Top Alternatives to VMware vSphere Hypervisor

Xen Project is a widely adopted open-source hypervisor known for its performance and robust security features. Utilizing a microkernel design, it enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on the same hardware, making it ideal for cloud computing and server virtualization.

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a powerful, integrated virtualization solution for Linux, turning the kernel into a hypervisor. It enables running multiple virtual machines with unmodified Linux or Windows guest operating systems, leveraging standard Linux scheduling and memory management.

Proxmox VE is a leading open-source platform for enterprise virtualization. It integrates KVM and LXC, offering a unified solution for managing virtual machines and containers via a central web interface.

XCP-ng is an open-source, enterprise-grade hypervisor based on Xen Project, offering a robust and secure virtualization platform for small to large infrastructures. It is designed to be a viable alternative to commercial virtualization solutions, providing high performance, scalability, and flexibility without licensing costs.

OpenStack is an open-source cloud computing platform offering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). It provides a flexible and scalable framework for building private and public clouds, managing vast pools of compute, storage, and networking resources.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a dedicated, lean hypervisor-based virtualization platform for creating and managing virtual machines. It provides core virtualization capabilities including live migration and clustering, offering a robust foundation for datacenter and cloud environments.

Portable-VirtualBox allows you to run virtual machines directly from a USB drive without requiring an installation on the host computer. It provides a convenient and portable way to access different operating systems and applications.

Citrix XenServer is a powerful, open-source virtualization platform designed for managing virtualized server infrastructures. It provides robust features for creating, deploying, and managing virtual machines and containers, making it a popular choice for data centers and cloud environments. XenServer offers high availability, live migration capabilities, and integration with various storage and networking solutions.

Bochs is a highly portable, open-source IA-32 and x86-64 IBM PC emulator and debugger. Primarily written in C++, it allows users to run various operating systems and software designed for x86 architectures on different platforms, offering a low-level emulation of hardware components.

oVirt is a robust, free, and open-source virtualization management platform for managing virtual machines, networks, and storage, offering a comprehensive solution for enterprise virtualization needs.

unRAID Server is a powerful network-attached storage (NAS) operating system that also functions as a robust application server and hypervisor. It's designed for home and small business users who need flexible storage, media serving, and the ability to run various applications and virtual machines from a single platform.