Kata Containers vs LXD
Kata Containers
katacontainers.io
LXD
canonical.comSide by side
| Figure | Kata Containers | LXD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $2.08/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Container Engines | 7.6 (#14) | 8.3 (#7) |
| Spec score · Container Runtime Software | 7.6 (#16) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Community support | The project offers community contact through Slack and mailing lists and is supported by the Open Infrastructure Foundation. | LXD provides documentation, a discussion forum, tutorials, and GitHub-based contribution channels. |
| Founded | 2017 | 2004 |
| What it does | Kata Containers is an open-source container runtime that uses lightweight virtual machines to provide workload isolation while fitting into the container ecosystem. | LXD is an open source solution for managing virtual machines and system containers. |
Plans
LXD
- LXD open sourceFree
- Ubuntu Pro PersonalFree
- Ubuntu Pro Enterprise workstation$25 a year
- Ubuntu Pro Enterprise server$500 a year
In their own words
Kata Containers
Kata Containers is a free, open-source Linux container runtime that uses lightweight virtual machines for workload isolation while remaining compatible with the container ecosystem. Each workload runs in a dedicated kernel, separating network, I/O, and memory; hardware virtualization can provide an additional defense layer. The runtime supports OCI container images, the Kubernetes CRI interface, and integrations with Docker and Kubernetes. Supported hypervisors include QEMU, Cloud Hypervisor, and Firecracker. Listed hardware includes Nvidia GPU, FPGA, QAT, RDMA, and SR-IOV, with x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures. Kata requires nested virtualization or bare metal, and kata-check can check host capability. Installation guides cover CentOS, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, RHEL, SLES, and Ubuntu. Listed cloud platforms include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine, and Vexxhost OpenStack Cloud. The Apache 2.0 license permits use and distribution. Only the current monthly release series receives security fixes; older releases are unsupported and there are no long-term-support branches.
LXD
LXD is an open-source platform for managing system containers and virtual machines on Linux. It brings LXC-based containers and KVM-based virtual machines together, with images for many Linux distributions and Windows virtual machines. Management options include a command line, REST API, web UI and third-party tools; the same HTTP API supports local and remote access. An official web UI is available by default starting with LXD 5.21.0 LTS. Features include resource limits, scheduled and expiring snapshots, projects, hardware passthrough, live migration and advanced networking. Containers run unprivileged by default, and virtual machines support UEFI Secure Boot and vTPM. LXD can run from a laptop to a data-center deployment; documentation describes clusters of up to 50 servers with thousands of instances. LXD is free, with the open-source plan listed at free. Ubuntu Pro Personal is also free for up to five physical Ubuntu systems. Enterprise workstation and server subscriptions are $25 a year and $500 a year, respectively.