gVisor vs youki
gVisor
gvisor.devyouki
github.comSide by side
| Figure | gVisor | youki |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Engines | 8.3 (#6) | 7.5 (#19) |
| Spec score · Container Runtime Software | 8.3 (#7) | 7.5 (#20) |
| Purpose | gVisor is an open-source Linux-compatible sandbox and application kernel that isolates containers from the host operating system. | youki is an implementation of the OCI runtime specification written in Rust, similar to runc. |
| Requirements | The installation guide says gVisor supports x86_64 and ARM64 and requires Linux 5.6 or later. | Building requires Rust edition 2024 and a Linux kernel version 5.3 or later. |
| Security design | The Linux kernel and network stack components are written in Go, and gVisor runs with least privileges and a restrictive system call filter. | The README cites Rust’s memory-safety benefits as a reason for implementing the runtime in Rust. |
| Security reporting | The project asks that sensitive security reports be sent to its security mailing list or submitted privately through GitHub advisories, and says a response is typically provided within 48 hours. | Security issues can be reported through GitHub Security Advisories or by emailing the project’s committers. |
Plans
In their own words
gVisor
gVisor is a free, open-source Linux-compatible sandbox and application kernel for running containers while isolating the host from untrusted code. It is intended for workloads such as user-uploaded, LLM-generated, and third-party code. Instead of passing sandboxed applications’ system calls directly to the host, its Sentry handles them; a Gofer process mediates filesystem access. The project describes a least-privilege design with a restrictive system call filter. It documents use with Docker, Kubernetes, containerd, and OCI runtimes, including Kubernetes configurations using GKE Sandbox, Minikube, or containerd with the gVisor shim. gVisor can stream application trace points to an external threat detection engine such as Falco, and can checkpoint and restore containers. Most CUDA applications can run unmodified in the sandbox with selected NVIDIA driver versions, but GPU support is restricted to certain models, drivers, capabilities, device files, ioctl calls, and platforms. Installation requires Linux 5.6 or later on x86_64 or ARM64. Compatibility is best-effort, and some applications may not work because not every system call, /proc file, or /sys file is implemented. Hardware side-channel protection is generally not provided.
youki
youki is a Linux container runtime written in Rust that implements the OCI runtime specification. It provides commands to create, start, list, inspect, and delete containers, and can run containers without root privileges. The project documents using it as a runtime with Docker and Podman, and reports passing containerd’s end-to-end test and adoption in several production environments. Building locally requires Rust edition 2024 and Linux kernel 5.3 or later; local builds are supported on Linux, with Vagrant environments and GitHub Codespaces available for trying it elsewhere. The project is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation sandbox project. youki is free under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which grants no-charge, royalty-free copyright and patent licenses subject to its terms. Security reports can be sent through GitHub Security Advisories or to the committers by email. The committers aim to triage reports and respond within seven days, though a fix may take longer.