Parallels Desktop for Mac
Run Windows apps without rebooting.
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Parallels Desktop overview
Parallels Desktop allows you to run Windows and Mac applications side by side. Choose your view to make Windows invisible while still using its applications, or keep the familiar Windows background and controls on your Mac.
Works with Boot Camp®
- Reuse your existing Boot Camp installation. Converting a virtual machine from Boot Camp is now much easier and more intuitive than ever.
Not just for Windows
- Run a wide array of operating systems including OS X, Windows 10, 8.1 & 7, Linux, and Google ChromeTM. You can run just about anything on your Mac!
One-click tuning
- Select productivity, games, design, or development, and Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac will optimize your virtual machine settings and performance for you.
Robust Performance
- Parallels Desktop Pro Edition gives your virtual machines more processing power. Up to 64 GB vRAM and 16 vCPUs per virtual machine lets you run even the most demanding applications with ease.
Business Class Software
- Keep IT in control of end user licenses and Windows virtual machines with a Unified Volume License Key, centralized license management, and advanced security features available in Parallels Desktop Business Edition.
Compare Parallels Desktop Pro and Business Edition you can here.
What's new in version 26.3.1
- Fixed: Guest virtual machines would receive invalid DNS responses under certain conditions, affecting various applications.
Parallels Desktop for Mac
$64.99
In English
Version 26.3.1
What users say about Parallels Desktop
Value: 1.0
Since version 16 and MacOS Big Sur, Parallels Desktop no longer works properly. To be precise, network and Internet connections are no longer possible.
Customer support: 1.0
The worst point of all. Paralles' customer service doesn't seem to care about customer complaints. The Internet and the official support forums are full of the aforementioned errors and complaints, but the customer service offers no solutions to the problem. Even worse, they don't respond at all in the meantime.
Other user ratings:
Ease of use | 5.0
Features | 4.0
Reliability | 1.0
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What customers like
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(757 Reviews of Parallels Desktop)
Comments
User Ratings
Apr 20 2026
Version: 26.3.1
FYI: Upgrade pricing: Standard Edition Upgrade, one-time purchase, is $53.99. Pro Edition Upgrade subscription is $55.99/year. - - For new user prices, see the dev site. (MU's current listed price of $64.99 is incorrect in any case). There is still a "One-time purchase", priced at $219.99. New subscriptions start at $99.99 for the first year, then upgrade pricing thereafter. I continue to give Parallels Pro 5 stars.
Apr 20 2026
Version: 26.2.1
v26.3.1 is out. Recently, I maxed out the number of CPU cores and RAM given to Parallels, above the default. It worked great for speeding up Windows game running on Steam on Windows 11. To do this I minimized the number of Mac apps and services running in the background. I then used Memory Cleaner by Nektony to free up RAM space. - - The biggest problem I had remaining was running one particular game at all thanks to Windows 11 updates. Thankfully, I'd saved in Parallels a backup from 2026-01-20 before then caustic 2026-01-26 Win 11 update. I will stop there with Win 11 updates for now.
Jan 24 2026
Version: 26.1.1
26.2.1 is out, SIGNIFICANT improvement in stability, esp Linux ARM guests (Fedora, Ubuntu) and Tahoe guests, although for Tahoe guests VirtualBuddy is more than adequate. Shared folders feature of Parallels now working and stable, a great convenience over peer file sharing. As you know, macOS doesn't like it when you quit a SMB host before ejecting mounted volumes. Windows 11 ARM guest working perfectly, even running x64 apps and less intensive games (via built in Win11 x86 emulation) with Steam account. Currently reliving the 'old days' playing StarFlight and StarControl I and II (for MS-DOS and Windows 3.1) in Win11 ARM guest.
Oct 8 2025
Version: 26.1.1
I posted the full, long Release Notes here... for v26.1.1. They were blocked. Just know that the list of improvements is quite long. Thank You Parallels! Me grumpy @U, MU. 🤔
Aug 12 2025
Version: 20.4.0
v20.4.1 is out. Stability and security update.
