VMware Workstation
Hacker ApprovedRanked 12 of 19 virtual machine tools by recommenders
People recommend it for solid USB passthrough, multi-monitor support and snapshots, and it is now free on Linux and Windows.
People recommend it for solid USB passthrough, multi-monitor support and snapshots, and it is now free on Linux and Windows.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 77%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 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
Free on Linux and Windows
“VMWare Workstation is now free on Linux and Windows, and allows you to create and rollback snapshots”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Running Claude Code dangerously (safely)” “For Windows a quick win is to install VMware Workstation Pro (which is free)”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Running Claude Code dangerously (safely)” “I've been able to download free Fusion and Workstation”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “"Negative" views of Broadcom driving VMware migrations, rival says”
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 WorkstationThis page | 10 | 3 | 77% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“setting up VMware Workstation with USB ISA cards to keep a line running. Ugh”
“What kind of VM container hosts it is really secondary.”
“A lot of people think VMWare Workstation is the pinnacle product of the company and I have NFI how this came to be.”
“VMware Workstation has historically been the most "it just works" option if one needed solid USB passthrough support.”
“I prefer to use VMWare workstation so I can't use Cowork”
“I've been able to download free Fusion and Workstation”
“What ultimately helped after weeks of trying and tinkering was installing VMware Workstation”
“Stronger isolation and choice of OS”
“For Windows a quick win is to install VMware Workstation Pro (which is free)”
“VMWare Workstation is now free on Linux and Windows, and allows you to create and rollback snapshots”
“I had VMWare Workstation before”
“Combined with VMware Workstation's support for multiple monitors, I had a surprisingly smooth remote session.”
“HiDPI scaling (not even fractional, 2x aka 200%), for some apps like OnlyOffice, VMWare Workstation”
“Copy/paste works properly, as do general acceleration.”
“I’ve found VMware to work well, though it’s degrading quickly.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.