Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Podman VS Crane

Compare Podman VS Crane and see what are their differences

Podman logo Podman

Simple debugging tool for pods and images

Crane logo Crane

Crane is a docker image builder to approach light-weight ML users who want to expand a container image with custom apt/conda/pip packages without writing any Dockerfile.
  • Podman Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-30
  • Crane Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

Podman features and specs

  • Daemonless Architecture
    Podman does not require a daemon to run containers, which simplifies its architecture and minimizes the potential attack surface.
  • Rootless Containers
    Podman allows running containers as a non-root user, enhancing security by reducing the risk associated with running processes as the root user.
  • Kubernetes Support
    Podman has built-in support for Kubernetes, enabling easier transition and orchestration of containers at scale.
  • Compatibility with Docker CLI
    Podman provides a Docker-compatible command line interface, making it easy for users to migrate from Docker with minimal changes to their workflows.
  • Enhanced Security
    With features like user namespaces and no central daemon, Podman offers improved security compared to traditional container runtimes.
  • Open Source
    Podman is an open-source project, which provides transparency and community-driven development.

Possible disadvantages of Podman

  • Limited Ecosystem
    The ecosystem around Podman is not as extensive as that of Docker, potentially limiting the availability of third-party tools and integrations.
  • Learning Curve
    Users familiar with Docker may face a learning curve when adapting to some of Podmanโ€™s unique features and CLI differences.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running rootless containers can introduce some performance overhead due to the additional layers of user namespace translation.
  • Less Mature
    Podman is relatively newer compared to Docker, which means it might not be as battle-tested in enterprise environments.
  • Inconsistent Behavior
    Certain Podman features may behave differently than Docker, which might lead to unexpected issues during container management and automation.

Crane features and specs

  • Open Source
    Crane is available on GitHub, making it open to community contributions, which can lead to rapid iterations and improvements.
  • Integration with Kubernetes
    Crane integrates smoothly with Kubernetes, providing orchestration and management features for various deployments.
  • Scalability
    Designed to support scaling applications, Crane takes advantage of Kubernetes' scalability features, making it suitable for growing workloads.
  • Flexibility
    Offers flexibility in deploying machine learning models and applications within a Kubernetes environment.
  • Community Support
    Being an open-source project, Crane has a developing community that can offer support and share use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Crane

  • Complexity
    Requires a good understanding of Kubernetes and containerization, which may be a barrier for new users.
  • Limited Documentation
    As with some open-source projects, documentation may not be as comprehensive, potentially posing challenges during setup and deployment.
  • Rapid Changes
    The continuous development and updates can introduce instability if updates are not managed carefully.
  • Learning Curve
    Users may need to undergo a learning period to fully understand and leverage Crane's capabilities within Kubernetes.
  • Potential Integration Issues
    There might be compatibility or integration challenges with certain existing systems or tools.

Analysis of Podman

Overall verdict

  • Podman is a solid option for users seeking a secure, flexible, and rootless alternative to Docker. It performs efficiently and provides strong compatibility with existing container management workflows.

Why this product is good

  • Podman is considered a good tool due to its daemonless architecture, which enhances security and provides more flexibility in container management. Unlike Docker, Podman can run containers under rootless mode, allowing non-root users to manage containers and reducing the attack surface. Podman's compatibility with Docker command-line interface (CLI) and its ability to run in a Kubernetes-like environment using pods make it versatile for diverse container management tasks.

Recommended for

  • Developers and system administrators who require a rootless container management solution.
  • Teams focused on security and minimal permissions for container management.
  • Organizations looking to integrate container management closely with Kubernetes without relying on Docker.
  • Users who are comfortable with command-line interface tools and container technologies.

Podman videos

PODMAN vs DOCKER - should you switch now?

More videos:

  • Review - Actually, podman Might Be Better Than docker
  • Review - Container (Podman) Review - Kominfo PROA Training Lab 2

Crane videos

Zhiyun Crane Gimbal Review + Unboxing!

More videos:

  • Review - Zhiyun Crane 4 Review - Back To Basics
  • Review - ZHIYUN CRANE 4 GIMBAL REVIEW / BMPCC 6K PRO

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Podman and Crane)
Developer Tools
91 91%
9% 9
Cloud Computing
80 80%
20% 20
Cloud Hosting
0 0%
100% 100
Productivity
69 69%
31% 31

User comments

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Reviews

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

Podman Reviews

Podman vs Docker: Comparing the Two Containerization Tools
Rootless processes. Because of its daemonless architecture, Podman can perform truly rootless operations. Users do not have to be granted root privileges to run Podman commands, and Podman does not have to rely on a root-privileged process.
Source: www.linode.com

Crane Reviews

We have no reviews of Crane yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Podman seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 125 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.

Podman mentions (125)

View more

Crane mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Crane yet. Tracking of Crane recommendations started around Dec 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Podman and Crane, you can also consider the following products

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

CRI-O - Lightweight Container Runtime for Kubernetes

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.

BuildKit - BuildKit is an open-source toolkit manager application that allows you to build the artifacts in a minimum time frame and helps you to gather the garbage automatically.

Flox - Manage and share development environments with all the frameworks and libraries you need, then publish artifacts anywhere. Harness the power of Nix.

LXD - Daemon based on liblxc offering a REST API to manage containers