LXD

LXD is ranked #1 of 31 in container engines on The Geeks Club. It runs on API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web. There is a free plan. A free trial is offered. Paid plans start at $2.08/mo.

LXD plans and pricing

All plans

LXD open source Free KVM-based virtual machines · system containers · self-hosted deployment canonical.com · 30 Sept 2026

Ubuntu Pro Personal Free Up to 5 physical Ubuntu systems · unlimited VMs or containers canonical.com · 30 Sept 2026

Ubuntu Pro Enterprise workstation $25/yr per workstation Security and compliance subscription · optional support canonical.com · 30 Sept 2026

Ubuntu Pro Enterprise server $500/yr per server Security and compliance subscription · optional support canonical.com · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on container engines

Free plan: Yes
Rootless mode: Yes
Image building: Yes
Runtime interface: other
Supported host OS: Linux

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LXD

What it does: LXD is an open source solution for managing virtual machines and system containers.
Workload types: LXD provides KVM-based virtual machines and system containers based on LXC in one platform.
Image support: LXD supports images for many Linux distributions and Windows virtual machines.
Management interfaces: LXD can be managed through its CLI, REST API, web UI, and third-party tools.
REST API: LXD uses a single RESTful API over HTTP for local and remote access.
Web UI: An official LXD UI is available by default starting with LXD 5.21.0 LTS.
Integrations: LXD integrations are available for Juju, MAAS, Ansible, Terraform, Puppet Bolt, and Packer.
Security defaults: LXD runs unprivileged containers by default and supports UEFI Secure Boot and vTPM for virtual machines.
Scaling: LXD can scale from containers on a laptop to thousands of instances in a data center.
Cluster limit: LXD documentation describes clusters of up to 50 servers with thousands of instances.
Key features: Key features include resource limits, scheduled and expiring snapshots, projects, hardware passthrough, live migration, and advanced networking.
Release support: LXD LTS releases are created every two years and receive standard support for five years.
Commercial support: Canonical makes commercial LXD support available through Ubuntu Pro.
Community support: LXD provides documentation, a discussion forum, tutorials, and GitHub-based contribution channels.
Price from: $2.08/mo

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Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Container Engines in 2026#1 of 31
Best Virtualization Management Software in 2026#3 of 31
Best Container Runtime Software in 2026#1 of 27

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Sources

canonical.com/lxd· checked 30 Sept 2026
canonical.com/lxd/manage· checked 30 Sept 2026
canonical.com/lxd/docs/default/reference/releases-sna· checked 30 Sept 2026
canonical.com/lxd/docs/latest/· checked 30 Sept 2026
canonical.com/legal/ubuntu-pro/personal· checked 30 Sept 2026
canonical.com/knowledge/security-and-compliance/what-· checked 30 Sept 2026