VMware Fusion Reviews & Product Details

VMware Fusion is a powerful desktop hypervisor developed by VMware, enabling Mac users to run multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and other versions of macOS, concurrently with their native macOS environment. This capability allows for seamless integration and operation of diverse applications across different platforms without the need for dual-booting or additional hardware. Key Features and Functionality: - Broad OS Compatibility: Supports a wide range of guest operating systems, including various versions of Windows, Linux distributions, and older macOS versions, facilitating diverse development and testing environments. - High-Performance Virtualization: Utilizes hardware-assisted virtualization technologies to deliver efficient and responsive virtual machine performance, ensuring smooth operation of applications within VMs. - Seamless Integration with macOS: Features such as Unity mode allow Windows applications to run alongside Mac applications, providing a cohesive user experience without switching between operating systems. - Advanced Graphics Support: Offers support for DirectX and OpenGL, enabling users to run graphics-intensive applications and games within virtual machines. - Snapshot and Cloning Capabilities: Allows users to capture the current state of a virtual machine, facilitating easy rollback to previous configurations and efficient management of multiple VM instances. - Support for Apple Silicon: Recent versions have introduced compatibility with Apple’s M-series chips, expanding support to the latest Mac hardware. Primary Value and User Solutions: VMware Fusion addresses the need for Mac users to access and operate applications exclusive to other operating systems without compromising the macOS experience. It is particularly beneficial for developers, IT professionals, and power users who require cross-platform compatibility for testing, development, or running legacy applications. By providing a stable and high-performance virtualization environment, VMware Fusion eliminates the need for multiple devices or complex dual-boot setups, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity.

Seller

Broadcom

Discussions

VMware Fusion Community

Solution Type

Best-of-Breed

Overview by

Michael Roy (Product Line Marketing Manager at VMware)

Pricing

Pricing provided by Fusion.

Configure VMware Fusion 8

$79.99

View More Pricing Information

Top-Rated Alternatives

Azure Virtual Machines

4.4/5(395)

View All Alternatives

User Insights

Average based on 126 real user reviews.

Implementation Time

1 month

Perceived Cost

$$$$$

Typical contract price

$0k - $0k

Per Year

VMware Fusion Reviews FAQs

Generated using AI

Last updated: Nov 01, 2026

What is VMware Fusion, and what problem is it built to solve?

VMware Fusion is desktop virtualization software that lets users run other operating systems on a Mac. It helps people use software and test environments that aren’t available or practical to run directly on macOS, without switching computers or rebooting.

What company sizes and industries is VMware Fusion the best fit for?

VMware Fusion has a strong fit among users in larger organizations and mid-sized companies, with additional use in small businesses. The industries with the clearest presence include technology and networking-related fields.

Company size: Enterprise organizations and mid-market companies are the most represented, with small businesses also represented.
Industry: Computer networking, information technology and services, and computer software are recurring fields.

What customer support options does VMware Fusion provide, and how do users find the overall support experience?

VMware Fusion provides FAQs and forums, along with a knowledge base. The support experience is mixed: users value responsive technical help when they can access it, while some find support limited depending on their licensing arrangement.

What features or capabilities could make VMware Fusion even more useful?

VMware Fusion could be more useful with smoother performance under heavier workloads and simpler setup and configuration. Users also point to opportunities to improve everyday handling of virtual machines and connections between the Mac and guest systems.

Improve performance and reduce resource strain when running demanding workloads or multiple virtual machines.
Make initial setup and advanced settings, including resource allocation, easier to understand.
Simplify file sharing and other host-to-guest workflows, including more consistent copy and paste.
Expand tools for managing multiple virtual machines and working with snapshots.

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Nathan M.

Information Technology, Parts Sales

Automotive

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

3/24/2016

"Flexible and well-supported desktop virtualization environment"

4/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

VMware Fusion offers the flexibility and compatibility of the VMware environment in a fast and usable OS X wrapper, and with solid OS X integration for supported guest operating systems.

It's a well-crafted product, and the developer community offers somewhat broader driver support for VMware than they do for its major competitor, Oracle's VirtualBox.

VMware Fusion is definitely a desktop user-oriented product, and shows a clear developer focus on Windows guests, with quick, integrated access to apps in Windows VMs available through Fusion's OS X menu bar application. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

VMware Fusion's preference interface, while slightly more "Mac-like" in appearance than VirtualBox, also obfuscates details which VirtualBox exposes (such as the specific identities of emulated chipsets), complicating the configuration of older or less well-supported OSes which do not have VMware drivers available.

The Fusion interface also buries some necessary functions several levels deep. Switching optical or floppy drive images, for instance, requires several clicks in Fusion, while VirtualBox places recent media in a simple drop-down menu on the main application frame.

Finally, headless operation and server integration is not as transparent in VMware Fusion as it is in VirtualBox, and VMware's offerings are quite different on different host OSes.

Slightly better breadth of guest OS support may not justify the purchase of VMware Fusion for many users, when VirtualBox is available for free, and better exposes its more powerful features to the user. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering VMware Fusion:

VMware Fusion is one of those packages which you will know if you need: if you have to run prebuilt VMware virtual machines on OS X, and don't want to spend a day or two converting them, there aren't many other options. And for those guest OSes for which VirtualBox drivers are not forthcoming, such as NextStep/OpenStep, it offers better support.

That said, if you do not fall into these two use cases, VirtualBox is free, equally powerful, and offers a better interface on OS X and more consistence in interface between host OSes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

I mostly use VMware Fusion for testing prebuilt virtual machines prior to conversion to VirtualBox, and for access to certain guest OSes for which VirtualBox driver support does not exist. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Andrew S.

Senior System Administrator

Publishing

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5/27/2016

"Great product, run windows applications right on your MAC"

5/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

You can run windows programs right on your Mac OSX desktop! I found a user saying to me they wished they could run Microsoft Dynamics on their macbook and when will microsoft release a client that works on Macs? I immediately answered them, you can do it right now with VMware Fusion. 2 hours later they had Fusion and Dynamics setup and were the happiest users i have ever seen. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

You need to have enough available resources on your mac to be able to run a windows environment at the same time, so make sure you dont get the lowest end mac, and add some additional RAM to it if you can. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Restaurants

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

1/10/2017

"Great software!"

4/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Loved the ease of the program. It's even easy for non IT folks to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

I had one issue when I did not do the updates. Hard lesson learned, always do the updates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Information Technology and Services

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/23/2017

"Review of VMWare Fusion"

4/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Nice interface. Easy to use. All of the features of VMware Desktop on a Mac. Easy to Install and Configure. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

The install package is a bit big for a laptop install. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/19/2016

Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.

"VMware Fusion: VPN Usage"

3.5/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Easy to use, clean interface, simple to use another OS onto your computer Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

Install can be a bit complicated if you don't know what you're doing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering VMware Fusion:

VMware fusion can be a bit complicated to install, however once it is installed the possibilities are excellent. The ease of using another OS and getting your work done is easy and simple to use. I would recommend this to any user who needs to use another OS in their applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

Logging into the client network in order to see test environments. This has allowed us to develop prototypes that are accurate to the latest release. Excellent product to use for having multiple OS's on one computer. Our value has been when we can use this for iOS and Windows platforms, as some consultants have one type of machine or the other. The client we work at is strictly PC based, and the support for iOS is not that plentiful. Giving iOS users the power to use Windows on their machines has enabled them to Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Siddartha L.

Student

Higher Education

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 12/30/2015

"VMware Fusion performance matches with dual booted OS performance"

4/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

The speed and tools offered in the package is pretty great and well integrated with MAC experience. 3D hardware speed while playing games in Virtual OS. Booting and shutting down of virtual OS is pretty fast compared to others. The impact and load of VMware Fusion on underlying OS is less and doesn't drain the RAM much. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

One of the most common dislikes is bit hanging and speed which is pretty slow at some point of time. Only one snapshot per virtual machine. Navigation from one OS to another is a bit time-consuming task. Some features in Windows virtual installed OS face problems which are not well supported. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering VMware Fusion:

If you are looking for local quick access with greater speed and many more inbuilt features, please head on to VMware Fusion. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

One of the most significant advantages of using this is that it saved our time and money in owning new hardware for a separate OS. As a startup organization, we need to test our work with many OS's, which would have been more economical if VMware Fusion had not been there. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Networking

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

7/22/2016

"VMware fusion 8.1.1"

4/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Good tool for mac users to run windows as a VM as well as other operating systems. Virtual Machine library is an easy way to manage your VMs. VM library provides options to manipulate the settings of your VMs and shows the storage space taken up by each VM. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

Most annoying thing about Fusion is the frequency of the updates. Operationally it works fine, just a bit annoying to keep updating. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Flavio S.

Cyber Security

Government Administration

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

2/5/2016

"VMWARE Fusion : essential on mac"

5/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Virtual machines are managed very well. I can easily create a virtual environment, often do tests with virtual machines, the snapshot feature is excellent, I can easily go back in time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

Integration with the Mac system can be improved. The Unity mode works well, but those who use Parallels will find it different. The management of retinal display windows for the virtual machines is not optimal. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering VMware Fusion:

Is an essential software for Mac, users of the virtual machine windows must try it. The GUI is clear. They can handle a large number of virtual machines without problems. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

Use this software because it is the only one able to handle DirectX 11. Useful to run the latest 3D graphics software. I use it on my Mac when I have to use Windows applications. Some applications only run on Windows, this software is very important for my job and for my business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Dawid K.

Senior Systems Administrator

Hospitality

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

2/22/2016

"VMware Fusion - proven visualization platform"

5/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

- extreme ease of use

- built in Fusion Learning Center with many video tutorials will get anyone running in no time

- optimized for latest OS X

- Apple Retina display support

- Windows 10 support

- latest version supports DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3

- Fusion even supports Mac gestures

- I am loving Unity view where your Windows application shows within OS X Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

I did not find anything to dislike about VMware Fusion so far. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

I am using VMware Fusion to run Windows OS in the environment that normally do not support Apple OS X.

Many daily tasks requiring Windows OS I can now perform from my favorite MacBook Pro laptop.

Need a console connectivity in OS X - no problem USB devices can be easily connected to virtual machine and work as native connection. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Semiconductors

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

8/26/2016

"The #1 Virtual Machine Software!"

5/5

What do you like best about VMware Fusion?

Easy to setup

Good Stability

Performance is excellent

Compatible with almost all OS Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about VMware Fusion?

Actually no, my favorite of all time

If the company can hold promotion event more often. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering VMware Fusion:

Absolutely!

(I've already replied the verification mail with my company email address. Thanks) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is VMware Fusion solving and how is that benefiting you?

I'm using a Macbook when developing our programs but every now and then I've got to switch to Windows and do some documentation. It's really painful to do a dual boot (bootcamp) and that's why I decided to use a VM. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.