Virtual machine privacy ratings
Software for running isolated operating systems.
10 virtual machines are rated against 4 public criteria, and 10 have enough evidence for a letter grade. Of the 8 with a known jurisdiction, 6 are based in a Five Eyes country, and 6 in the wider Fourteen Eyes.
Open-source virtual machines only · Criteria for this category · Suggest an addition · Markdown
| Name | Grade | Score | Data | Jurisdiction | Open source | No trackers or telemetry | No ads or data sales | Independent audit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GNOME desktop app for creating, running and viewing local and remote virtual machines, built on QEMU, KVM and libvirt. It can download operating system images and set up guests automatically. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Open source machine emulator and virtualizer. It emulates many CPU architectures and, with KVM, Xen, Hypervisor.framework or WHPX, runs virtual machines at near-native speed. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Desktop app for managing virtual machines through libvirt, mainly KVM guests, with Xen and LXC support. It includes creation wizards, performance statistics and a built-in VNC and SPICE console. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Open source type-1 hypervisor that runs directly on hardware and hosts multiple isolated operating systems side by side. Used in servers, cloud platforms, embedded systems and Qubes OS. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Open source server virtualization platform based on Debian that manages KVM virtual machines and LXC containers through a web interface, with clustering, software-defined storage and backup integration. |
Grade C | 65 | 100% | Austria Outside Eyes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
Type 2 hypervisor from Oracle for x86-64 and ARM hosts, running on Windows, macOS, Linux and Solaris. It runs guest operating systems in virtual machines on a desktop or server. |
Grade C | 65 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
Virtual machine app for macOS and iOS built on QEMU and Apple Virtualization. It can run and emulate x86-64, ARM and other guest systems, including on Apple Silicon Macs. |
Grade D | 50 | 100% | – | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Proprietary desktop hypervisor from Broadcom for Windows and Linux hosts that runs multiple guest operating systems in virtual machines. Free for personal and commercial use. |
Grade F | 20 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | Yes | No |
Microsoft's type-1 hypervisor built into Windows Server and the Pro, Enterprise and Education editions of Windows. It runs guest operating systems in isolated virtual machines. |
Grade F | 10 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | Partial |
Proprietary virtualization app for Macs that runs Windows, Linux and macOS guests in virtual machines, including Windows on ARM on Apple silicon. Sold by subscription. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | Switzerland Outside Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Questions
What is the most private option among virtual machines?
No pick has been made yet. The table above is sorted by score, based on public evidence.
How are virtual machines rated?
Each entry answers 4 questions: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales and independent audit. Answers need links to evidence. See the full criteria.
Does jurisdiction matter?
Jurisdiction decides which laws can compel a provider to hand over data. Each entry shows its country and whether it is in the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes. The data a provider can hand over depends mostly on what it stores and who holds the keys. Read about jurisdictions and the CLOUD Act.