VMware Fusion
Shares rank 13 of 19 virtual machine tools by recommenders
People recommend it for stable macOS virtualization and GPU paravirtualization for Linux and Windows guests. The most common caveat is Broadcom's changed download access and licensing.
People recommend it for stable macOS virtualization and GPU paravirtualization for Linux and Windows guests. The most common caveat is Broadcom's changed download access and licensing.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
GPU paravirtualization for Linux and Windows
“It also has GPU paravirtualization for Linux/Windows which is the only reason I use a proprietary VMM on macOS these days.”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “Parallels Confirms MacBook Neo Can Run Windows in a Virtual Machine” “Llm seemed to think 3d acceleration would work better on fusion.”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Windows 11½”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to download older versions
“my ability to download existing versions of perpetually licensed VMware products was removed the day my maintenance subscription expired”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “"Negative" views of Broadcom driving VMware migrations, rival says” “The worst part about the convoluted download process is that it seems someone have actively been making it more difficult”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “"Negative" views of Broadcom driving VMware migrations, rival says” Future of product uncertain
“Fusion feels very much like it's on life support.”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Virtualisation on Apple Silicon Macs is different” “The writing was on the wall with Fusion when they made it free.”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Virtualisation on Apple Silicon Macs is different”
Other virtual machine tools people recommend
The four most recommended other virtual machine tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QEMU | 114 | 42 | 73% | 12 | 16 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| UTM | 49 | 11 | 82% | 12 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| VirtualBox | 34 | 33 | 51% | 12 | 18 yrs3 owners | — |
| Lima | 31 | 3 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
| VMware FusionThis page | 8 | 5 | 62% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I now decided to follow Mitchell Hashimoto choice and use VMware Fusion and simply do all my work inside of it.”
“Llm seemed to think 3d acceleration would work better on fusion.”
“some proprietary (VMware Fusion, Parallels)”
“Fusion has no graphics support.”
“The writing was on the wall with Fusion when they made it free.”
“Fusion feels very much like it's on life support.”
“my ability to download existing versions of perpetually licensed VMware products was removed the day my maintenance subscription expired”
“The worst part about the convoluted download process is that it seems someone have actively been making it more difficult”
“It's been a great product, which I used to pay for and would again.”
“The main limitation is that you cannot use x86-64 drivers.”
“It also has GPU paravirtualization for Linux/Windows which is the only reason I use a proprietary VMM on macOS these days.”
“it's similarly non-intuitive as alternatives, such as VirtualBox / UTM (macOS) / VMware Fusion/Player”
“Fusion seemed to be the most stable for me.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.