VirtualProg - macOS Virtualization Tool

[gilby101]

It appears to be an intriguing product, and I was contemplating replacing VMware Fusion with it to opt for a simpler and more lightweight solution. While I'm willing to pay $10 for it, I just checked the App Store and discovered that it's now priced at $22.99. Considering that I can utilize a much more feature-rich product like VMware Fusion for free, I find the current price to be excessive.

I purchased VirtualProg when cheaper as an experiment and to support a new developer. But it really is not yet as stable and feature rich as UTM or VirtualBuddy. Both of them are free or optional payment.

I am happy with VMware Fusion for most things. To my mind the only reason to use anything else is for macOS VMs on Apple silicon host - for these VirtualBuddy or UTM seem to be the way to go.

 

[rbmanian75]

It appears to be an intriguing product, and I was contemplating replacing VMware Fusion with it to opt for a simpler and more lightweight solution. While I'm willing to pay $10 for it, I just checked the App Store and discovered that it's now priced at $22.99. Considering that I can utilize a much more feature-rich product like VMware Fusion for free, I find the current price to be excessive.

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and for considering VirtualProg.


We’d like to clarify that the current price of $22.99 is a one-time purchase — not a subscription — and includes free access to all future updates and improvements.


VirtualProg isn’t positioned as a replacement for enterprise-grade products like VMware Fusion or Parallels. Rather, it’s a lightweight, built entirely on Apple’s Virtualization framework, focused on offering a modern and streamlined VM experience that integrates seamlessly with macOS, especially on Apple Silicon.


Of course, choosing the right virtualization tool is a personal preference based on individual needs — whether that’s a more full-featured enterprise solution or a lightweight alternative. We appreciate your feedback and support, and we’re committed to evolving VirtualProg in a way that adds value to users seeking a simpler, fast, and efficient virtualization experience.

 

[rbmanian75]

I purchased VirtualProg when cheaper as an experiment and to support a new developer. But it really is not yet as stable and feature rich as UTM or VirtualBuddy. Both of them are free or optional payment.

Thank you for giving VirtualProg a try and for supporting independent development — it truly means a lot.


We're continuously working to improve stability and add useful features, and your feedback is incredibly valuable in that process. If you’ve encountered specific issues or areas where VirtualProg isn’t meeting your expectations, we’d really appreciate it if you could share more details with us at support@makeprog.com. This will help us better understand how we can improve the app to make it more stable and useful for you.


Thanks again for your support and for being part of the journey as we continue to evolve VirtualProg.

 

[VitoBotta]

I purchased VirtualProg when cheaper as an experiment and to support a new developer. But it really is not yet as stable and feature rich as UTM or VirtualBuddy. Both of them are free or optional payment.

I am happy with VMware Fusion for most things. To my mind the only reason to use anything else is for macOS VMs on Apple silicon host - for these VirtualBuddy or UTM seem to be the way to go.

Thanks for your input. I am sorry for OP, but I don't see a benefit in purchasing this tool at this stage.

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and for considering VirtualProg.


We’d like to clarify that the current price of $22.99 is a one-time purchase — not a subscription — and includes free access to all future updates and improvements.


VirtualProg isn’t positioned as a replacement for enterprise-grade products like VMware Fusion or Parallels. Rather, it’s a lightweight, built entirely on Apple’s Virtualization framework, focused on offering a modern and streamlined VM experience that integrates seamlessly with macOS, especially on Apple Silicon.


Of course, choosing the right virtualization tool is a personal preference based on individual needs — whether that’s a more full-featured enterprise solution or a lightweight alternative. We appreciate your feedback and support, and we’re committed to evolving VirtualProg in a way that adds value to users seeking a simpler, fast, and efficient virtualization experience.

I appreciate it's a one-time payment, but you are still competing with free products here. In your opinion, what are the 1 or 2 features that make it worth buying this tool over using VMware Fusion for free?

 

[rbmanian75]

I appreciate it's a one-time payment, but you are still competing with free products here. In your opinion, what are the 1 or 2 features that make it worth buying this tool over using VMware Fusion for free?

Thank you for your question. I’ve outlined some key points regarding VirtualProg’s value in this earlier post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/virtualprog-macos-virtualization-tool.2456173/post-33897255 — please feel free to take a look.


That said, there’s absolutely no need to switch from VMware Fusion if it already meets your needs. Choosing a virtualization tool ultimately comes down to personal preference and what works best for your specific workflow and environment.


Thanks again for the thoughtful discussion and for taking the time to explore VirtualProg.

 

[chrfr]

Thanks for your input. I am sorry for OP, but I don't see a benefit in purchasing this tool at this stage.



I appreciate it's a one-time payment, but you are still competing with free products here. In your opinion, what are the 1 or 2 features that make it worth buying this tool over using VMware Fusion for free?

VMware Fusion can’t virtualize macOS on Apple Silicon computers. These products have different purposes and capabilities.

 

[rbmanian75]

Still loving it! I just installed Tahoe beta to play with. As a feature request, I'd like to ask for a true full screen VM experience, without the VirtualProg title bar.

We're happy to share that a true full screen VM experience (without the VirtualProg title bar) has been added in version 1.7.2, which has just been released on the Mac App Store.


We hope this enhancement makes your experience with VirtualProg even better — and as always, we appreciate your feedback and support!

 

[chabig]

Thank you for the full screen experience. It's nice! Next request – can you let me close the Control Center window without quitting the app?

 

[rbmanian75]

Thank you for the full screen experience. It's nice! Next request – can you let me close the Control Center window without quitting the app?

Regarding your request to close the Control Center window without quitting the app:
Currently, the Control Center serves as the main entry point and status hub of VirtualProg. Closing it is treated as exiting the application, which is why quitting the Control Center terminates the app as well.


However, based on user feedback like yours, we've made an improvement in the upcoming version 1.7.3 — if any virtual machines are running, the app will now prevent quitting, ensuring that active VMs remain protected.


We understand the value in being able to run VirtualProg headlessly or in the background. We'll evaluate the technical feasibility of allowing the Control Center to be closed independently, and if it proves viable within macOS’s app lifecycle constraints, we’ll aim to support it in a future update.


Thanks again for your input

 

[chabig]

rbmanian, would you please take a minute to explain the difference between pause and suspend? What are the differences to me as a user? Here is what I think it means.

Pause:
- Keeps the VM open, but just stops it from running. No CPU activity.
- User cannot quit VirtualProg while a VM is paused

Suspend:
- Stops all VM activity and saves the state
- User can quit VirtualProg once the VM is suspended.

 

[rbmanian75]

rbmanian, would you please take a minute to explain the difference between pause and suspend? What are the differences to me as a user? Here is what I think it means.

Pause:
- Keeps the VM open, but just stops it from running. No CPU activity.
- User cannot quit VirtualProg while a VM is paused

Suspend:
- Stops all VM activity and saves the state
- User can quit VirtualProg once the VM is suspended.

Thank you for the question — you're mostly correct in your understanding. Here's a brief clarification:


Pause temporarily halts the virtual machine's execution. The VM process remains active, but no CPU cycles are consumed. Memory remains allocated, and the VM stays in RAM. This is useful for quickly resuming without any disk I/O.


Suspend, on the other hand, saves the entire state of the virtual machine — including memory, CPU, and device state — to disk. The VM process is then stopped, and system resources are released. You can safely quit VirtualProg, and resume exactly where you left off later.


In short:

• Pause = fast, in-memory stop (RAM retained)
• Suspend = full save-to-disk stop (RAM released)

Let me know if you need further clarification!

 

[chabig]

Thanks for that. I’ve been shutting down and rebooting the VM. It’s fast to boot, but suspend is probably slightly faster. And of course it preserves the state of everything, which also takes time to set up again after a reboot.

 

[rbmanian75]

Thank you for the full screen experience. It's nice! Next request – can you let me close the Control Center window without quitting the app?

We've just released version 1.7.4, which includes a new option that allows you to close/inimize the Control Center window without quitting the app. Simply enable the "Minimize on Control Center Close" in settings to activate this behavior.


We hope this improves your experience — and please keep the suggestions coming!