# Multipass (open-source developer tool)

> Multipass is a free, open-source developer tool for Windows, macOS and Linux. Multipass orchestrates virtual Ubuntu instances. It has 9,263 GitHub stars and is released under the GPL-3.0 license. Its source code is on GitHub at canonical/multipass.

Multipass is a lightweight VM manager for Linux, Windows and macOS. It's designed for developers who want to spin up a fresh Ubuntu environment with a single command. It uses KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows and QEMU on macOS to run virtual machines with minimal overhead. It can also use VirtualBox on Windows and macOS. Multipass will fetch Ubuntu images for you and keep them up to date.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/canonical/multipass |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Interface | desktop GUI |
| GitHub stars | 9,263 |
| License | GPL-3.0 (open source) |
| Replaces | n/a |
| Language | C++ |
| Website | https://canonical.com/multipass |
| Official | yes (published by the project behind the app) |
| Category | Code editors & developer tools |
| Latest release | v1.16.4 (Sep 8, 2026) |
| Last commit | Oct 7, 2026 |

## Install

### Homebrew (macOS)

```sh
brew install --cask multipass
```

Package page: https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/multipass

### Snap (Linux)

```sh
snap install multipass
```

Package page: https://snapcraft.io/multipass

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Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/multipass
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