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Incus
What it is
Incus is free software for managing system containers, application containers and virtual machines. Instances can share underlying storage and networking, and can be managed through a command-line tool, REST API or third-party tools and integrations. It supports snapshots, backup and recovery, instance 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; client applications are available for Windows and macOS, and client packages are also listed for FreeBSD. Upstream does not directly provide packages: installation is available through Linux distributions or third-party repositories, or from source. Incus is developed under the Apache 2 license. Local access to its Unix socket grants full control, so access should be restricted to trusted users. Incus 6.0 LTS is supported until June 2029; feature releases are published about monthly and normally supported until the next release. Community support is available through the Linux Containers forum, and Zabbly provides commercial support for users of its Debian or Ubuntu packages.
For and against
For
- Manages containers and virtual machines together.
- Instances can share storage and networking.
- Offers snapshots, migration, backup and recovery.
- Includes integrations such as Terraform and Ansible.
- Incus 6.0 LTS is supported until June 2029.
Against
- Daemon runs on Linux only.
- Upstream does not directly provide packages.
- Unix socket access grants full control.
- Feature releases are normally supported until the next release.
The verdict
Incus brings container and virtual-machine management together with several integration and storage options. Its daemon requires Linux, and Unix socket access should be limited to trusted users.
Who it suits
Incus suits users managing containers and virtual machines across Linux infrastructure, including development and production workloads. Its client supports Windows and macOS, but the daemon runs on Linux.
Plans and prices
Incus
Free software · Apache 2 license
Read 3 Oct 2026 · linuxcontainers.org
On the record
- Access
- Instances can be managed through a command line tool, the REST API, or third-party tools and integrations.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Client platforms
- The Incus client is available for Windows and macOS, and the installation guide also lists FreeBSD client packages.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Cloud-like management
- Incus lets users manage containers and virtual machines that share underlying storage and networking.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Commercial support
- The Incus project says commercial support is available from Zabbly.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Features
- Features include backups and recovery, snapshots, instance migration, configurable profiles, storage backends, network management, resource controls, and device passthrough.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Images
- Incus provides images for a wide range of Linux distributions, published daily.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Installation
- Incus upstream does not directly provide packages; packages are available through Linux distributions or third-party repositories, and it can also be installed from source.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The documentation links to third-party tools and documents storage drivers including Btrfs, LVM, ZFS, Ceph, LINSTOR, and TrueNAS.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- License
- Incus is free software developed under the Apache 2 license.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- License and audience
- Incus is free software under the Apache 2 license, and the project describes it as suitable for development and production workloads.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Linux server
- The Incus daemon runs on Linux; builds for other operating systems include only the client.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Local access limit
- Access to the Incus Unix socket grants full control of Incus, so the documentation advises giving it only to users trusted with root access.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Management
- Instances can be managed with a command line tool, the REST API, or third-party tools and integrations.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Incus is a system container, application container, and virtual machine manager.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Releases
- The Incus 6.0 LTS release is supported until June 2029, while feature releases are published about monthly and normally supported until the next release.linuxcontainers.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Release support
- Incus offers LTS and feature releases; its page states that Incus 6.0 LTS is supported until June 2029, while feature releases are normally supported for about a month.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Scale
- Incus is described as scaling from a single instance on one machine to a cluster in a full data center rack.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Security
- The project highlights unprivileged containers, resource restrictions, and authentication as security measures.linuxcontainers.org · read 3 Oct 2026
