Incus is free software for managing system containers, application containers, and virtual machines. Instances can share underlying storage and networking, and users can manage them through a command-line tool, REST API, or third-party tools. Incus supports snapshots, backup and recovery, migration, configurable storage pools and networks, and resource controls. The project describes its API as scaling from a laptop to clusters of thousands of compute nodes. Documented integrations include Terraform, OpenTofu, Ansible, Packer, Distrobuilder, GARM, Kubernetes Cluster API, and Incant. The daemon runs on Linux, while client applications are available for Windows and macOS; client packages are also listed for FreeBSD. Upstream does not directly provide packages, so installation is through Linux distributions, third-party repositories, or source. The software is developed under the Apache 2 license and is described as suitable for development and production workloads. Local access to the Incus Unix socket grants full control, so the security guide recommends limiting access to trusted users. The 6.0 LTS release is supported until June 2029; feature releases are normally supported until the next release.
Who it is for
It suits teams managing containers and virtual machines on Linux, including development and production workloads. Windows and macOS clients are available for managing an Incus daemon.
What is good
- Manages containers and virtual machines with shared storage and networking.
- Supports snapshots, backups, recovery, and migration.
- Offers REST API and command-line management.
- Free software under the Apache 2 license.
What to know first
- The daemon runs on Linux only.
- Upstream does not directly provide packages.
- Unix socket access grants full control.
Verdict
Incus combines container and virtual-machine management with storage, networking, migration, and resource controls. Plan for a Linux daemon and trusted-only socket access, and choose an installation route through a distribution, third-party repository, or source.
Incus plans and pricing
All plansCompared on container engines
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rootless mode
- Yes
- Image building
- Yes
- Image format
- oci
- Runtime interface
- other
- Supported host OS
- Linux
