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VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion

Overview

What is VMware Fusion?

Vmware Fusion is a virtual user session software built to run Windows applications on Macintosh to run any Windows applications.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

VMware Fusion has become a valuable tool for users across various industries and professions. Users have found it particularly useful in …
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VMware Analysis

9 out of 10
May 16, 2017
Incentivized
It is being used by the entire organization. Generally we use Macs, so we use it for a Windows environment for programs that require that.
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Pricing

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What is VMware Fusion?

Vmware Fusion is a virtual user session software built to run Windows applications on Macintosh to run any Windows applications.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

What is VMware Fusion?

VMware Fusion: Desktop Hypervisors for Mac

Software designed to give users the freedom to be more productive, agile and secure in a preferred environment. IT professionals, developers and businesses can use VMware Fusion desktop hypervisors for OS support, rock-solid stability and advanced features. With Fusion Player and Fusion Pro, run nearly any OS as VMs on Mac for development, testing, gaming or even simulating production clouds on local desktops.

VMware Fusion Video

What is VMware Fusion?

VMware Fusion Technical Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Vmware Fusion is a virtual user session software built to run Windows applications on Macintosh to run any Windows applications.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of VMware Fusion are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(74)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

VMware Fusion has become a valuable tool for users across various industries and professions. Users have found it particularly useful in virtualizing firewalls, test systems, and OS-specific applications that are unavailable on Macs. It offers developers the ability to spin up Linux servers for early-stage development before pushing the code to an internet-facing dev server for client review. Additionally, users appreciate how VMware Fusion allows for easy maintenance of different VM images to safely and efficiently test various application environments. Furthermore, it has been used as a lab rat to test code against bleeding edge versions of PHP and popular web apps.

For businesses relying on Intel Macs, VMware Fusion proves essential by enabling them to run Windows-only business-related applications without the need for multiple physical hardware or rebooting. The software is also utilized by IT departments to test changes, such as group policy adjustments, before pushing them out. End-users in finance benefit from using VMware Fusion to seamlessly run different financial software on their Macs. Charter school management organizations have leveraged this software to virtualize MS Windows on iMacs for compatibility with Windows-only programs.

Overall, VMware Fusion fills the gap between Mac and Windows environments by allowing users to seamlessly run Windows-based software on their Macs, eliminating the need for separate computers. It provides a versatile solution for developers and quality analysts to test web development on Windows browsers like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Users appreciate its simplicity in dealing with disk partitioning, assigning RAM to new operating systems, and its feature-rich offerings like capturing snapshots and changing networks. By providing access to critical Windows applications while still enjoying the benefits of a Mac system, VMware Fusion has been enthusiastically adopted by organizations using predominantly Macs.

Intuitive User Interface: Reviewers have consistently praised the intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface of VMware Fusion. Many users have found it straightforward to locate and customize settings, such as adjusting the hard disk size. This user-friendly interface has made it convenient for users to manage their virtual machines without any hassle.

Snapshot Functionality: The option to create and restore snapshots in VMware Fusion has received high praise from a significant number of reviewers. Users have found this feature to be both useful and easy to use. It allows them to quickly revert back to a previous state if any issues arise during their work, providing them with peace of mind.

Seamless Integration with macOS: The seamless integration of VMware Fusion with macOS has been highly regarded by many users. They appreciate features like the ability to copy and paste between environments, run applications in full screen mode for an immersive experience, and launch apps directly from the Mac desktop. This tight integration enhances productivity and convenience for users working across different operating systems on their Mac computers.

Outdated User Interface: Some users have expressed that the user interface of VMware Fusion is in need of improvement, stating that it has taken a step back and lacks modern design elements.

Unreliable Remote Host Connections: Several users have reported experiencing spotty remote host connections with VMware Fusion, making it difficult for them to establish stable connections and causing frustration during remote work or collaboration.

Difficulty Configuring Boot Camp Install: Some users have found configuring a boot camp install to run inside macOS via VMware Fusion to be tricky. This process can lead to license activation issues for certain applications, adding complexity to the setup process.

Users commonly recommend VMware Fusion for several reasons. Firstly, they suggest using VMware Fusion as the best option for running Windows on a MacBook and as an alternative to having a second laptop. Users also believe that VMware Fusion is worth the license price due to the time-saving benefits it provides. Additionally, users recommend VMware Fusion for its simplicity and ease of use in setting up and running virtual machines. They praise its stability, hardware sharing capabilities, and ability to make Windows software compatible with a Mac. Ultimately, users suggest considering VMware Fusion if you need to run programs not available on MacOSX or if your company pays for a MacBook.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-19 of 19)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As mentioned previously, perpetual licensing was the #1 reason. The interface is also cleaner, simpler, and less bloat. Parallels also seem to run a bit slower. Fusion was also more stable and significantly faster in both raw performance and graphics compared to Virtualbox. Virtualbox also had a tendency to random freezings on some of our Linux instances on occasion.
Jim Chandler | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have only used VMware Fusion, but I selected it compared to its competitors because of the reviews I read and the demos I saw. My decision was based on these factors: (1) reliability - this app is very stable; (2) simultaneous environments - some competitors require you to reboot the computer to switch between MacOS and Windows... with VMware Fusion, switching environments is as easy as switching between any other apps on your Mac; (3) value - the price was competitive, and the feature set made it the best value, in my opinion.
Jonah Dempcy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • GitHub and Bitbucket are both used by our company for code sharing and are much easier to use for collaborative source code versioning. We internally use GitHub and have some clients who use Bitbucket. In some cases, we have software projects that are very hard to configure, taking days or weeks of software environment setup to get them building. In these cases, we get the software development environment working in a virtual machine using VMware Fusion, although we typically also put the code in a source code versioning repository like GitHub.
  • I have used Parallels and VirtualBox before as well, and they were fine, but I have more experience with VMware Fusion. I did not have any complaints with VirtualBox when I used it before. I also found Parallels to be just fine for running Windows 10 if your host computer is a Mac running OS X. VMware Fusion offers more functionality than Parallels and similar functionality to VirtualBox. Ultimately, we were more familiar with VMware Fusion and had more experience with it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I've heard of other/competitive software but frankly once I tried VMware, I never looked back. There is absolutely nothing that I need that this product does not deliver. It's fast, effective and seems to be extremely durable and reliable. My only concern (and minor) might have to do with memory resources, but frankly it has not been an issue yet.
Stefan Semo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VMWare Fusion is easier to deploy and manage than Parallels and also has a much simpler and less expensive licensing system. For us these are win-win.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
To be fair, with other products, if pricing was a problem for the organization, I would choose VirtualBox, because it works very well on Mac environment and it has most of the features that VMware Fusion has. However, I personally like the way I can run my Microsoft Windows application without losing my MacOS context.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As Hyper-V is Windows specific product, and primarily designed for Windows Server, it is difficult to compare Fusion and Hyper-V as they cater to different customer needs.

Comparing Fusion to Parallels is a bit more complicated as they are extremely similar products. Briefly, VMware has a drastically better licensing system and licensing terms as compared to Parallels. VMware is licensed for up to two computers, and is extremely easy to transfer licenses from one to another. Parallels, by contrast, is licensed for a single computer and can be extremely difficult to transfer that license to a different computer. In addition, Fusion is a part of a plethora of other VMware products that all work very well together and have great support from VMware.

On the other end, Parallels has a plethora of power-user features that VMware lacks (such as command line tools and the ability to run a VM as a background service) and in general has better support for 3D workflows.

In the end, in spite of Parallels having a good deal more power-use features than VMware Fusion, Fusion's better licensing terms and support makes it a better choice for the vast majority of users who need VM support.

Alex Waitkus, CISSP-ISSAP, OSCP | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VM Fusion is a leader. It has more functionality and capability for workstation virtualization application. Its unity view and resource management of virtual guests is far superior to any other Mac workstation virtualization applications on the market.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
If you only need to run a single Windows VM for a handful of applications and do not need to do testing or run multiple operating systems, Parallels Desktop may be the better choice, especially for less technical end users. Parallels is a bit more user friendly. If you need flexibility, then Fusion is the better choice.
Kurt Pritchett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VMware Fusion works much better for us because of the migration capabilities. We use VMware vSphere and the migration/conversion is seamless. Some of the other virtualization application do not covert or migrate VMs onto other platforms as easily.
Michael Timms | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I personally have used just about every brand of virtualization software from Virtualbox for Windows, Hyper-v for Windows, KVM for Linux, and VMWare for Windows. Personally my favorite is KVM for Linux because it is lightweight and very fast, but as far as virtual machines go, Fusion is the best Virualization software that I have used for a Mac.
Andrew Shannon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VMware fusion is very similar to Parallels but is lower priced, so its my preferred solution for running Windows on a macintosh computer. Vmware is also made by a much more well known company with a large support staff in place, so getting help with vmware fusion is always easy to do.
May 16, 2017

VMware Analysis

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I actually think it's almost exactly the same as VirtualBox. VirtualBox I used for hosting a Linux distribution, and I think that there are inherently more problems to configuring a Linux distribution than there are to a Windows virtual machine, so mostly my issues were due to that. Coming from VirtualBox, I was able to set up VMWare perfectly to my specifications. VMWare does have better out of the box file sharing between operating systems though.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VMware Fusion stacks up against VirtualBox. I selected VMware Fusion for its easy to use UI and clear steps available and documentation available online. It is also a popular tool, so to get an exposure to this tool, I opted to learn about it by myself. Also, there are many online tutorials available for beginners, so it is easy to learn by oneself.
Gabriel Duff | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
All of this changes from year to year, too. Parallels and VMware both require that you buy an annual license every year to get updates that pack in performance gains and feature improvements. These annual updates are great in theory, but they’re not cheap, and they come every year without fail. This is a bit tiresome, especially when they lock out newer versions of Windows behind those paid upgrades. Provided you don’t need to be on the cutting edge, they’re usually pretty incremental, though, and you’re okay skipping one or two—as long as a new version of Windows doesn’t come out.
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