130 tools · 91 open-source · 39 SaaS
The best infrastructure & container tools. Ranked by real activity.
The top-ranked open-source infrastructure & container tool on Enlisted is Kubernetes (128k GitHub stars), followed by Moby and Traefik. Among SaaS products, other tools on Enlisted are most often compared with Red Hat OpenShift, Amazon EKS and Google Kubernetes Engine.
Enlisted lists 130 infrastructure & container tools: 91 open source and 39 SaaS. 72 of the open-source ones can be self-hosted on your own server or computer. The most common open-source licences here are Apache-2.0 (41 tools), MIT (10) and AGPL-3.0 (9). The open-source ones are most often listed as alternatives to Platform9, VMware vSphere and Amazon EKS.
Last updated October 3, 2026 · ranked by GitHub stars, growth and recent commits
The top 48 of 130 infrastructure & container tools
Kubernetes
Infrastructure & Containers
Production-Grade Container Scheduling and Management
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EKS★ 128k
Moby
Infrastructure & Containers
The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble contain
Apache-2.0★ 72k
Traefik
Networking & VPN
The Cloud Native Application Proxy
MIT★ 65k
Windows in Docker
Infrastructure & Containers
Windows inside a Docker container.
MIT★ 53k
Portainer
Infrastructure & Containers
Making Docker and Kubernetes management easy.
Zlibvs Lens★ 39k
CasaOS
Infrastructure & Containers
CasaOS is a simple, easy-to-use, elegant open-source personal cloud system
Apache-2.0★ 37k
Firecracker
Infrastructure & Containers
Secure and fast microVMs for serverless computing.
Apache-2.0★ 37k
UTM
Infrastructure & Containers
Virtual machines for iOS and macOS
Apache-2.0vs Parallels Desktop★ 36k
K3s
Infrastructure & Containers
Lightweight Kubernetes
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EKS★ 34k
Podman
Infrastructure & Containers
Podman: A tool for managing OCI containers and pods.
Apache-2.0vs Docker Desktop★ 33k
Minikube
Infrastructure & Containers
Run Kubernetes locally
Apache-2.0★ 32k
Colima
Infrastructure & Containers
Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup
MITvs Docker Desktop★ 31k
Helm
Infrastructure & Containers
The Kubernetes Package Manager
Apache-2.0★ 30k
Harbor
CI/CD & DevOps
An open source trusted cloud native registry project that stores, signs, and scans content
Apache-2.0vs JFrog★ 29k
Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts
Infrastructure & Containers
Community-driven scripts that simplify the setup of Proxmox VE and Incus hosts. Over 400+
MIT★ 30k
Rancher
Infrastructure & Containers
Complete container management platform
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EKS★ 26k
Lima
Infrastructure & Containers
Linux virtual machines, with a focus on running containers
Apache-2.0vs Docker Desktop★ 22k
NATS
Infrastructure & Containers
High-Performance server for NATS.io, the cloud and edge native messaging system.
Apache-2.0★ 21k
Sealos
Hosting & PaaS
Deploy real projects from GitHub or your AI coding agent, then keep them running with AI-p
OSSvs Heroku★ 18k
Ceph
Infrastructure & Containers
Ceph is a distributed object, block, and file storage platform
OSSvs Amazon S3★ 17k
Coder
Developer Tools
Secure environments for developers and their agents
AGPL-3.0vs CodeSandbox★ 17k
Quickemu
Infrastructure & Containers
Quickly create and run optimised Windows, macOS and Linux virtual machines
MITvs VMware Workstation★ 16k
Salt Project
CI/CD & DevOps
Software to automate the management and configuration of infrastructure and applications a
Apache-2.0vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform★ 16k
Cockpit
Infrastructure & Containers
Cockpit is a web-based graphical interface for servers.
OSS★ 15k
JuiceFS
Infrastructure & Containers
JuiceFS is a distributed POSIX file system built on top of Redis and S3.
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EFS★ 14k
cert-manager
Infrastructure & Containers
Automatically provision and manage TLS certificates in Kubernetes
Apache-2.0vs Keyfactor★ 14k
QEMU
Infrastructure & Containers
Official QEMU mirror. Please see https://www.qemu.org/contribute/ for how to submit change
OSSvs VMware Workstation★ 14k
RabbitMQ
Infrastructure & Containers
Open source RabbitMQ: core server and tier 1 (built-in) plugins
OSS★ 14k
Rook
Infrastructure & Containers
Storage Orchestration for Kubernetes
Apache-2.0★ 14k
Apache ZooKeeper
Infrastructure & Containers
Apache ZooKeeper
Apache-2.0★ 13k
Komodo
Infrastructure & Containers
🦎 a tool to build and deploy software on many servers 🦎
GPL-3.0vs Octopus Deploy★ 13k
Ubicloud
Hosting & PaaS
Ubicloud is an open source cloud that can run anywhere. Our cloud services include elastic
AGPL-3.0vs Amazon Web Services★ 12k
Umbrel
Infrastructure & Containers
Bring the cloud to your home with umbrelOS - a beautiful home server OS for self-hosting,
OSS★ 12k
Nginx UI
Infrastructure & Containers
Yet another Nginx Web UI
AGPL-3.0★ 12k
Talos Linux
Infrastructure & Containers
Talos Linux is a modern Linux distribution built for Kubernetes.
MPL-2.0vs Amazon EKS★ 11k
PiKVM
Infrastructure & Containers
Open and inexpensive DIY IP-KVM based on Raspberry Pi
GPL-3.0★ 10k
Velero
Infrastructure & Containers
Backup and migrate Kubernetes applications and their persistent volumes
Apache-2.0vs Veeam★ 10k
Runtipi
Infrastructure & Containers
Easy to use homeserver helper to manage all your favorite self-hosted services.
GPL-3.0★ 9.7k
CloudNativePG
Databases
The most popular Kubernetes Operator for PostgreSQL.
Apache-2.0vs Amazon RDS★ 9.4k
MicroK8s
Infrastructure & Containers
MicroK8s is a small, fast, single-package Kubernetes for datacenters and the edge.
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EKS★ 9.4k
Multipass
Infrastructure & Containers
Multipass orchestrates virtual Ubuntu instances
GPL-3.0vs OrbStack★ 9.3k
Podman Desktop
Infrastructure & Containers
Podman Desktop is the best free and open source tool to work with Containers and Kubernete
Apache-2.0vs Docker Desktop★ 8k
KubeVela
Infrastructure & Containers
The Modern Application Platform.
Apache-2.0vs Humanitec★ 7.9k
Longhorn
Infrastructure & Containers
Cloud-Native distributed storage built on and for Kubernetes
Apache-2.0★ 8k
Arcane
Infrastructure & Containers
Arcane - Docker Management, Designed for Everyone.
BSD-3-Clause★ 7.7k
Rancher Desktop
Infrastructure & Containers
Container Management and Kubernetes on the Desktop
Apache-2.0vs Docker Desktop★ 7.4k
Tart
Infrastructure & Containers
macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon to use in CI and other automations
OSS★ 7.3k
KubeVirt
Infrastructure & Containers
Kubernetes Virtualization API and runtime in order to define and manage virtual machines.
Apache-2.0vs Amazon EC2★ 7.1k
Infrastructure & container tools: questions
- What is the best open-source infrastructure & container tool?
- Kubernetes is the top-ranked open-source infrastructure & container tool on Enlisted, with 128k GitHub stars. It is followed by Moby, Traefik and Windows in Docker.
- What are the best free infrastructure & container tools?
- The top-ranked open-source infrastructure & container tools with a standard licence are Kubernetes (Apache-2.0), Moby (Apache-2.0) and Traefik (MIT), so their code is free to use. 11 of the 39 SaaS products here have a free plan, including OrbStack, HCP Terraform and Spacelift.
- Which infrastructure & container tools can be self-hosted?
- 72 of the 91 open-source infrastructure & container tools on Enlisted can be self-hosted on your own server or computer; the top-ranked are Kubernetes, Moby and Traefik.
- How are these infrastructure & container tools ranked?
- Open-source tools are ordered by a score built from GitHub stars, star growth over the last 30 days and how recently the code changed; 78 of the 91 had new commits or a release in the last 30 days. SaaS products have no public repository, so they get a fixed baseline score. GitHub data is refreshed daily, and nobody can pay to move up.