What is Multipass used for?

Multipass is a lightweight VM manager from Canonical that launches fresh Ubuntu instances with one command on Linux, Windows and macOS. It is a good fit for disposable Ubuntu environments for development and simulating a small cloud on a laptop.

Is Multipass open source?

Yes. Multipass is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at canonical/multipass and is written mainly in C++.

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

What is Multipass an alternative to?

Multipass is an open-source alternative to OrbStack. Other open-source alternatives to OrbStack include Colima, Lima and Podman Desktop.

Is Multipass actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Multipass was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.16.4, published on 8 September 2026. The project has 9.3k stars on GitHub.

Multipass: open-source alternative to OrbStack

About Multipass

Multipass is a lightweight virtual machine manager for Linux, Windows and macOS. It is designed for developers who want to spin up a fresh Ubuntu environment with a single command, without managing hypervisors and images by hand. Canonical develops it.

It uses KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows and QEMU on macOS to run virtual machines with minimal overhead, and it can use VirtualBox on Windows and macOS as an alternative. Multipass fetches Ubuntu images and keeps them up to date. Because it supports cloud-init metadata, it can simulate a small cloud deployment on a laptop or workstation. Commands such as find, launch, list and info cover everyday tasks.

On Linux it is available as a snap, and installers are published on GitHub for macOS and Windows, with a community-maintained Homebrew cask. The code is C++ and licensed under GPL-3.0. Documentation explains installation, and continuous integration runs across Linux, Windows and macOS.

Key features

Launch Ubuntu VMs with one command
KVM, Hyper-V, QEMU and VirtualBox backends
Automatic Ubuntu image downloads and updates
cloud-init metadata support
CLI for finding, launching and inspecting instances
Linux, Windows and macOS installers

Good fit for

→Disposable Ubuntu environments for development
→Simulating a small cloud on a laptop

Built with: C++
Tags: virtual-machines; ubuntu; canonical; cloud-init; virtualization; kvm; developer-tools; cli

Multipass: questions and answers

What is Multipass used for?: Multipass is a lightweight VM manager from Canonical that launches fresh Ubuntu instances with one command on Linux, Windows and macOS. It is a good fit for disposable Ubuntu environments for development and simulating a small cloud on a laptop.
Is Multipass open source?: Yes. Multipass is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at canonical/multipass and is written mainly in C++.
Is Multipass free?: Yes. Multipass is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is Multipass an alternative to?: Multipass is an open-source alternative to OrbStack. Other open-source alternatives to OrbStack include Colima, Lima and Podman Desktop.
Is Multipass actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Multipass was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.16.4, published on 8 September 2026. The project has 9.3k stars on GitHub.