Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Xen VS Whonix

Compare Xen VS Whonix and see what are their differences

Xen logo Xen

Xen Project: Open Source Hypervisor, High Performance Clouds, Free Software, Open Source Virtualization, Open Virtualization, Cloud Computing, Desktop Virtualization, Mobile Virtualization, Embedded Virtualization.

Whonix logo Whonix

Whonix aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity by helping you use your applications...
  • Xen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-16
  • Whonix Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-20

Xen videos

Black Mesa: Xen Review - Finally

More videos:

  • Review - Analysis: Black Mesa Xen

Whonix videos

Whonix 15 - Anonymous Web Browsing

More videos:

  • Review - Internet Security Part II: Tor Whonix Tails Comparison and Review
  • Review - Whonix Linux 15.0.0.9.4

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xen and Whonix)
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Operating Systems
0 0%
100% 100
Virtualization
100 100%
0% 0
Linux
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Xen and Whonix

Xen Reviews

What are the Top Most Open Source Virtualization Software?
It is often treated as the default standard in Linux hypervisors. Xen is known to be an excellent open source for paravirtualization.
Best Server Virtualization Software
A free, open-source virtual machine monitor (VMM), Xen Project was initially designed by a team at Cambridge University. The team later created their own company centered around Xen Project, which was purchased by Citrix. Since then, Xen Project has partnered with The Linux Foundation as part of its work to drive collaborative tools.
8 Free & Best Open source bare metal hypervisors (Foss)
Xen is an open-source software platform or Linux hypervisor distro maintained by the global community of developers It supports virtualization for x86, x86_64, IA64, ARM, and other CPU architectures. The Xen hypervisor is an enterprise-class alternative to proprietary virtualization platforms and hypervisors for x86 and IA64 platforms. Besides the open-source, it also...
Best VirtualBox Alternatives & Competitors [Top 7 2019]
Xen is the best VirtualBox alternatives and super functional without altering the hard disk of your computer. Hence, emulate the most popular such as IA-32, IA-64, x86, x86-64 e PowerPC 970. Execute, the best systems without a lag. Experience the same quality on multiple platforms at the same level as your native operating system with Xen.
Introduction to Top Open Source Virtualization Tools
Xen is a hypervisor that started out as a Microsoft backed startup at the University of Cambridge and has now risen to become one of the best Linux hypervisors. The Xen Hypervisor is inserted between the server’s hardware and the operating system. This creates an abstraction layer that allows multiple guest operating systems to be concurrently executed on a single physical...

Whonix Reviews

Best Linux distro for privacy and security of 2024
As it runs in a virtual machine, Whonix is compatible with all operating systems that can run Virtualbox. Virtual machines can only use a portion of your real system's resources, so Whonix will not necessarily perform as fast as an OS that has been installed to a local hard drive.
Top 5 Secure Operating Systems for Privacy and Anonymity
Meanwhile, the Whonix-Workstation provides a safe, isolated workspace so you can carry out your online activities. This virtual machine is intentionally kept separate from the host operating system and the Whonix-Gateway, establishing a highly secure environment. As a result, even if the Whonix-Workstation were to be compromised, an attacker would still be unable to access...
The 5 Best Privacy-Focused Operating Systems
Developed by the Tor Project, Whonix is another privacy-focused OS that relies on virtualization, but it's specifically designed for use within a virtual machine. This Linux distribution routes all your internet traffic through the Tor network, ensuring strong anonymity and privacy.
Avoid The Hack: 11 Best Privacy Friendly Operating Systems (Desktops)
Whonix focuses on privacy, security, and anonymity. It aims to realistically addresses common attack vectors, possibly protecting users from zero-day vulnerability exploitation. Whonix can be figured to run in a "live mode" similar to TAILS, though this is not Whonix's default.
Best Secure Linux Distros for Enhanced Privacy & Security
Whonix has recently added an amnesic live mode that “forgets” user’ activities - not leaving traces on disk. The distro is currently working to create a unified desktop experience. Whonix developer Patrick Schleizer explains, “Our upcoming Whonix-Host extends many of our usability and hardening features to the entire desktop.”

Social recommendations and mentions

Whonix might be a bit more popular than Xen. We know about 13 links to it since March 2021 and only 10 links to Xen. 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.

Xen mentions (10)

  • Best virtualization solution with Ubuntu 22.04
    If you want an all around easy to use tool that can manager containers (create on the fly, delete when unnecessary, etc.) look into vagrant. There are also options like xen and virtualbox but they are not so lightweight. All of them are in ubuntu repositories. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Modular building blocks: The case of Amazon
    On the other hand, EC2 was built in isolation by a team of two, Chris Pinkham and Chris Brown, working remotely from South Africa. The idea behind building EC2 was to allow developers to build and run their application on Amazon’s servers, regardless of what type of application it was. The plan was to build EC2 on top of an open source tool called Xen which made it possible to run several applications on one... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Announcing Rust 1.68.0
    There was of course a generation where Xen was the way to make kernel-level containers, but those kernels still had to communicate with a form of ABI. I barely used Xen so I can't say how many of the same concerns apply, but in any case, userland containers won out over kernel containers in the end, and I'm glad for it. Source: over 1 year ago
  • XSAs released on 2022-11-01
    Qubes OS uses the Xen hypervisor as part of its architecture. When the Xen Project publicly discloses a vulnerability in the Xen hypervisor, they issue a notice called a Xen security advisory (XSA). Vulnerabilities in the Xen hypervisor sometimes have security implications for Qubes OS. When they do, we issue a notice called a Qubes security bulletin (QSB). (QSBs are also issued for non-Xen vulnerabilities.)... Source: over 1 year ago
  • A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal.
    It depends greatly on the implementation you use and the rest of the tooling you use. Using QEMU+KVM directly & raw is very different from using libvirt-backed (which abstracts over various other backends like Xen [virt-manager])(https://virt-manager.org/) (which is a lot closer to the VirtualBox experience) to make the whole experience easier and simpler). Source: almost 2 years ago
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Whonix mentions (13)

  • When downloading and exmaning files from the darkweb, what is the safest option for opening a file in virtualbox tails.
    Virtual box Tails is pointless. Just use Whonix.. To examine files also use VirusTotal. Source: over 1 year ago
  • currently running tails over vm on the most secure settings for both programs what could be a point of weakness like would u recommend a vpn a proxy chain? what would u recommend for extra anonymity?
    Running TAILS in a virtual machine for anonymity is a fools errand. Research Whonix and its independent gateway and workstation VM. Configured correctly the only network interface of the workstation is the gateway over Tor providing a higher assurance of security. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Firefox with tor?
    Whonix is a Linux-based environment that can theoretically transport any TCP/IP application over Tor and greatly reduces the potential for IP leaks by having a secondary 'gateway' that runs Tor independent from the client device over a private network. Source: about 2 years ago
  • How to Code Anonymously, Part 2: Network Security
    The previous strategy is great, but it's actually easier and more effective to just use Whonix. Whonix is a Linux distro - designed to be run out of VirtualBox - that implements all the goodness of the previous strategy. Even better, it comes with a novel network architecture that involves two virtual machines for extra protection:. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Qubes os Team - issue report
    Since this appears in sys-whonix, I suggest reporting this to the Whonix team. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xen and Whonix, you can also consider the following products

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

Qubes OS - Qubes is a security-oriented, free and open-source operating system for personal computers that allows you to securely compartmentalize your digital life.‎Download Mirrors · ‎Qubes R4.

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

Tails - Tails is a Debian based live CD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the...

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

Linux Kodachi - Kodachi is a Debian-based distro which can be run from a DVD or USB thumb drive.