What is Cockpit used for?

Cockpit is a lightweight web-based graphical interface for administering Linux servers, with containers, storage, networking and logs. It is a good fit for administering Linux servers from a browser and helping newer sysadmins explore Linux.

Is Cockpit open source?

Yes. Cockpit is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at cockpit-project/cockpit and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Cockpit is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Cockpit?

Yes. Cockpit can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What are some alternatives to Cockpit?

Similar open-source tools in the Infrastructure & Containers category include Webmin, Incus and LXD. SaaS products in the same category include OrbStack, Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.

Is Cockpit actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Cockpit was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 310.10, published on 24 September 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.

Cockpit: open-source infrastructure & containers

About Cockpit

Cockpit is an interactive, lightweight server administration interface that runs in a web browser. It interacts directly with the operating system from a real Linux session, which makes Linux more discoverable for system administrators doing tasks such as starting containers, managing storage, configuring the network and inspecting logs.

Cockpit and the terminal work side by side. A service started in Cockpit can be stopped from the command line, and an error that happens in the terminal shows up in Cockpit's journal view. Other machines running Cockpit and reachable over SSH can be added so you can jump between hosts from one interface.

Cockpit is packaged in numerous Linux distributions, usually under the name cockpit, and a Flatpak app called Cockpit Client adds SSH login to Linux servers. The code uses Python and JavaScript, translations are managed on Weblate, and the license files list LGPL-2.1 or later, GPL-3.0 or later, BSD-3 and CC-BY-SA for different parts.

Key features

Web-based Linux server administration
Container, storage and network management
Log inspection through the journal
Multi-host access over SSH
Works alongside the terminal
Cockpit Client Flatpak app

Good fit for

→Administering Linux servers from a browser
→Helping newer sysadmins explore Linux

Built with: Python; JavaScript
Tags: linux; sysadmin; server-management; web-interface; containers; storage; networking; logs

Cockpit: questions and answers

What is Cockpit used for?: Cockpit is a lightweight web-based graphical interface for administering Linux servers, with containers, storage, networking and logs. It is a good fit for administering Linux servers from a browser and helping newer sysadmins explore Linux.
Is Cockpit open source?: Yes. Cockpit is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at cockpit-project/cockpit and is written mainly in Python.
Is Cockpit free?: Yes. Cockpit is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Cockpit?: Yes. Cockpit can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What are some alternatives to Cockpit?: Similar open-source tools in the Infrastructure & Containers category include Webmin, Incus and LXD. SaaS products in the same category include OrbStack, Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.
Is Cockpit actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Cockpit was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 310.10, published on 24 September 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.