BuildKit vs Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack
BuildKit
github.comCloud Native Buildpacks Pack
buildpacks.ioSide by side
| Figure | BuildKit | Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Build Tools | 8.9 (#4) | 8.1 (#11) |
| Integrations | BuildKit documentation lists integrations or usage with Podman, nerdctl, Kubernetes, Docker buildx, GitHub Actions cache, S3 cache, Azure Blob Storage cache, and OpenTelemetry. | The project documents a CircleCI orb for running pack commands, GitLab Auto DevOps use of pack, and a Tekton reference task for builds. |
| License | BuildKit is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which grants perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free copyright rights subject to the license terms. | The project is described as an Apache-2.0 licensed project. |
| Purpose | BuildKit is a toolkit for converting source code to build artifacts in an efficient, expressive and repeatable manner. | Pack is a CLI tool maintained by the Cloud Native Buildpacks project to support the use of buildpacks. |
| Support | The project directs users to the #buildkit channel on Docker Community Slack and to GitHub issues for reporting problems with release binaries. | The project identifies CNCF Slack #buildpacks and its mailing list as contact channels for the team. |
Plans
In their own words
BuildKit
BuildKit is a free toolkit for turning source code into build artifacts. It consists of the buildkitd daemon and buildctl client, and uses LLB, a binary format for describing process dependency graphs. Builds can use Dockerfiles or other LLB-compatible frontends, resolve dependencies concurrently, cache instructions, import and export caches, run nested jobs, and collect unused data automatically. BuildKit supports execution without root privileges and OCI (runc) or containerd workers. Results can be exported as images, local directories, tarballs, Docker tarballs, or OCI tarballs. Cache options include inline, registry, local-directory, and GitHub Actions backends; the README marks GitHub Actions, S3, and Azure Blob options experimental. The daemon provides a gRPC API over a Unix socket by default, with TCP sockets also supported. Binaries are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The unofficial Homebrew formula for macOS omits buildkitd; the project gives Lima in a Linux virtual machine as one way to run it. BuildKit is licensed under Apache-2.0.
Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack
Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack is a free command-line tool for building applications with buildpacks and rebasing the resulting application images. It is maintained by the Cloud Native Buildpacks project and is also available as a Go library. Buildpacks turn application source code into container images that can run on any cloud. Listed capabilities include caching, automatic source detection, modular buildpacks, support for multiple languages and processes, minimal images, reproducible builds and reuse of community buildpacks. Pack supports multi-architecture builds and multiple build-cache backends, and the project lists build-time software bills of materials in CycloneDX, SPDX and Syft JSON formats. The CLI runs on Linux, macOS and Windows; installation options include package managers, container images, scripts and manual installation. Builds need a containerized environment and a daemon such as Docker or Podman, and some setups may need the local Docker socket mounted. The project documents CircleCI, GitLab Auto DevOps and Tekton integrations, as well as kpack for Kubernetes-native builds and image updates. Pack is Apache-2.0 licensed.