Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to SoftVM
Ultra-light VM for Apple Silicon with 70% fewer resources
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1
We just open-sourced Lume - a tool we built after hitting walls with existing virtualization options on Apple Silicon. No GUI, no complex stacks - just a single binary that lets you spin up macOS or Linux VMs via CLI or API. Why we built Lume: - Run native macOS VMs in 1 command, using Apple Virtualization.Framework: `lume run macos-sequoia-vanilla:latest` - Prebuilt images on https://ghcr.io/trycua (macOS, Ubuntu on ARM) - API server to manage VMs programmatically `POST /lume/vms` - A python SDK on github.com/trycua/pylume Run prebuilt macOS images in just…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 2
VirtualProg▲74A faster, simpler alternative to bulky VM managers.
Apr 2026 · makeprog.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Securely run operating systems on your Mac
2021 · mac.getutm.app · its alternatives →
- 4
- 5
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6
- 7
Hey HN, Lume is an open-source CLI for running macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon. Since launch (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42908061), we've been using it to run AI agents in isolated macOS environments. We needed VMs that could set themselves up, so we built that. Here's what's new in 0.2: *Unattended Setup* – Go from IPSW to a fully configured VM without touching the keyboard. We built a VNC + OCR system that clicks through macOS Setup Assistant automatically. No more manual setup before pushing to a registry: lume create my-vm --os macos --ipsw latest…
Jan 2026 · cua.ai · its alternatives →
- 8MO
2018 · micromdm.io · its alternatives →
- 9
Shuru is a lightweight sandbox that spins up Linux VMs on macOS using Apple's Virtualization.framework. Boots in about a second on Apple Silicon, and everything is ephemeral by default. There's a checkpoint system for when you do want to persist state, and sandboxes run without network access unless you explicitly allow it. Single Rust binary, no dependencies. Built it for sandboxing AI agent code execution, but it works well for anything where you need a disposable Linux environment.
Feb 2026 · shuru.run · its alternatives →
- 10
A set of utilities (vmcli + vmctl) for macOS Virtualization.framework - gyf304/vmcli
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Branchable computing by using a portable, lightweight, self-contained virtual machine - smol-machines/smolvm
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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- 13
An open source approach to locally record everything you view on your Apple Silicon computer. Note: Relies on Apple Silicon, and configured to only produce Apple Silicon builds. I think the idea of recording everything you see has the potential to change how we interact with our computers, and believe it should be open source. Also, from a privacy / security perspective, this is like... pretty scary stuff, and I want the code open so we know for certain that nothing is leaving your laptop. Even logging to Sentry has the potential to leak private info.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14
Mac virtual machine for secure development. Run isolated macOS workspaces for AI agents, sandboxed code, and untrusted projects. Apple Silicon native with instant clones.
Mar 2026 · ghostvm.org · its alternatives →
- 15
Hey HN, we're excited to share Lumier (https://github.com/trycua/cua/tree/main/libs/lumier), an open-source tool for running macOS and Linux virtual machines in Docker containers on Apple Silicon Macs. When building virtualized environments for AI agents, we needed a reproducible way to package and distribute macOS VMs. Inspired by projects like dockur/windows (https://github.com/dockur/windows) that pioneered running Windows in Docker, we wanted to create something similar but optimized for Apple Silicon. The existing…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Minimalist, dependency-free virtual machine sandbox for microcontrollers and other resource-constrained devices. Single C file, no dynamic memory allocations, asynchronous design, pure C99 - ringtailsoftware/uvm32
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
- 18
Build and run tiny vms from Dockerfiles. Small and sleek. - ottomatica/slim
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
hey guys. the other day i was migrating hosting providers and i just needed something not too heavy and convenient to spin up my backups for awhile and realised there is almost nothing out there. kimchi hasn't been updated for years and cockpit is heavy. so here's something i came up with in a couple hours because of a sudden urge, nothing fancy just basic creation with cloud init, lifecycle management and image/storage, but it's modern-ish and it compiles to a 8.4mb binary inclusive of the embedded web UI, CLI and API, and only dep is libvirt.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
HiddenVM — Use any desktop OS without leaving a trace. - aforensics/HiddenVM
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21
Create microVMs from OCI images. Contribute to slp/krunvm development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Build and run tiny vms from Dockerfiles. Small and sleek. - GitHub - ottomatica/slim at 2.x
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23VM
2013 · blog.grunseid.com · its alternatives →
- 24
:racehorse: Extremely minimal vmm for linux written in C. Hopefully someday will spin linux-vm for you. - flouthoc/wiser
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →