Side by side

OpenVZ vs Shifter

Both stand on container engines. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

OpenVZ

Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

OpenVZ offers Linux container virtualization with host resource sharing, isolation, and live snapshots. Administrators should account for its Linux-only support and limited backup integration.

Visit OpenVZ

Shifter combines registry image conversion, compute-node execution, scheduler integration, and HPC-specific communication support. Its large-image limit, security requirements, and planned migration path matter when selecting it for new deployments.

Visit Shifter

The facts

	OpenVZ	Shifter
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	Linux, Self-hosted	API, Linux, Self-hosted
Lowest paid plan	Free or on request	Not published
Plans published	1	None
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	openvz.org	github.com
On container engines	#20 of 31	#24 of 31

OpenVZ: what it does well

Runs multiple isolated containers on one physical server.
Different Linux distributions can share a host.
Containers share CPU, memory, and storage dynamically.
Live container snapshots are listed.
Free open-source software under the GNU GPL.

What to know first

Windows containers are not supported.
Integrated backup is unavailable.
Backup integration is only through snapshots.

Shifter: what it does well

Docker Hub and private registry image support
Scheduler integration examples, including Slurm
Mounts directories for data and job output
MPICH integration for compatible multi-node images
Free and open source

What to know first

Images above about 20 GB may time out
Requires Munge authentication for image gateway API
Uses privileged operations during container setup
Planned eventual phase-out for podman-hpc

Alternatives to OpenVZ Alternatives to Shifter The whole list