Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VirtualBox VS Google Kubernetes Engine

Compare VirtualBox VS Google Kubernetes Engine and see what are their differences

VirtualBox logo VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as...

Google Kubernetes Engine logo Google Kubernetes Engine

Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.
  • VirtualBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-17
  • Google Kubernetes Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-05

VirtualBox features and specs

  • Open Source
    VirtualBox is open-source software, which means it is freely available for personal and commercial use. Users can access and modify the source code, enhancing flexibility and customization.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    VirtualBox supports multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris, making it highly versatile and suitable for various environments.
  • Ease of Use
    VirtualBox offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for both beginners and experienced users to create and manage virtual machines.
  • Snapshot Feature
    VirtualBox allows users to take snapshots of their virtual machines, enabling them to save the current state and revert back to it if necessary, which is useful for testing and debugging.
  • Guest Additions
    VirtualBox provides Guest Additions that enhance the performance and usability of guest operating systems. Features include shared folders, clipboard sharing, and improved graphics performance.

Possible disadvantages of VirtualBox

  • Performance Overhead
    VirtualBox may introduce performance overhead compared to running software directly on physical hardware. This can affect the speed and responsiveness of the virtual machines.
  • Limited 3D Graphics Support
    The 3D graphics support in VirtualBox is not as robust as some other virtualization solutions, which may be a limitation for users requiring heavy graphical applications.
  • Lack of Enterprise-Level Features
    While VirtualBox is suitable for personal and small-scale use, it may lack some advanced features and scalability options required for large enterprise environments.
  • Complex Network Setup
    Setting up complex networking configurations in VirtualBox can be challenging and may require additional knowledge and effort.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple virtual machines in VirtualBox can be resource-intensive, potentially leading to system slowdowns if the host machine does not have sufficient CPU and memory resources.

Google Kubernetes Engine features and specs

  • Managed Service
    GKE is a fully managed service, which means Google takes care of tasks like provisioning, maintenance, and updates of the cluster, reducing the operational burden on users.
  • Scalability
    GKE offers robust scalability options, allowing you to easily scale your applications up or down based on demand. This is facilitated through auto-scaling features for both nodes and pods.
  • Integration with Google Cloud Services
    GKE integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and more, providing a streamlined experience for leveraging multiple cloud tools.
  • Security
    GKE offers advanced security features like private clusters, and integrates with Google Cloud IAM, which allows for fine-grained access control, helping to secure your Kubernetes environment.
  • Ease of Use
    GKE's comprehensive dashboard, command-line interface, and supporting documentation make it easy to deploy, manage, and monitor Kubernetes clusters.
  • Global Reach
    With GKE, you can deploy clusters across multiple regions and zones, giving you the ability to build highly available, geographically dispersed applications.

Possible disadvantages of Google Kubernetes Engine

  • Cost
    While GKE offers extensive features, it can be more expensive compared to other Kubernetes solutions, especially when additional services and high-availability features are utilized.
  • Limited Customization
    As a managed service, GKE has some limitations in terms of customization and control over the underlying infrastructure compared to self-managed Kubernetes environments.
  • Complexity
    Despite its ease of use features, GKE still requires a certain level of expertise to efficiently manage Kubernetes clusters, which can be a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Dependence on Google Cloud
    Using GKE ties you to the Google Cloud ecosystem, which may limit flexibility if you decide to migrate to a different cloud provider or adopt a multi-cloud strategy.
  • Resource Constraints
    Like all cloud services, GKE nodes can be subject to resource limits and quotas imposed by Google Cloud, which can impact performance if not properly managed.
  • SLA and Downtime
    While Google Cloud offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs), there is still a risk of downtime which could affect your applications. Additionally, relying on a third-party provider means issues may take time to resolve.

VirtualBox videos

VirtualBox vs VMware Player - In-Depth Comparison on Ubuntu 18.04

More videos:

  • Review - Oracle VM VirtualBox Review (Real User: Erik Benner)
  • Tutorial - How to Use VirtualBox (Beginners Guide)

Google Kubernetes Engine videos

Getting Started with Containers and Google Kubernetes Engine (Cloud Next '18)

More videos:

  • Review - Optimize cost to performance on Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Tutorial - Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) | Coupon: UDEMYSEP20 - Kubernetes Made Easy | Kubernetes Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VirtualBox and Google Kubernetes Engine)
Cloud Computing
60 60%
40% 40
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Virtualization
100 100%
0% 0
Virtual Machine Management

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare VirtualBox and Google Kubernetes Engine

VirtualBox Reviews

Best Alternatives of VirtualBox for Windows
I’m sure you can appreciate the irony in the name of this program, but this is also a very accurate description of what Portable-VirtualBox is. In essence, this free and open source program is VirtualBox and does not need to be installed, making it useful even if it is contained on a USB drive. Portable-VirtualBox works by virtually downloading and installing VirtualBox on...
10 Best VMware Alternatives and Similar Software
VirtualBox now supports a broad number of guest operating systems and operates on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris hosts. VirtualBox is constantly evolving, with regular patches and an ever-growing list of features, and it supports various OSs and platforms.
12 Best FREE Virtual Machine (VM) Software in 2020
VirtualBox is an open-source hypervisor for x86 computers. This tool supports the creation and management of virtual machines. It runs on Windows, Linux, BSD, and others.
Source: www.guru99.com
What are the Top Most Open Source Virtualization Software?
VirtualBox provides full virtualization for any operating system to run in a virtual environment with all the software installed within, abstracted from the existing operating system.
7 VirtualBox Alternatives You Can Consider
There are lots of virtualization software out there that let you run multiple applications from different platforms in the same hardware. One of them is VirtualBox by Oracle Corporation. VirtualBox is an open source and freeware that lets users create a virtual environment to run a different operating system on the same machine. It runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Solaris....

Google Kubernetes Engine Reviews

Top 12 Kubernetes Alternatives to Choose From in 2023
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a prominent choice for a Kubernetes alternative. It is provided and managed by Google Cloud, which offers fully managed Kubernetes services.
Source: humalect.com
11 Best Rancher Alternatives Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform
Google Kubernetes Engine is a CaaS (container as a service) platform that lets you easily create, resize, manage, update, upgrade, and debug container clusters. Google Kubernetes Engine, aka GKE, was the first managed Kubernetes service, and therefore, it is highly regarded in the industry.
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
If you need a speedy creation of developer environments, working on micro services-based architecture and if you want to deploy production grade clusters then Docker and Google Kubernetes Engine would be the most suitable tools. They are very well suited for DevOps team.
7 Best Containerization Software Solutions of 2022
If you’re looking for a managed solution to help you deploy and scale containerized apps on your virtual machines quickly, Google Kubernetes Engine is a great choice.
Source: techgumb.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Kubernetes Engine should be more popular than VirtualBox. It has been mentiond 49 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

VirtualBox mentions (32)

  • Barbie Secret Agent game for Mac
    Also, if your sister has an Intel Mac instead of an M1 Mac, I highly suggest VirtualBox and setting up something like Windows XP on that instead of Windows 11-- the steps will be pretty similar, and VirtualBox is free. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Is virtualbox.org down?
    I am unable to reach any page within the virtualbox.org domain including forums, but I can't find any post online about others having this issue. Is there a known problem at virtualbox.org or should I look locally? I usually get the error 502 - Bad Gateway. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Multipass: Ubuntu Virtual Machines Made Easy
    Some of these tools include Oracle VM VirtualBox (that I've used since before the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle), VMWare Workstation Player, and QEMU, but last year, I found out about Multipass. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Can I use a Mac?
    You can use a Mac, then use Parallels or Virtual Box for any virtual machines you might need(I prefer Parallels). There are Educational versions of Windows amongst other Microsoft products available to you through NJIT. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Will anyone continue on debian 11?
    I thought Debian doesn't have VB packages? Or are you the talking about the ones from http://virtualbox.org web site? Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Google Kubernetes Engine mentions (49)

  • Google Cloud Unveils A4 VMs with NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for AI
    Integration with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), which supports up to 65,000 nodes per cluster, facilitating robust AI infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Deploy Gemini-powered LangChain applications on GKE
    In my previous post, we explored how LangChain simplifies the development of AI-powered applications. We saw how its modularity, flexibility, and extensibility make it a powerful tool for working with large language models (LLMs) like Gemini. Now, let's take it a step further and see how we can deploy and scale our LangChain applications using the robust infrastructure of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and the... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Securing Applications Using Keycloak's Helm Chart
    Kubernetes cluster: You need a running Kubernetes cluster that supports persistent volumes. You can use a local cluster, like kind or Minikube, or a cloud-based solution, like GKE%20orEKS or EKS. The cluster should expose ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) for external access. Persistent storage should be configured to retain Keycloak data (e.g., user credentials, sessions) across restarts. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Simplify development of AI-powered applications with LangChain
    In a later post, I will take a look at how you can use LangChain to connect to a local Gemma instance, all running in a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • 26 Top Kubernetes Tools
    Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is another managed Kubernetes service that lets you spin up new cloud clusters on demand. It's specifically designed to help you run Kubernetes workloads without specialist Kubernetes expertise, and it includes a range of optional features that provide more automation for admin tasks. These include powerful capabilities around governance, compliance, security, and configuration... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VirtualBox and Google Kubernetes Engine, you can also consider the following products

VMware Workstation - VMware Workstation is a multiple operating system handler to easily evaluate the any other type of new operating systems.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

QEMU - QEMU (short for "Quick EMUlator") is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor that...

Amazon ECS - Amazon EC2 Container Service is a highly scalable, high-performance​ container management service that supports Docker containers.

Proxmox VE - Proxmox is an open-source server virtualization management solution that offers the ability to manage virtual server technology with the Linux OpenVZ and KVM technology.

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.