MacVisor vs. UTM

macOS 14, 15, 26 and 27 from Apple's installers or your own IPSW, with accelerated graphics, and set up for you on macOS 27 (account, SSH and guest agent). Apple allows two macOS VMs at a time.

On the Apple Virtualization backend, installed from an IPSW.

Any ARM64 distribution: a signed catalogue of cloud images (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Rocky, Alma, openSUSE, Alpine and more) set up by cloud-init, or any ARM64 ISO. Rosetta runs x86-64 Linux programs.

On either backend, installed from an ISO with per-OS guides.

Windows 11 on ARM, installed unattended from Microsoft's ISO with your account, Remote Desktop, optional SSH, the guest agent, Secure Boot and a TPM 2.0 that BitLocker can seal to. Needs macOS 27.2; no GPU acceleration.

On the QEMU backend: the wizard takes a Windows 11 ARM64 ISO and mounts the guest tools; TPM and Secure Boot are automatic. You bring the license.

FreeBSD 15.1 and 16.0-CURRENT from FreeBSD's cloud images, with your SSH keys, the guest agent and snapshots. Console and SSH only, with no desktop, shared folders or clipboard.

No official support. FreeBSD 15 ARM64 is reported to boot in text mode on QEMU, but Xorg fails and other issues are open.

FreeBSD- and Linux-based firewalls and routers, and appliances such as Home Assistant OS, booted as they are from their ARM64 images, with USB passthrough for Zigbee and Z-Wave radios.

ARM64 appliance images may boot from an imported drive with manual setup, but UTM documents no appliance workflow. USB passthrough for radios works.

No: Apple Silicon (ARM64) guests only; x86-64 programs can run inside Linux guests through Rosetta 2.

QEMU emulates x86/x64, PowerPC, SPARC, MIPS, RISC-V and classic operating systems, at lower speed than virtualization.

A signed catalogue of vendor cloud images (Linux and FreeBSD), or your own raw, ASIF or qcow2 image. cloud-init sets up your account, SSH keys, container runtime and home folder share from the New VM form or mvz create.

Installs from ISO or IPSW; UTM retired its gallery of prebuilt VMs. A cloud image can be imported as a drive, but there is no catalogue or built-in cloud-init.

Docker, Podman, containerd or k3s, opt-in when you create the VM. The Docker or Podman socket and the k3s kubeconfig reach the Mac with no network setup.

Not a documented feature; containers run inside a guest you set up yourself.

Installed for you: by cloud-init on Linux, over SSH on macOS 27 and FreeBSD, and by Windows setup. Older macOS and ISO installs use the guest tools disc; appliances can use a QEMU guest agent.

You install the SPICE and QEMU guest tools yourself (the Windows wizard can add them). UTM 5.0 can set up a new macOS VM's account on macOS 27.

A background service runs one process per VM, so VMs keep running when the app quits or the service updates. The app and the mvz CLI control the same VMs.

Native Mac GUI with headless operation, but the docs note "UTM needs to be open while the headless virtual machine is running".

One process per VM: a crash stops only that VM, and quitting the app or restarting the service stops none.

Each VM has its own helper process, but all belong to the UTM app: when it quits, running VMs are saved or asked to shut down.

The mvz CLI covers nearly everything the app does, from creating VMs to snapshots, networks, firewall rules and the MCP server, with --json output and documented exit codes.

utmctl wraps the AppleScript interface (start, stop, exec, file push and pull, clone, snapshots); VM creation is in AppleScript. UTM notes not every feature is exposed.

Live (with memory) and disk-only snapshots of running VMs for every guest, near-free on APFS; suspend and resume; and shut down or suspend at logout, your choice.

UTM 5.0 adds a Snapshots tab for QEMU VMs, including running state; Apple Virtualization VMs need macOS 27 and must be stopped or suspended.

Templates and instant linked clones that store only their own changes; every cloud-image VM is a linked clone of its image.

Full VM copies, configuration-only clones, and disposable runs.

Several storage locations on internal, external or network volumes; a running VM moves between them in one step (suspend, move, resume).

One VM library; Move takes a stopped VM to another path, such as an external drive. No named locations or running-VM migration.

NAT, bridged (also to a VLAN), and named shared and host-only networks, with up to four adapters per VM; every VM answers as <vm>.mvz.

Shared and bridged, plus NAT and Host Only for Apple Virtualization VMs on macOS 26 and later; each is one network for the whole app, not named. Named host networks are QEMU-only, with no DHCP.

Creates 802.1Q VLAN interfaces on the Mac (tags 1-4094) for VMs to bridge to, or for a shared network to use as its uplink.

No host 802.1Q VLAN interfaces. "Emulated VLAN" is a private QEMU network for each VM, not a tagged VLAN.

Per-network DHCP with MAC-to-IPv4 reservations, by hand or made for cloud-init VMs automatically (within macOS 27's network limits).

QEMU VMs can set the guest subnet and DHCP range, but named host networks have no DHCP and address reservations are not a feature.

TCP and UDP forwards on shared networks, reachable from other devices, plus per-VM forwards through the guest agent; Linux VMs forward their listening ports to the Mac automatically.

TCP and UDP port forwards per VM, for QEMU VMs in Emulated VLAN mode only; not for Apple Virtualization VMs.

Allow and deny rules per network (protocol, address range, port), enforced by the Mac's packet filter outside the guest, even with the app closed. IPv4 only.

No firewall rules. Isolation comes from the mode: Host Only has no internet, and QEMU's "Isolate Guest from Host" cuts a VM off from the Mac.

Per-network switches for DHCP, DNS, NAT44, NAT66 and IPv6 router advertisements, plus the subnet, IPv6 prefix, MTU and uplink.

QEMU VMs can set the subnet, DHCP range, IPv6 prefix and DNS in Emulated VLAN mode, but there are no per-network switches for DHCP, DNS, NAT or router advertisements.

A built-in MCP server (Tech Preview): Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents use only the VMs you open to them, to run commands, read and write files, take snapshots and roll back, or see the screen. Local only, with every call logged.

No official MCP server or AI-agent integration; UTM points agents at AppleScript and utmctl. Community servers such as mcp-utm drive the running app.

Per VM: Off (the default), View (state, screenshots, reading files) or Control (power, commands, files, snapshots, keyboard and mouse), set in VM Settings or with mvz set. Agents can't open a VM themselves, delete your snapshots or read stored passwords.

No official MCP server. The third-party mcp-utm exposes every registered VM, including delete, with no per-VM access levels or approval prompts documented.

AI sandboxes (Tech Preview): coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex run in a disposable Linux or macOS VM with a copy of your project, API keys kept on the Mac and allow-listed internet; you review the diff before it lands.

None for AI agents. Disposable mode discards a run's disk changes, but there is no project copy, model gateway, network allow list, or reviewed diff.

Runs unattended with the app closed: VMs start at login, and High Availability restarts one that crashes. From 27.2.1, a watchdog, health checks and hooks restart VMs that stop responding.

A VM can start at login through a Shortcuts Login Item and run headless, but UTM must stay open. No crash restart, watchdog, health checks, or start and stop hooks are documented.

Built in from 27.2.1: daily, weekly or on demand, to another drive or a network share, running VMs included, checked by SHA-256 and restorable on any Mac.

No built-in or scheduled VM backups. Export and Move copy a VM by hand or from AppleScript.

macOS guests get accelerated graphics on the Mac's GPU. Linux and Windows guests have no GPU acceleration (Windows at any resolution on MacVisor's own display device). One display per VM.

Apple's graphics device for macOS guests. On QEMU: OpenGL and Vulkan 1.3 for Linux, and experimental DirectX 11 and 12 for Windows 11 with limited game compatibility.

Per-VM CPU, memory, GPU, disk and network readings, a host dashboard of what VMs use against what the Mac has, a menu bar menu for headless Macs, and a task history.

A VM list with screenshots, details, and a Snapshots tab; per-VM usage, a host capacity dashboard, and task history are not documented.

Free 30-day trial, no card needed. MacVisor 27 Pro is one-time: $59 for one Mac, $79 for two Macs (launch prices until 1 December 2026, then $69, $99), with every feature and every 27.x update. MacVisor Business is $79 per Mac a year from 3 Macs ($99 from 1 December 2026), with new major versions, email support (first reply within 2 business days, IST) and help deploying through your MDM. Enterprise support by quote.

Free and open source; the optional $9.99 Mac App Store build adds automatic updates.