Parallels Desktop is the best choice for running multiple OS on my Mac
I use Parallels Desktop to access Windows on my Mac. There are eLearning and local government design applications that require the …
Starting at $49.99 per license
View PricingOverview
What is Parallels Desktop?
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
Recent Reviews
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- File transfer (23)9.898%
- Screen sharing (9)9.090%
- Access to sleeping/powered-off computers (10)8.787%
- Centralized management dashboard (11)8.585%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Parallels Desktop 16
$49.99
On Premise
per license
Parallels Desktop Pro Edition
$49.99
On Premise
per license/per year
Parallels Desktop
$79.99
On Premise
per license
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac - VM Explorer Demo
YouTube
Features
Return to navigation
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Parallels Desktop?
Parallels Desktop Video
How to Run Windows on Mac : Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels Desktop Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
Reviewers rate File transfer highest, with a score of 9.8.
The most common users of Parallels Desktop are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(84)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-5 of 5)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 21, 2022
If you need to run Windows Apps and are Mac User, buy Parallels. Best decision you can make.
Parallels Desktop is used in my organization and with our customers to support Windows Apps when there is no Mac Application or the Mac Application is not fully featured.
We have a legacy application where only administrative functions can be performed in a Windows App. For some of our customers, all users are Mac users. Parallels and their Coherence Mode provide a near-seamless virtual machine/desktop experience for these users. Coherence Mode means they don't have to deal with a windows environment and can work side by side with our app and their other Mac apps (Adobe Creative Cloud apps, for example).
We have a legacy application where only administrative functions can be performed in a Windows App. For some of our customers, all users are Mac users. Parallels and their Coherence Mode provide a near-seamless virtual machine/desktop experience for these users. Coherence Mode means they don't have to deal with a windows environment and can work side by side with our app and their other Mac apps (Adobe Creative Cloud apps, for example).
- Windows (or other OS) virtualization on machines running MacOS
- Using Windows apps side by side your Mac apps
- Coherence Mode allows you to hide the Windows Virtual Machine and only interact with the Windows Apps (no Windows desktop in browser window)
- I think that over time it slows down, but this is really linked to Windows bloating.
- I think Coherence Mode could improve slightly...how the windows search window populates and moves around sometimes is weird. (this could be changed in settings, but I'm not sure)
- Memory Usage optimization (again, they do a great job, so I'm nitpicking here)
7.142857142857143%
0.7
- It has allowed us to keep customers and keep them happy.
- It has allowed me to keep my current computer.
- It has made it possible for me to experience our app the way all customers see it without having to switch machines.
If you can follow a prompt and click a button, you can install Parallels. We chose Parallels because they make it so simple to buy, install, set up, and add licenses. I work with Creatives and getting them to run a Windows environment is a painful task. With Parallels, we can do it for them in minutes and "hide" Windows.
12
We have 2 internal users of Parallels and 10 clients who use the tool. Internally, they are CS and Engineering. On the customer side, they represent marketing/creative users within their respective organizations.
1
Are you able to follow simple software installation instructions? The tool is so simple to install and it just works. Once you download the .pkg file, the installation is guided with the system doing most of the work for you, as long as you can read and click. Advanced functions like switching to coherence or setting memory limits is very simple also.
- Ability for mac users to access critical windows apps from their Macs
- Need for the VM to be installed on the local machine (not accessed remotely)
- Need for the ability to remove as much of the VM/Windows environment as possible
- Need to share files and copy/paste between local MacOS and local Windows VM
- It has allowed us to keep providing a fully featured application to clients using Mac instead of Windows.
- I believe we are utilizing it fully for our needs.
Yes
VIrtual Box - It was not easy for non-technical users to install. Parallels makes it simple to install and work on a VM. Virtual Box does not, in my opinion. I'm sure it works well for tech savvy users like devs. But for folks who just need the software to work, Parallels is hands-down superior.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
Coherence mode in Parallels allows a user to use Windows apps on their Mac machine, while hiding so much of the windows environment, including the desktop. This was a game changer, as I had to go to creatives who love Mac and hate Windows and persuade them to use a Windows vm. Could not have done it otherwise.
I would have bought Parallels Desktop sooner and not tried other software or workarounds.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
Use Coherence mode, as it makes disruption minimal.
- Installing a new OS can sometimes be tricky
No, it is not offered.
No
No, because the software works.
- Installation is easy
- Setting memory and other setting is easy
- Coherence mode makes it easy to forget you are using a virtual machine.
- Downgrading licenses is my only issue
No
January 24, 2020
Life Saver
I am the only user as our company is very small. I use Parallels in order to access Windows because my accounting program (QuickBooks Desktop Pro) is only available in Windows and not in Mac.
- I like how it is a separate entity from the workings of my Mac. I can access the programs on Windows in a separate section on my desktop.
- Parallels allows Windows to run seamlessly.
- Parallels uses a lot of RAM, so unless your machine has 16 GB of RAM, it will probably run slowly.
21.428571428571427%
2.1
- It has allowed me to save time because I've been able to use the same accounting software on Desktop that I was using online.
- This sounds trite, but it's truly saved my sanity. If I had to switch over to a new accounting system, I really don't know what I'd do. Parallels has saved my sanity because I can run Windows on my Mac.
I have not used any other program to meet these needs and to be honest I didn't want to. Parallels had great reviews and from my research it would do what I needed, so there was no reason to look elsewhere. On top of that, Parallels is not overly expensive for the capability you get.
We use Parallels Desktop in our organization for users who use Mac platform. Many products for which we provide consulting services such as Oracle EBS and some integration software for Oracle Cloud do not work on Mac. Parallels Desktop allows us to use these software with ease and efficiency without having dedicated separate machines.
- You don't need to switch between host and guest system like other virtual systems.
- Apps from the guest system shows in menu which makes them seamless to use.
- Even the most resource intensive software run smoothly such as visual studio.
- The overall requirement to run this on older laptops is bit too high. If you are running with less than 8 GB ram, it slows down the system quite badly.
- Installation is quite tricky.
6.428571428571429%
0.6
- It has greatly reduced the amount that we were spending on separate machines. Now having one Mac is enough to run Windows, Mac and Linux all in one machine.
- I have a reason to believe that it's much easier for IT to set someone up on Parallels Desktop than VMWare or Virtual Box and users are significantly happier with the former option.
Not recommended for non-technical users but VMWare and Virtual Box are acceptable alternatives to these.
September 11, 2018
Parallels Desktop - The best choice for virtual machines on Mac
As a person whose job it is to test and troubleshoot audio video equipment with a variety of equipment attached, and as a Mac user that relies on a variety of Windows software tools to accomplish my job, I spend most of my work day in virtual operating environments. When I first started using Parallels, I tested it against other options such as VirtualBox and VMWare. I have tested those options since then and every time, Parallels stands out as the most stable and most efficient option.
When it comes to the virtual environment configuration customization and USB compatibility with non-standard devices, Parallels consistently stands at the top of the list.
When it comes to the virtual environment configuration customization and USB compatibility with non-standard devices, Parallels consistently stands at the top of the list.
- USB device compatibility. This is ESSENTIAL when using some of the USB-connected testing hardware I often have to work with.
- Parallels also makes it seamless to share data between the host OS and the virtual environment.
- I spend most of my time in Parallels running Windows, but at times I do load up a Linux or Android VM for testing. I am able to switch back and forth between them or run multiples with little to no effort.
- I honestly cannot think of anything I would want Parallels to add or do differently. After 10 years of use, since Parallels 4, I have stuck with Parallels because they just do it right from the beginning.
100%
10.0
- Parallels has allowed myself and other Mac users to continue using our specialized Windows-only software without the need of multiple computers. This definitely cuts down on costs.
Parallels offers a much more streamlined and easier to navigate VM configuration interface. Once configured, device compatibility and overall system efficiency appears to be better in Parallels Desktop compared to others. Integration between the Mac host OS and the VM is virtually seamless whether you are just sharing files between the two operating systems or utilizing full-on Coherence mode.
February 16, 2017
Parallels: unparalleled simplicity
Right now, we only use Parallels in a single user environment. I do software development on an iMac, but the development platform only works under Windows. I use Parallels to run Windows 10 side-by-side with Mac OS X. There are so many things I love about the iMac that I can't get with a Windows PC; Parallels give me a great compromise. I can use all the features I love about the Mac alongside my Windows environment. The Parallels Coherence mode allows me to run my Windows applications and OS X applications as though they were running under one OS. I love it!
- Range of application support. When I first started using Parallels, one of the applications I run for development seemed to have issues running in the VM. I discovered that I had actually failed to install a needed Windows component during the installation process. To date, I haven't found any applications that don't play nice in the Parallels environment.
- Ease of Use. This one deserves honorable mention. The setup was a snap; their setup wizard is excellent and asked me difficult technical questions in plain English so I was able to set up Parallels in just a few minutes. The user interface is pretty much what you see is what you get, with a caveat I'll explain later.
- Coherence Mode. I've mentioned this already in the review, but the Coherence mode is just cool. Parallels runs in a sort of full-screen mode but sits behind the Mac OS. Programs appear in the dock with two vertical bars so you know they're actually running under Parallels. Otherwise, the transition between Mac and Windows under Parallels is almost transparent.
- Keyboard shortcuts. This is the only thing I've really struggled with in using Parallels. When moving from Mac to Windows and back, the keyboard shortcut keys change. For example, to copy+paste under Windows is Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V. Under the Mac it is Command + C and Command + V. Small thing, but when you're hurrying, it can cause trouble. Some of the keyboard shortcuts for moving to the beginning or end of a line also don't work quite right in Parallels. Now, this could all be user error. I've still got some searching to do.
30%
3.0
- Parallels isn't that expensive to implement. For what I'm doing, I have to have a Windows environment. That makes Parallels mission critical for me. The Parallels investment is much smaller than buying another computer that can do the work of the iMac.
Prior to using Parallels, I ran under Boot Camp. Of course, the OS runs just fine that way, but having to power down and back up each time I wanted to switch environments just wasn't working for me. That's what sent me looking for another solution. I tried Oracle VM VirtualBox, but the configuration was difficult and the OS never installed correctly. (Likely user error.) The setup process for Oracle VM VirtualBox was definitely geared to very tech savvy people who understand virtual machine lingo, which I do not. Parallels is loaded with all the features and functionality that I need to do my work, with a very simple user interface.