containerd
Industry-standard container runtime
containerd is an industry-standard container runtime focused on simplicity, robustness, and portability. Originally built by Docker, it was donated to the CNCF and is now the default container runtime for Kubernetes. It manages the complete container lifecycle including image transfer, storage, execution, and supervision.
17.0k
GitHub Stars
free
Pricing
Yes
Self-Hostable
Features
- ✓ OCI-compliant container runtime
- ✓ Image pull and push support
- ✓ Container execution and supervision
- ✓ Snapshot management
- ✓ Network namespace management
- ✓ CRI plugin for Kubernetes
- ✓ Multi-tenancy support
- ✓ Plugin-based architecture
- ✓ Cross-platform (Linux, Windows)
- ✓ gRPC API for integration
Pros
- + Default runtime for Kubernetes
- + Battle-tested at massive scale
- + Lower overhead than Docker daemon
- + CNCF graduated project
- + Excellent stability and security
Cons
- − No built-in CLI for end users
- − Requires tools like nerdctl for direct use
- − More complex setup than Docker
- − Limited documentation for direct usage