Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ZeroVM VS containerd

Compare ZeroVM VS containerd and see what are their differences

ZeroVM logo ZeroVM

ZeroVM is an open source virtualization technology that is based on the Chromium Native Client project.

containerd logo containerd

An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability
  • ZeroVM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-05-04
  • containerd Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-15

ZeroVM features and specs

  • Lightweight
    ZeroVM is designed to be extremely lightweight, allowing for quick startup times and efficient use of resources. This makes it suitable for deploying applications in environments where resources are constrained.
  • Security
    The platform offers a secure sandboxing environment, minimizing the risk of malicious code execution and enhancing overall application security.
  • Scalability
    ZeroVM is designed to easily scale across distributed systems, making it suitable for cloud-based applications requiring dynamic scaling capabilities.
  • Open-source
    Being an open-source project, ZeroVM allows developers to contribute to its development, adapt it to their needs, and benefit from community-driven innovation.
  • Deployment Flexibility
    ZeroVM can be executed on various platforms, providing flexibility in deployment and compatibility with diverse environments.

Possible disadvantages of ZeroVM

  • Limited Adoption
    As a specialized VM, ZeroVM may have less adoption compared to more established technologies, which could limit community support and available resources.
  • Development Status
    If the project is inactive or receives less frequent updates, this could lead to challenges in maintenance and the incorporation of new features.
  • Compatibility Constraints
    ZeroVM might face compatibility issues with certain applications, as it requires those applications to be designed or adjusted specifically for its environment.
  • Resource Management
    While lightweight, ZeroVM may not handle resource-intensive applications efficiently, which could restrict its use for large-scale computing tasks.
  • Ecosystem
    It may lack the robust ecosystem of libraries, tools, and third-party services that are available for more mainstream virtualization solutions.

containerd features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Containerd focuses on providing core container primitives, making it lightweight and efficient compared to more comprehensive container management platforms.
  • CNCF Graduated
    Being a CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) graduated project means containerd has undergone rigorous scrutiny and is recognized as stable and secure.
  • Highly Modular
    Containerd provides a well-defined API with gRPC, making it highly modular and allowing for fine-grained control over container lifecycle management.
  • Kubernetes Integration
    Containerd acts as the default container runtime for Kubernetes via the CRI (Container Runtime Interface) plugin, ensuring excellent synergy with Kubernetes-managed environments.
  • Vendor-Neutral
    Containerd is an open-source project that is vendor-neutral, promoting community collaboration and reducing vendor lock-in.
  • Wide Industry Support
    Spearheaded initially by Docker, containerd has received wide support from tech giants like Google and Alibaba, ensuring a broad and robust adoption across the industry.

Possible disadvantages of containerd

  • Limited to Container Management
    Unlike platforms like Docker, containerd focuses solely on container lifecycle management and does not offer advanced networking, storage solutions, or orchestration engines.
  • Complex Integration
    While offering a high level of control, containerd’s modularity can translate into higher complexity when it comes to integrating it with other tools, such as monitoring and logging systems.
  • Fewer Features Out-of-the-Box
    Containerd provides fewer features out-of-the-box compared to more comprehensive container management systems, which may require additional components to achieve a similar feature set.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Due to its focus on being a low-level runtime, containerd can have a steeper learning curve for users not familiar with container runtime internals.

ZeroVM videos

Programmable Object Store with OpenStack Swift and ZeroVM

containerd videos

Deep Dive: containerd - Derek McGowan, Docker & Phil Estes, IBM Cloud

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ZeroVM and containerd)
Cloud Computing
20 20%
80% 80
OS & Utilities
38 38%
62% 62
Developer Tools
10 10%
90% 90
Cloud Hosting
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare ZeroVM and containerd

ZeroVM Reviews

We have no reviews of ZeroVM yet.
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containerd Reviews

5 Container Alternatives to Docker
containerd is described as “an industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability.” An incubating project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, containerd is available as a daemon for Linux or Windows.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, containerd seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 55 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ZeroVM mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of ZeroVM yet. Tracking of ZeroVM recommendations started around Mar 2021.

containerd mentions (55)

  • Kubernetes Without Docker: Why Container Runtimes Are Changing the Game in 2025
    Containerd Official Site The runtime powering most cloud K8s clusters and your future mental breakdowns. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Creating containers with containerd on ARM
    Also, Containers are the tool when you want to speed your process of updating your software and get modularity and portability when deploying your solutions. In this post you will learn how containerd together with nerdctl can help you with this use case scenario. Check their official websites for more info https://containerd.io and https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Beyond Docker - A DevOps Engineer's Guide to Container Alternatives
    Having operated large Kubernetes clusters, one learns to love the focused approach of containerd. A light-weight, high-performance container runtime, it powers a lot of container platforms, including indirectly, Kubernetes. From my experience, containerd really does one thing and does it well: it runs containers efficiently. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
    Containerd operates as a fundamental container runtime that manages the complete container lifecycle, functioning at a lower level than Docker while providing core container operations. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • You run containers, not dockers - Discussing Docker variants, components and versioning
    So once we had a single binary, then "Docker, Inc" started separating the functionalities into multiple binaries on Linux. That was the beginning the of dependencies and components we have today, except that these dependencies are now not limited to Docker. Containerd can also be the container runtime of Kubernetes. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing ZeroVM and containerd, you can also consider the following products

BuildKit - BuildKit is an open-source toolkit manager application that allows you to build the artifacts in a minimum time frame and helps you to gather the garbage automatically.

CRI-O - Lightweight Container Runtime for Kubernetes

LXD - Daemon based on liblxc offering a REST API to manage containers

Podman - Simple debugging tool for pods and images

Crane - Crane is a docker image builder to approach light-weight ML users who want to expand a container image with custom apt/conda/pip packages without writing any Dockerfile.

rkt - App Container runtime

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