CRI-O vs Podman
CRI-O
cri-o.io
Podman
podman.ioSide by side
| Figure | CRI-O | Podman |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Engines | 7.3 (#21) | 7.7 (#12) |
| Spec score · Container Runtime Software | 7.4 (#21) | 7.7 (#15) |
| License | The project repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. | The Podman homepage identifies the project as Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | CRI-O implements the Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface so Kubernetes can launch and manage OCI containers. | Podman manages containers, pods, and images and supports finding, running, building, and sharing containers. |
| Support | The project site directs users to the #crio channel on Kubernetes Slack and the project GitHub repository. | The project points users to its troubleshooting guide, documentation, issue tracker, Matrix, Discord, IRC, mailing list, and community meetings. |
Plans
In their own words
Podman
Podman manages containers, pods, and images, with workflows for finding, running, building, and sharing container workloads. It is a free, daemonless container engine with a command line comparable to Docker’s CLI; most commands can run as a regular user without additional privileges. Podman Desktop adds a graphical application for installing and working with Podman and other container engines on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can build images from Dockerfiles or Containerfiles, pull images from remote repositories, and manage accounts for pushing images to registries. Podman can run Kubernetes YAML locally, generate YAML from pods, and deploy to existing Kubernetes environments. It can find and pull containers from Docker Hub, Quay.io, internal registries, or vendors. On macOS and Windows it listens for Docker API clients. The project lists integrations including Visual Studio Code, Cirrus CLI, GitHub Actions, and kind. Podman is licensed under Apache License 2.0. Its security foundations include rootless and daemonless containers, SELinux support, network policy enforcement, and immutable containers.