Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ZeroVM VS Podman

Compare ZeroVM VS Podman 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.

Podman logo Podman

Simple debugging tool for pods and images
  • ZeroVM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-05-04
  • Podman Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-30

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.

Podman features and specs

  • Daemonless Architecture
    Podman does not require a daemon to run containers, which simplifies its architecture and minimizes the potential attack surface.
  • Rootless Containers
    Podman allows running containers as a non-root user, enhancing security by reducing the risk associated with running processes as the root user.
  • Kubernetes Support
    Podman has built-in support for Kubernetes, enabling easier transition and orchestration of containers at scale.
  • Compatibility with Docker CLI
    Podman provides a Docker-compatible command line interface, making it easy for users to migrate from Docker with minimal changes to their workflows.
  • Enhanced Security
    With features like user namespaces and no central daemon, Podman offers improved security compared to traditional container runtimes.
  • Open Source
    Podman is an open-source project, which provides transparency and community-driven development.

Possible disadvantages of Podman

  • Limited Ecosystem
    The ecosystem around Podman is not as extensive as that of Docker, potentially limiting the availability of third-party tools and integrations.
  • Learning Curve
    Users familiar with Docker may face a learning curve when adapting to some of Podman’s unique features and CLI differences.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running rootless containers can introduce some performance overhead due to the additional layers of user namespace translation.
  • Less Mature
    Podman is relatively newer compared to Docker, which means it might not be as battle-tested in enterprise environments.
  • Inconsistent Behavior
    Certain Podman features may behave differently than Docker, which might lead to unexpected issues during container management and automation.

Analysis of Podman

Overall verdict

  • Podman is a solid option for users seeking a secure, flexible, and rootless alternative to Docker. It performs efficiently and provides strong compatibility with existing container management workflows.

Why this product is good

  • Podman is considered a good tool due to its daemonless architecture, which enhances security and provides more flexibility in container management. Unlike Docker, Podman can run containers under rootless mode, allowing non-root users to manage containers and reducing the attack surface. Podman's compatibility with Docker command-line interface (CLI) and its ability to run in a Kubernetes-like environment using pods make it versatile for diverse container management tasks.

Recommended for

  • Developers and system administrators who require a rootless container management solution.
  • Teams focused on security and minimal permissions for container management.
  • Organizations looking to integrate container management closely with Kubernetes without relying on Docker.
  • Users who are comfortable with command-line interface tools and container technologies.

ZeroVM videos

Programmable Object Store with OpenStack Swift and ZeroVM

Podman videos

PODMAN vs DOCKER - should you switch now?

More videos:

  • Review - Actually, podman Might Be Better Than docker
  • Review - Container (Podman) Review - Kominfo PROA Training Lab 2

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ZeroVM and Podman)
Cloud Computing
16 16%
84% 84
Developer Tools
4 4%
96% 96
OS & Utilities
34 34%
66% 66
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 Podman

ZeroVM Reviews

We have no reviews of ZeroVM yet.
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Podman Reviews

Podman vs Docker: Comparing the Two Containerization Tools
Rootless processes. Because of its daemonless architecture, Podman can perform truly rootless operations. Users do not have to be granted root privileges to run Podman commands, and Podman does not have to rely on a root-privileged process.
Source: www.linode.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Podman seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 123 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.

Podman mentions (123)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ZeroVM and Podman, 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.

containerd - An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability

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

Flox - Manage and share development environments with all the frameworks and libraries you need, then publish artifacts anywhere. Harness the power of Nix.

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.

Buildah - Buildah is a web-based OCI container tool that allows you to manage the wide range of images in your OCI container and helps you to build the image container from the scratch.

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