Virtual Machines vs. Anti-Detect Browsers

NOVEMBER 19, 2024 • ANTI-DETECT BROWSERS • EXPERT OPINION

Many users choosing a multi-accounting tool consider virtual machines. They are thought to be a safer and more budget-friendly option compared to anti-detect browsers. But is that really the case? How do these tools work? How reliable are they? Which are better suited for managing multiple accounts?

Our technical experts have explained the features of both tools and conducted an experiment to identify and highlight the pros and cons of each: read on and choose the option that suits you best.

A virtual machine (VM) is an isolated environment within the operating system on your device. Essentially, it’s a computer within a computer, allocated a portion of the main device’s RAM, storage, and CPU power. Virtual machines are most often installed to use software only available for specific operating systems. The advantage here is that you don’t need to buy another device or reinstall the OS.

Consider an example: let’s say your laptop runs macS, but you want to give Linux a try. You install special software for creating virtual machines, allocate resources for the VM (a portion of RAM, CPU threads, and disk space), and then launch it to install Linux and necessary software. It will work as if Linux were running on your device. The only difference is that the VM’s performance is limited by the allocated resources, which may result in slower operation.

Besides testing different operating systems, virtual machines can be used for:

If you would like to create up to five accounts on a single platform, you can do so by using virtual machines. You’ll need specialized software like VirtualBox, HyperV, or VMware, along with proxies or a VPN to change IP addresses.

Step 1. Enable virtualization on your device. Restart it, go to BIOS, and activate the virtualization support.

Step 2. Install the software. Download and install software for creating virtual machines on your device.

Step 3. Allocate resources. Specify how much RAM, disk space, and CPU cores should be allocated to the VM. Be sure to account for the system requirements of the OS you plan to install.

Step 4. Install the required operating system. It’s better to use up-to-date versions to avoid compatibility issues.

Step 5. Change the VM’s IP address. Connect proxies or use a VPN.

Step 6. Load software onto the virtual machine. You’ll likely need a browser and content creation software for multi-accounting.

Step 7. Register an account on the desired platform.

Repeat these steps to create additional accounts.

An anti-detect browser is software that allows you to manage multiple accounts on a single website. To the user, it looks like a regular browser based on Chromium or Firefox. Each browser window opens its own virtual profile, which websites recognize as a separate user.

This is achieved by spoofing the digital fingerprint of the device, a collection of parameters used by websites to identify users. For instance, the fingerprint includes operating system and browser versions, installed languages, fonts, extensions, screen resolution, geolocation, time zone, and hardware settings. Anti-detect browsers spoof these parameters at the browser kernel level to avoid raising suspicions with anti-fraud systems.

Anti-detect browsers spoof the digital fingerprint of the device, so they can be used for various purposes:

Anti-detect browsers are specifically designed for multi-accounting and often feature intuitive interfaces with many useful tools. Here’s how creating multiple accounts using Octo Browser works:

Step 1. Register on the official website, install the browser, and purchase a subscription following the guidelines.

Step 2. Create a virtual profile. Click the Quick Profile button, and Octo will generate a profile with a random digital fingerprint based on a real device.

Step 3. Purchase proxies. You can do so by clicking the Buy Proxies button right in the browser.

Select a provider, click Top Up and specify the amount of traffic you need.

If you have enough tokens, select Buy Traffic. Otherwise, click Top Up Token Balance.

Step 4. Connect a proxy. Click Direct next to the newly created profile, select the desired provider, and specify the proxy type, country, region, city, and quantity. Then click Confirm.

Step 5. Launch the profile and create an account on the desired platform.

To create more accounts on the same platform, you can repeat these steps or follow the bulk profile creation guidelines.

Using Octo Browser doesn’t require technical expertise. Its interface is simple and intuitive, with tooltips for users and detailed documentation providing helpful guidelines and video tutorials.

Virtual machines, on the other hand, demand significantly more technical skills. You need to understand different operating systems, know how to install them, and configure them correctly to avoid raising suspicion from anti-fraud systems.

Anti-detect browsers facilitate teamwork with virtual profiles. You can invite colleagues via email, configure access to profiles, proxies, and tags, allowing them to work from their own devices. For example, you can assign a tag to ten profiles and grant permissions for launching and editing them based on that tag. Virtual profiles can also be imported or exported if they need to be shared outside the team. Furthermore, Octo lets you set tasks to profiles to further facilitate teamwork and track each profile's status and remind the team of the next steps.

Teamwork using virtual machines requires additional expenses and technical expertise. You’ll need a powerful server configured with IP address and port redirection for the VM, enabling team members to connect remotely.

Octo Browser stores user data on European cloud servers and encrypts it according to the AES-256 standard, a reliable protocol used by banks and financial organizations. Users can also enhance security on their side by enabling 2FA and password-protecting individual profiles. This ensures that launching, editing, or deleting profiles requires both special permissions and a password, protecting against human-factor-related data leaks.

Virtual machines, in contrast, require manual activation of encryption. However, they do offer a major security advantage: isolation. Software installed on a VM can only access data stored on the allocated disk space. Even if malware infiltrates the VM, it cannot access the host system's data. However, sensitive information stored inside the VM, such as cookies with login credentials, remains vulnerable to potential leaks; this could result in your account being hacked.

In anti-detect browsers, the number of available virtual profiles is limited only by your subscription plan. Profiles are stored in the cloud and take up minimal disk space. You can run dozens of profiles simultaneously.

For virtual machines, these limits depend on the hardware resources of your device. Each VM requires at least 2 GB of RAM (more for smooth operation), and storing a large number of VMs may necessitate an external hard drive.

An Octo Browser Starter subscription costs €29 per month and includes 10 virtual profiles, making the cost per profile €2.9. The price per profile decreases with higher-tier or longer subscriptions.

If you need more virtual machines than your device can support, you can purchase a virtual dedicated server. For example, a Contabo VDS with 3 cores, 24 GB of RAM, and 180 GB of storage costs €34.39 per month. This setup can run four virtual machines with minimal allocated resources, costing approximately €8.6 per VM monthly.

Moving from theory to practice, we conducted an experiment to determine how many Octo profiles and virtual machines could run simultaneously on the same device.
For the test, we deliberately used a 2013 ASUS laptop with 6 GB of RAM and an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.4 GHz. The laptop runs Windows 10 and has an Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 GPU.

We first installed Octo Browser. Downloading the browser, its installation and registration took about 10 minutes. We then bulk-created 40 virtual profiles.

They launched in approximately 5 minutes. During the operation of all profiles, activity monitoring showed that the processor handled the load well.

Stopping all profiles took about 3 minutes.

Next, we installed VirtualBox on the same laptop and downloaded the operating system Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, one of the least resource-intensive OS options available. The download and installation process took about 40 minutes. In VirtualBox, we created three virtual machines, allocating 2 GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores to each, meeting the minimum system requirements for Ubuntu.

We were only able to run two virtual machines simultaneously. Attempting to launch the third one caused the system to crash.

In practice, an anti-detect browser — Octo in our case — outperformed virtual machines in four key areas:

• Cost efficiency. One virtual profile is 2.5 times cheaper than one virtual machine.
• Ease of use. Using an anti-detect browser doesn’t require technical knowledge or specialized skills.
• Low system requirements. Even an old laptop with 6 GB of RAM can run dozens of profiles.
• Speed. You’ll spend significantly less time creating and launching Octo profiles than installing and configuring virtual machines.

The more accounts you need to manage, the greater the advantage of anti-detect browsers over virtual machines. If you plan to operate dozens of accounts simultaneously, opt for the convenience of Octo Browser and claim 4 days of the Starter subscription for free with promo code OCTOEASY.