VMware Workstation Pro vs UTM

VMware Workstation Pro: what it's good at

VMware Workstation Pro became free for personal use in 2024, putting a long-established commercial hypervisor within reach of home users. It is generally faster and better at 3D acceleration than the open-source alternatives, though commercial use still requires a paid licence.

• Free for personal, non-commercial use
• Strong 3D and hardware acceleration
• Snapshots and cloning
• Runs Windows and Linux guests

UTM: what it's good at

UTM is the practical way to run Windows or Linux on a Mac, and one of very few options built properly for Apple Silicon. It wraps QEMU in a native macOS interface, supporting both fast virtualisation of matching architectures and slower emulation of others.

• Native Apple Silicon support
• Virtualise or emulate other architectures
• Native macOS interface
• Free and open source

Which should you choose?

Both are free, so the honest answer is that you can install either and decide for yourself — that is the advantage of free software over a paid trial.

Only VMware Workstation Pro supports Windows, Linux. Only UTM supports macOS, iOS. If open source matters to you, UTM publishes its source code and VMware Workstation Pro does not.

We deliberately do not publish a star rating for either. We have no way to verify a rating that would be honest at scale, and an invented one would be worse than none — so we give you the facts and let you decide.

Frequently asked questions

Is VMware Workstation Pro better than UTM?

Neither is universally better. VMware Workstation Pro commercial-grade desktop hypervisor, free for personal use, while UTM virtual machines on macOS, including Apple Silicon. The right pick depends on your platform and workflow.

Are both really free?

VMware Workstation Pro is free tier and UTM is open source. Both can be downloaded without paying.

Can I install both?

Yes. Since neither costs anything, installing both and comparing them on your own files is usually the fastest way to decide.