OpenStack vs VirtualBox: What are the differences?

Developers describe OpenStack as "Open source software for building private and public clouds". OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface. On the other hand, VirtualBox is detailed as "Run nearly any operating system on a single machine and to freely switch between OS instances running simultaneously". VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.

OpenStack can be classified as a tool in the "Open Source Cloud" category, while VirtualBox is grouped under "Virtualization Platform".

Some of the features offered by OpenStack are:

• Compute
• Storage
• Networking

On the other hand, VirtualBox provides the following key features:

• Portability
• No hardware virtualization required
• Guest Additions: shared folders, seamless windows, 3D virtualization

"Private cloud" is the top reason why over 35 developers like OpenStack, while over 357 developers mention "Free" as the leading cause for choosing VirtualBox.

Lyft, Coursera, and Typeform are some of the popular companies that use VirtualBox, whereas OpenStack is used by PayPal, HubSpot, and Wikipedia. VirtualBox has a broader approval, being mentioned in 724 company stacks & 975 developers stacks; compared to OpenStack, which is listed in 67 company stacks and 50 developer stacks.