with a constant polling mechanism. This approach allows for the implementation of network functions and protocols outside the kernel. The project covers capabiliti

Docker-Android runs a full Android emulator inside a Docker container, enabling mobile app testing and automation without requiring a physical device. The emulator uses QEMU-based virtualization with optional KVM acceleration for hardware-backed performance, and supports nested virtualization on cloud VMs from providers like AWS, GCP, and Azure for environments without direct hardware acceleration. The container exposes the Android Debug Bridge over TCP/IP, allowing host-side tools to connect to the emulator as if it were a local device. It provides browser-based interaction with the emulator

This project is a containerized Linux desktop streamer that renders a full operating system interface in a web browser using encoded video streams. It allows for remote access to various Linux distributions and serves as a platform for browser-based application hosting. The system supports GPU acceleration via KVM and direct hardware passthrough to enable low-latency graphics rendering and video encoding. It also features volume mapping for home directory persistence, ensuring that user data and portable applications survive environment updates. Additional capabilities include the creation o

LXD is a unified platform for managing both system containers and virtual machines through a single REST API and command-line interface. It provides a programmatic HTTP interface for controlling the full lifecycle of instances, enabling automation and integration with external tools. The system runs unprivileged containers with per-instance UID/GID mappings, seccomp filters, and AppArmor profiles for kernel-level isolation, while supporting multiple storage backends including directory, Btrfs, LVM, ZFS, Ceph, LINSTOR, and TrueNAS through a unified driver interface. The platform distinguishes

OSV is a unikernel operating system and cloud-native execution environment designed to run as a secure microVM on hypervisors such as KVM, Firecracker, Xen, and VMware. It functions as a Linux binary compatible runtime, allowing unmodified Linux binaries to be executed as secure microVMs without requiring recompilation. The project distinguishes itself through its ability to package applications into minimal bootable images and its provide of a virtual machine management API. This REST interface enables remote monitoring of system health, management of execution traces, and control over guest

Vagrant is a virtual machine environment manager and infrastructure as code tool used to create and configure consistent development environments. It acts as a virtual machine provisioner and hypervisor abstraction layer, allowing users to define machine specifications and automate software installation on guest systems via declarative configuration files. The project enables cross-hypervisor orchestration by decoupling the command interface from specific virtualization backends. It ensures environment consistency through the distribution of pre-configured machine images and the orchestration

FullPageOS is a Linux distribution that turns a Raspberry Pi into a dedicated web kiosk, booting directly into a full-screen browser without a desktop environment. It is designed for digital signage and single-purpose web application deployments, locking the device to a single webpage or a rotating set of pages. The system reads its startup URL and other kiosk parameters from plain text configuration files on the boot partition, allowing settings to be changed without reflashing the device. It includes a pre-configured VNC server for remote viewing and control of the kiosk display, and can em

Kata Containers is an OCI container runtime that launches containers inside lightweight virtual machines to combine hardware-level isolation with container operational speed. It functions as a hardware-isolated container engine and lightweight VM hypervisor, providing a virtual machine monitor interface that abstracts multiple hypervisors to optimize for performance or specific hardware emulation. The project distinguishes itself through a confidential computing runtime that leverages hardware-backed trusted execution environments, such as Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP, to protect data in use. It

edk2 is a development project for creating system firmware that complies with the UEFI specification. It provides the necessary infrastructure to initialize hardware platforms and boot operating systems across multiple CPU architectures. The project utilizes a modular firmware architecture that decouples high-level management protocols from physical transport layers. It implements critical security features, including a measured boot chain, cryptographic primitives for image authentication, and support for Trusted Platform Module hardware and software implementations. Its capability surface