Comparison

CRI-O vs kind

No clear leader: CRI-O (55.5) and kind (54.2) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

CRI-O full profile →kind full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

CRI-O56

kind54

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	CRI-O	kind
Vioscale score	56 / 100low · 48%	54 / 100low · 42%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	-	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	free
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	8.4	6.6
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 13 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcri-o%2Fcri-o&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: HIGH	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=sigs.k8s.io%2Fkind&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	61	2,126
Github starsadoption.github_stars	5,654	15,448
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	43	16
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	85
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide

Score

Vioscale score

CRI-O56 / 100low · 48%

kind54 / 100low · 42%

Pricing

Free tier

CRI-O–

kind✓

Model

CRI-Ocommercial

kindcommercial

Price level

CRI-Ofree

kindfree

Security

Disclosure policy

CRI-O–

kind✓

Scorecard

CRI-O8.4

kind6.6

Vulnerabilities

CRI-OCount: 13 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcri-o%2Fcri-o&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: HIGH

kindCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=sigs.k8s.io%2Fkind&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

CRI-O✓

kind–

Adoption

Dependent repos

CRI-O61

kind2,126

Github stars

CRI-O5,654

kind15,448

Activity

Commits last 30d

CRI-O43

kind16

Release

Cadence days

CRI-O–

kind85

History

CRI-O20 items

kind20 items

License

Spdx

CRI-OApache-2.0

kindApache-2.0

Language

Primary

CRI-OGo

kindGo

Market

Availability

CRI-O–

kindAvailable worldwide

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for container orchestration tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Container Orchestration Tools
Capability	CRI-O	kind
Core
Orchestration scope	Kubernetes	Kubernetes
Deployment
Hosting	Self-hosted only	Self-hosted only
Standards
OCI / CRI compliant	✓	-
CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant	✓	✓
Security
Rootless operation	-	✓
Architecture
Daemonless architecture	-	-
Platform
Windows containers	-	-
ARM architecture support	-	✓
Workloads
GPU scheduling	-	-
Stateful workloads	-	-
Networking
Built-in networking / CNI	✗	-
Ops
Vendor-managed control plane	-	-
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity	-	-
UX
GUI dashboard	-	✗

Core

Orchestration scope

CRI-OKubernetes

kindKubernetes

Deployment

Hosting

CRI-OSelf-hosted only

kindSelf-hosted only

Standards

OCI / CRI compliant

CRI-O✓

kind-

CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant

CRI-O✓

kind✓

Security

Rootless operation

CRI-O-

kind✓

Architecture

Daemonless architecture

CRI-O-

kind-

Platform

Windows containers

CRI-O-

kind-

ARM architecture support

CRI-O-

kind✓

Workloads

GPU scheduling

CRI-O-

kind-

Stateful workloads

CRI-O-

kind-

Networking

Built-in networking / CNI

CRI-O✗

kind-

Ops

Vendor-managed control plane

CRI-O-

kind-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

CRI-O-

kind-

GUI dashboard

CRI-O-

kind✗

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

CRI-O

A runtime implementation that enables Kubernetes to execute and manage containers, supporting OCI-compliant container images from any registry.

Independently observed

kind

kind enables developers to set up isolated Kubernetes clusters locally using Docker for testing, development, and CI/CD purposes. Originally built for testing Kubernetes itself, it provides CNCF-conformant Kubernetes clusters on a single machine.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

CRI-O

Open source

as of 2026-08-13verify ↗

kind

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	CRI-O	kind
macOSPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

macOS

CRI-O✗

kind✓

Windows

CRI-O✗

kind✓

Linux

CRI-O✓

kind✓

CLI

CRI-O✗

kind✓

Deployment

Self-hosted

CRI-O✓

kind✓

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.