Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

containerd VS IPFS

Compare containerd VS IPFS and see what are their differences

containerd logo containerd

An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability

IPFS logo IPFS

IPFS is the permanent web. A new peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol.
  • containerd Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-15
  • IPFS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-06-25

containerd features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Containerd focuses on providing core container primitives, making it lightweight and efficient compared to more comprehensive container management platforms.
  • CNCF Graduated
    Being a CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) graduated project means containerd has undergone rigorous scrutiny and is recognized as stable and secure.
  • Highly Modular
    Containerd provides a well-defined API with gRPC, making it highly modular and allowing for fine-grained control over container lifecycle management.
  • Kubernetes Integration
    Containerd acts as the default container runtime for Kubernetes via the CRI (Container Runtime Interface) plugin, ensuring excellent synergy with Kubernetes-managed environments.
  • Vendor-Neutral
    Containerd is an open-source project that is vendor-neutral, promoting community collaboration and reducing vendor lock-in.
  • Wide Industry Support
    Spearheaded initially by Docker, containerd has received wide support from tech giants like Google and Alibaba, ensuring a broad and robust adoption across the industry.

Possible disadvantages of containerd

  • Limited to Container Management
    Unlike platforms like Docker, containerd focuses solely on container lifecycle management and does not offer advanced networking, storage solutions, or orchestration engines.
  • Complex Integration
    While offering a high level of control, containerd’s modularity can translate into higher complexity when it comes to integrating it with other tools, such as monitoring and logging systems.
  • Fewer Features Out-of-the-Box
    Containerd provides fewer features out-of-the-box compared to more comprehensive container management systems, which may require additional components to achieve a similar feature set.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Due to its focus on being a low-level runtime, containerd can have a steeper learning curve for users not familiar with container runtime internals.

IPFS features and specs

  • Decentralization
    IPFS operates on a peer-to-peer network, reducing dependency on central servers and improving resilience and fault tolerance.
  • Content Addressing
    Resources in IPFS are accessed through content hashes, ensuring data integrity and authenticity by directly referencing content, not its location.
  • Improved Load Distribution
    By distributing data across multiple nodes, IPFS can balance load, which can improve availability and access speed.
  • Offline Access
    Data stored in IPFS can be accessed offline if the content is already cached locally, enabling persistent availability.
  • Resistance to Censorship
    Decentralization makes it harder to censor content since there is no single point of failure that can be targeted.
  • Reduced Bandwidth Usage
    IPFS can save bandwidth by referencing previously downloaded content from local networks or peers rather than fetching it from remote servers.
  • Historical Versioning
    IPFS can keep track of historical versions of content, allowing for content versioning and retrieval of past data states.

Possible disadvantages of IPFS

  • Complexity
    Implementing and managing an IPFS network can be complex, requiring understanding of peer-to-peer networking and content addressing.
  • Initial Content Distribution
    Uploading content to IPFS and ensuring it gets distributed across the network can require significant initial effort and time.
  • Storage Redundancy
    Data is stored redundantly across multiple nodes, which can lead to increased storage requirements compared to traditional centralized storage.
  • Persistence
    Unless explicitly pinned, content might not persist indefinitely on IPFS, potentially leading to loss of data that's not sufficiently replicated.
  • Scalability of Pinning Services
    To ensure data persistence and availability, pinning services might be required, which can incur additional costs and complexity as the network scales.
  • Legal and Compliance Issues
    Decentralized storage can complicate legal compliance and content moderation, as it's harder to control and regulate distributed data.
  • Performance Variability
    Access speeds can vary based on the availability and performance of peers in the network, leading to inconsistent user experiences.
  • Energy Consumption
    Maintaining a large, distributed network of nodes can lead to higher energy consumption compared to centralized infrastructure.

containerd videos

Deep Dive: containerd - Derek McGowan, Docker & Phil Estes, IBM Cloud

IPFS videos

Why IPFS? - Juan Benet

More videos:

  • Review - Ether-1 Project Review - Decentralized Web Hosting - IPFS Protocol - DAPPS
  • Review - Best Decentralised Storage Systems : ARWEAVE vs IPFS FILECOIN
  • Review - Why IPFS Is SO Important! (Simple Explanation)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to containerd and IPFS)
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Storage
17 17%
83% 83
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
File Sharing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare containerd and IPFS

containerd Reviews

5 Container Alternatives to Docker
containerd is described as “an industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability.” An incubating project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, containerd is available as a daemon for Linux or Windows.

IPFS Reviews

We have no reviews of IPFS yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, IPFS should be more popular than containerd. It has been mentiond 290 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

containerd mentions (55)

  • Kubernetes Without Docker: Why Container Runtimes Are Changing the Game in 2025
    Containerd Official Site The runtime powering most cloud K8s clusters and your future mental breakdowns. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Creating containers with containerd on ARM
    Also, Containers are the tool when you want to speed your process of updating your software and get modularity and portability when deploying your solutions. In this post you will learn how containerd together with nerdctl can help you with this use case scenario. Check their official websites for more info https://containerd.io and https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Beyond Docker - A DevOps Engineer's Guide to Container Alternatives
    Having operated large Kubernetes clusters, one learns to love the focused approach of containerd. A light-weight, high-performance container runtime, it powers a lot of container platforms, including indirectly, Kubernetes. From my experience, containerd really does one thing and does it well: it runs containers efficiently. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
    Containerd operates as a fundamental container runtime that manages the complete container lifecycle, functioning at a lower level than Docker while providing core container operations. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • You run containers, not dockers - Discussing Docker variants, components and versioning
    So once we had a single binary, then "Docker, Inc" started separating the functionalities into multiple binaries on Linux. That was the beginning the of dependencies and components we have today, except that these dependencies are now not limited to Docker. Containerd can also be the container runtime of Kubernetes. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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IPFS mentions (290)

  • zkJSON Litepaper v1.0
    WeaveChain will be a CosmosSDK based DePIN blockchain and a marketplace to match database developers / dapps with rollup operators. It's basically a Filecoin for database. zkDB/WeaveDB is to WeaveChain as IPFS is to Filecoin. We will introduce 2 unique components to connect with real-world data and web2. - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
  • Showcase Your Achievements Securely with CertiFolio 🚀
    IPFS (optional: if you want to run your own IPFS node). - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Decentralized media Made easy
    When I click on https://synapsemedia.io/ I get redirected to a link like https://ipfs.io/ipns/synapsemedia.io (to use ipfs.io instead of my local node). Source: about 2 years ago
  • 4EVERLAND’s IPFS Pinning Service: 4EVER Pin
    You may already be aware that the Interplanetary File System or IPFS is a distributed storage network where computers from all over the world form nodes to share data. Source: about 2 years ago
  • How to host an encrypted page
    In case of you don't trust them, it gets harder. Especially if you need to have it hosted without any trace to yourself. I'd probably pay a service to store my data on ipfs. You can pay with crypto. But I'm this case there's the question, how will you be able to access it. My thought would be to have a [tails][tails] USB with the necessary software. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing containerd and IPFS, you can also consider the following products

Podman - Simple debugging tool for pods and images

FileCoin - Filecoin is a data storage network and electronic currency based on Bitcoin.

CRI-O - Lightweight Container Runtime for Kubernetes

Dropbox - Online Sync and File Sharing

rkt - App Container runtime

Google Drive - Access and sync your files anywhere