Which virtual machine software you buy once use many?

[MacFrag]

Hi all,

Currently on latest Catalina with virtualbox but I want to try something else.

Virtualbox eats away CPU cycles not running any guests and I want to try a premium product.

I have some experience years ago with vmware workstation so vmware fusion/workstation could be an option.

I have seen parallels yet looking slick there is something I really don't like about it. Every time a version upgrade comes of MacOS you need to pay again a fee to make it work again on your system. And since this it at least once a year I call this a financial yearly subscription. Its sneaky if you ask me.

Now I wonder how is this with vmware? Is it any differently or can you use your paid version for the duration of lets say Catalina without paying them every year?

 

[Wando64]

I don’t like the way Parallels try to make you pay for a new version every year, however I have never updated and the version I bought years ago for Mountain Lion stil works fine under Mojave.

 

[firedept]

I use Parallels. As stated above I have not paid for an update in years but it still works fine. They upgrade it almost every year at a cost of $50.

 

[MacFrag]

Running trial version of Parallels now.

Amazed that it could just import my VirtualBox machine just like that.

I have 2 weeks of trial time left but if what you @Wando64 and @firedept said is true about that you can use your license for a long time even between updates/upgrades I am sticking with it.

Thanks

 

[D.T.]

I'm long time Parallels user, though I still occasionally re-review VMWare. Like the folks pointed about above, it's not necessary to upgrade every year - in fact, when I used Bootcamp for about a year, I wound up going back to an almost 3 year old version of Parallels that still worked.

In terms of licensing, they still offer an outright purchase version for $79 though it's the home version (so it has lower resource allocation options). Also, if you keep an eye out, it's also often bundled with those "10 Apps for $50" type offers from various vendors, sometimes people will sell off the apps they don't want - in fact, I scored a recent Parallels for like $10, and even Parallels was offering their upgrade to me for less than the cost on the website (I think I was seeing $34.95).

 

[MacFrag]

If you do a one time purchase it says you're not getting any new upgrades but do you get updates within the version you buy?

How does Parallels handle re-installs? Do you need to keep the installer or can you download it later again from there site?

 

[firedept]

If you do a one time purchase it says you're not getting any new upgrades but do you get updates within the version you buy?

How does Parallels handle re-installs? Do you need to keep the installer or can you download it later again from there site?

If there are updates to the version you purchase you will get them. I didn't keep the installer. But I also never uninstall it. My suggestion tuck it away somewhere. Someone may correct me though if I'm wrong.