--- title: "Virtual machine software: Which brands are most popular in search?" description: "Compare the software teams run virtual machines with. Share of Search among Parallels, VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V and QEMU, the virtual machine software Brandwave compares worldwide, using the same methodology, market, and reporting period. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time." canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/categories/virtual-machine-software" publisher: "Brandwave" --- # Virtual machine software: Which brands are most popular in search? Compare the software teams run virtual machines with. Share of Search among Parallels, VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V and QEMU, the virtual machine software Brandwave compares worldwide, using the same methodology, market, and reporting period. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time. ## Key facts - **Competitive set**: Virtual machine software - **Market**: Global - **Brands compared**: 5 - **Month measured**: Aug 2026 - **Highest Share of Search**: Parallels, 36.4% ## Which brand is most popular in search among virtual machine software worldwide? - Parallels and VirtualBox share the highest estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide, at 36.4% in August 2026. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Parallels’ estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide increased from 32.2% to 36.4%. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, VirtualBox’s estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide decreased from 39.1% to 36.4%. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, VMware’s estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide decreased from 21.5% to 19.9%. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Parallels’ estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide peaked at 41.2% in May 2026 and was lowest at 30.4% in December 2025. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, VirtualBox’s estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide peaked at 39.1% in October 2025 and was lowest at 33.7% in May 2026. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, VMware’s estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide peaked at 24.9% in December 2025 and was lowest at 18.4% in May 2026. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Parallels rose from 2nd to 1st among virtual machine software worldwide. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, VirtualBox fell from 1st to 2nd among virtual machine software worldwide. - Across the 11 months ending August 2026, Hyper-V and QEMU held steady: their estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide each moved less than 0.5 percentage points. ## Compare search popularity between leading brands - [Parallels vs VirtualBox: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/parallels-vs-virtualbox): 36.4% Share of Search each. - [Parallels vs VMware: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/parallels-vs-vmware): 36.4% against 19.9% Share of Search. - [Parallels vs Hyper-V: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/hyper-v-vs-parallels): 36.4% against 4% Share of Search. - [Parallels vs QEMU: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/parallels-vs-qemu): 36.4% against 3.3% Share of Search. - [VirtualBox vs VMware: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/virtualbox-vs-vmware): 36.4% against 19.9% Share of Search. - [VirtualBox vs Hyper-V: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/hyper-v-vs-virtualbox): 36.4% against 4% Share of Search. - [VirtualBox vs QEMU: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/qemu-vs-virtualbox): 36.4% against 3.3% Share of Search. - [VMware vs Hyper-V: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/hyper-v-vs-vmware): 19.9% against 4% Share of Search. - [VMware vs QEMU: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/qemu-vs-vmware): 19.9% against 3.3% Share of Search. - [Hyper-V vs QEMU: compare search popularity](/demand/global-en/compare/hyper-v-vs-qemu): 4% against 3.3% Share of Search. ## How did search popularity change for virtual machine software worldwide in August 2026? - In August 2026, QEMU gained estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide, from 2.7% to 3.3%. - Estimated monthly branded searches for VMware worldwide fell 33.1% over 11 measured months, from 550K to 368K in August 2026. - Estimated monthly branded searches for Hyper-V worldwide fell 32.7% over 11 measured months, from 110K to 74K in August 2026. - Estimated monthly branded searches for VirtualBox worldwide fell 32.7% over 11 measured months, from 1M to 673K in August 2026. - Estimated monthly branded searches for Parallels worldwide fell 18.2% over 11 measured months, from 823K to 673K in August 2026. ## Share of Search ranking | Rank | Brand | Share of Search | Estimated monthly branded searches | Change vs prior month | Owned by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Parallels | 36.4% | 673K | 0.0% | Parallels | | 2 | VirtualBox | 36.4% | 673K | 0.0% | VirtualBox | | 3 | VMware | 19.9% | 368K | 0.0% | VMware | | 4 | Hyper-V | 4% | 74K | 0.0% | Hyper-V | | 5 | QEMU | 3.3% | 60.5K | +22.2% | QEMU | ## Historical estimated branded-search demand | Month | Brand | Estimated monthly branded searches | Share of Search | Rank | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oct 2025 | VirtualBox | 1M | 39.1% | 1 | | Oct 2025 | Parallels | 823K | 32.2% | 2 | | Oct 2025 | VMware | 550K | 21.5% | 3 | | Oct 2025 | Hyper-V | 110K | 4.3% | 4 | | Oct 2025 | QEMU | 74K | 2.9% | 5 | | Nov 2025 | VirtualBox | 1M | 39.1% | 1 | | Nov 2025 | Parallels | 823K | 32.2% | 2 | | Nov 2025 | VMware | 550K | 21.5% | 3 | | Nov 2025 | Hyper-V | 110K | 4.3% | 4 | | Nov 2025 | QEMU | 74K | 2.9% | 5 | | Dec 2025 | VirtualBox | 823K | 37.2% | 1 | | Dec 2025 | Parallels | 673K | 30.4% | 2 | | Dec 2025 | VMware | 550K | 24.9% | 3 | | Dec 2025 | Hyper-V | 90.5K | 4.1% | 4 | | Dec 2025 | QEMU | 74K | 3.3% | 5 | | Jan 2026 | Parallels | 823K | 34.6% | 1 | | Jan 2026 | VirtualBox | 823K | 34.6% | 2 | | Jan 2026 | VMware | 550K | 23.1% | 3 | | Jan 2026 | Hyper-V | 110K | 4.6% | 4 | | Jan 2026 | QEMU | 74K | 3.1% | 5 | | Feb 2026 | VirtualBox | 823K | 39% | 1 | | Feb 2026 | Parallels | 673K | 31.9% | 2 | | Feb 2026 | VMware | 450K | 21.3% | 3 | | Feb 2026 | Hyper-V | 90.5K | 4.3% | 4 | | Feb 2026 | QEMU | 74K | 3.5% | 5 | | Mar 2026 | Parallels | 823K | 36.4% | 1 | | Mar 2026 | VirtualBox | 823K | 36.4% | 2 | | Mar 2026 | VMware | 450K | 19.9% | 3 | | Mar 2026 | Hyper-V | 90.5K | 4% | 4 | | Mar 2026 | QEMU | 74K | 3.3% | 5 | | Apr 2026 | Parallels | 823K | 36.6% | 1 | | Apr 2026 | VirtualBox | 823K | 36.6% | 2 | | Apr 2026 | VMware | 450K | 20% | 3 | | Apr 2026 | Hyper-V | 90.5K | 4% | 4 | | Apr 2026 | QEMU | 60.5K | 2.7% | 5 | | May 2026 | Parallels | 823K | 41.2% | 1 | | May 2026 | VirtualBox | 673K | 33.7% | 2 | | May 2026 | VMware | 368K | 18.4% | 3 | | May 2026 | Hyper-V | 74K | 3.7% | 4 | | May 2026 | QEMU | 60.5K | 3% | 5 | | Jun 2026 | Parallels | 673K | 36.4% | 1 | | Jun 2026 | VirtualBox | 673K | 36.4% | 2 | | Jun 2026 | VMware | 368K | 19.9% | 3 | | Jun 2026 | Hyper-V | 74K | 4% | 4 | | Jun 2026 | QEMU | 60.5K | 3.3% | 5 | | Jul 2026 | Parallels | 673K | 36.6% | 1 | | Jul 2026 | VirtualBox | 673K | 36.6% | 2 | | Jul 2026 | VMware | 368K | 20% | 3 | | Jul 2026 | Hyper-V | 74K | 4% | 4 | | Jul 2026 | QEMU | 49.5K | 2.7% | 5 | | Aug 2026 | Parallels | 673K | 36.4% | 1 | | Aug 2026 | VirtualBox | 673K | 36.4% | 2 | | Aug 2026 | VMware | 368K | 19.9% | 3 | | Aug 2026 | Hyper-V | 74K | 4% | 4 | | Aug 2026 | QEMU | 60.5K | 3.3% | 5 | | Sep 2026 | Hyper-V | — | — | — | | Sep 2026 | Parallels | — | — | — | | Sep 2026 | QEMU | — | — | — | | Sep 2026 | VirtualBox | — | — | — | | Sep 2026 | VMware | — | — | — | ## What is being compared - **Hyper-V**: Measured on the search term “hyper-v”. - **Parallels**: Measured on the search term “parallels”. - **QEMU**: Measured on the search term “qemu”. - **VirtualBox**: Measured on the search term “virtualbox”. - **VMware**: Measured on the search term “vmware”. - [Hyper-V](/demand/global-en/brands/hyper-v) - [Parallels](/demand/global-en/brands/parallels) - [QEMU](/demand/global-en/brands/qemu) - [VirtualBox](/demand/global-en/brands/virtualbox) - [VMware](/demand/global-en/brands/vmware) ## Methodology - [How is branded search demand measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which brand is most popular in search among virtual machine software worldwide? Parallels and VirtualBox share the highest estimated Share of Search among virtual machine software worldwide, at 36.4% in August 2026. These are worldwide searches for English-language branded terms. ## Cite this page Brandwave. "Virtual machine software: Which brands are most popular in search?". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/categories/virtual-machine-software This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/categories/virtual-machine-software. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.