Best Ways to Run Windows Apps on Mac

The short answer. Whisky runs Windows applications through a translation layer and lets you pick the graphics backend, which makes it the general-purpose option for a single program. Highball applies the same idea to games and chooses the graphics layer per title from a compatibility list, which is a different promise: not “this app runs” but “this game is known to run”. Porting Kit packages the whole process as an installer for Windows games. Parallels and VMware Fusion take the other route and run a real Windows installation in a virtual machine, which costs a licence and a Windows licence but behaves like Windows. The dividing question is whether you want one application to work or a Windows desktop to exist, because a translation layer has no desktop and a virtual machine has nothing but.

This guide covers 5 ways to run windows apps on mac for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.

Quick comparison

What actually decides this

• Translation or virtualisation. A translation layer maps Windows calls onto macOS ones and runs the program directly. A virtual machine runs a whole Windows installation. The first is faster and narrower; the second is slower and complete. Neither is a superset of the other.
• What the graphics path is. Games need a Direct3D translation layer, and the available backends differ in what they support. A tool that lets you choose the backend per application is admitting that no single backend works for everything, which is more honest than a single switch.
• Whether a Windows licence is involved. The translation route does not need one. The virtual machine route does, plus the virtualiser licence. This is the largest cost difference in the category and it does not appear in any feature table.
• How much of Windows you actually need. A single utility needs a translation layer. An application that installs drivers, services and a shell extension needs a real Windows. Deciding this after installing is the most common way to waste an evening.
• What the compatibility list is worth. A per-title list is only useful if it is maintained. A record that describes choosing a graphics layer from an open compatibility list is describing a community artefact, and its value tracks the community rather than the version number.

Our picks

• Whisky — Its record describes running Windows apps on macOS with selectable graphics backends, which is the general application case. Choose it when you want to run a Windows application rather than a game.
• Highball — Its record describes running Windows games through a translation layer with the graphics layer chosen per game from an open compatibility list, which is the game case. Choose it when the target is a game and you want the graphics layer chosen per title.
• Porting Kit — Its record describes installing Windows games inside a Mac, which is the packaged-install case rather than the configure-it-yourself case. Choose it when you want the whole thing packaged as an installer.
• Parallels — Its record describes a powerful, easy-to-use virtual machine, which is the full-Windows case. Choose it when the application needs a real Windows installation around it.
• VMware Fusion — Its record describes a commercial virtual machine developed by VMware, which is the existing-VMware case. Choose it when you already run VMware elsewhere and want the same tool here.

The apps

Highball

Highball is a media app for macOS. Run Windows games on Apple Silicon through Wine, with the graphics layer (DXMT, DXVK or D3DMetal) chosen per game from an open compatibility database. It is open source.

What it does. Free, open-source, notarized. One-click Steam and Epic, per-game renderer verdicts from an open database, honest about anti-cheat. No account, no telemetry.

Highball is listed with current version 0.10.3.

Full profile and verified facts for Highball →

Parallels

Parallels is a developer tool for macOS. Powerful, easy-to-use VM. No free upgrade for each new Mac OS. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. Run Windows on Mac with Parallels, trusted by millions worldwide. Access Windows applications on Apple silicon Macs and deliver virtual apps, VDI, and secure digital workspaces.

Parallels is listed with current version 27.0.2-58673.

Full profile and verified facts for Parallels →

Porting Kit

Porting Kit is a media app for macOS. Install Windows® Games inside your Mac. It is free.

What it does. With Porting Kit, you can install Windows games and apps on macOS easily using Wineskin technology!

Porting Kit is listed with current version 6.7.0.

Full profile and verified facts for Porting Kit →

VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion is a developer tool for macOS. Powerful, commercial VM developed by VMware. Its pricing is not published.

Full profile and verified facts for VMware Fusion →

Whisky

Whisky is a media app for macOS. A tool for running Windows apps on macOS, built with SwiftUI and supporting D3DMetal and DXVK backends. It is open source.

What it does. Wine 11.0 - Latest stable Wine with improved compatibility and networking. DXMT & DXVK Graphics - DirectX 11 through native Metal translation (DXMT) out of the box, with DXVK over MoltenVK as the universal fallback. Launcher Compatibility - Built-in support for Steam, Epic, EA App, Rockstar, Battle.net, and more. Controller Support - SDL environment variable controls for gamepad detection and mapping issues.

Whisky is listed with current version 3.7.0.

Full profile and verified facts for Whisky →

How to choose

• Free of charge. Porting Kit — no payment is required.
• No licence fee, source available. Highball and Whisky — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
• Pricing not published in our data. Parallels and VMware Fusion — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.

Open source: Highball and Whisky (2 of 5).

Common mistakes

• Expecting a translation layer to install drivers. It cannot, because there is no Windows kernel to install them into.
• Buying a Windows licence before checking whether the application runs under translation at all.
• Judging performance from the first launch. The first run compiles shaders and the second run is the one that tells you anything.
• Assuming a game that launches is a game that plays. Frame pacing and anti-cheat are separate problems from getting a window on screen.

How this guide was put together

Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.

A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.

The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.