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Hyper-V vs Windows Subsystem for Linux: catalog facts
Hyper-V	Windows Subsystem for Linux
Free Included at no extra cost in Windows Pro, Enterprise and Windows Server editions.	Free Free and open source under the MIT licence, published by Microsoft. Included with Windows.
Windows	Windows
Built into Windows with nothing extra to buy Type-1 hypervisor with near-native performance	Runs Linux command-line tools unmodified, with no virtual machine overhead or dual boot WSLg lets Linux graphical applications appear as ordinary Windows windows
Not available on Windows Home editions Windows only	Requires Windows virtualisation features to be enabled, which conflicts with some other software Filesystem performance across the Windows and Linux boundary is poor; keep files on the correct side
Operating system	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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