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Hyper-V vs KVM: catalog facts
Hyper-V	KVM
Free Included at no extra cost in Windows Pro, Enterprise and Windows Server editions.	Free Part of the Linux kernel, free and open source under the GPL.
Windows	Linux
Built into Windows with nothing extra to buy Type-1 hypervisor with near-native performance	Part of the mainline kernel, so no third-party modules are needed Near-native CPU performance through hardware virtualization extensions
Not available on Windows Home editions Windows only	Provides no user interface of its own; you need QEMU, libvirt or a front end Requires virtualization extensions enabled in firmware
Operating system	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

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