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Cockpit Machines vs Virtual Machine Manager: catalog facts
Cockpit Machines	Virtual Machine Manager
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source under the GPL 2.0, maintained by Red Hat.
Linux, Web, Self-hosted	Linux
Manage libvirt VMs from a web browser Fits into an existing Cockpit console	The standard interface for KVM, so guides and answers are everywhere Command line tools for creating and editing machines without a desktop
Requires Cockpit and libvirt on a Linux host Not a standalone application	Linux only The interface is functional and has barely changed in years
Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.