# containerd vs MicroK8s

**Leader by Vioscale score:** containerd

| Attribute | containerd | MicroK8s |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 55.8 (36% (low)) | 46.3 (77% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 55 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 694 | 9,357 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Industry-standard container runtime that manages the complete container lifecycle including image transfer and storage, container execution, supervision, and network attachments. CNCF graduated project supporting OCI standards. | A self-contained Kubernetes distribution providing high availability and minimal operational overhead. Designed for rapid deployment across development machines, datacenters, and edge infrastructure with integrated monitoring, networking, and container services. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","rootless":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","oci_compliant":true,"orchestration":"single_host","windows_containers":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","gpu_scheduling":true,"k8s_conformant":true,"managed_control_plane":false,"built_in_networking_cni":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 9 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Knative"},{"name":"Fluentd"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Metrics"},{"name":"Ingress"},{"name":"DNS"},{"name":"Dashboard"},{"name":"Clustering"}]` |
| language.primary | Rich Text Format | Python |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://containerd.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T14:25:01.677Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source with optional Ubuntu Pro support","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://microk8s.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:45:24.919Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 108 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.36","date":"2026-05-25T06:56:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.35","date":"2025-12-19T10:01:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.34","date":"2025-09-01T15:15:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.33","date":"2025-04-25T05:37:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.32","date":"2024-12-12T18:22:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.32"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.31","date":"2024-08-14T12:08:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.30","date":"2024-04-19T07:55:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.29","date":"2023-12-14T09:54:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.4","date":"2023-10-23T14:28:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.28","date":"2023-08-16T11:16:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.3","date":"2023-06-22T18:03:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.27","date":"2023-04-12T09:19:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.2","date":"2023-03-21T18:04:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.1","date":"2023-01-20T08:29:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.26","date":"2022-12-12T10:43:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.25","date":"2022-08-25T10:55:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.24","date":"2022-05-04T13:50:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.23","date":"2021-12-08T15:15:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.1","date":"2021-11-02T13:44:20Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.0","date":"2021-09-22T19:57:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.0"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.9 |
| security.scorecard | - | 4.4 |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | containerd | MicroK8s |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | None / single-host | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **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 | Graduated | - |
| **UX** |  |  |
| GUI dashboard | - | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:19:45.325Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*