The best microvm runtimes, according to hackers
6 microvm runtimes recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.
All microvm runtimes
- FirecrackerOpen-source microVM monitor that boots KVM virtual machines in milliseconds with hard isolation for running untrusted code. Critics say it is hard to operate and lacks GPU support.78recommend
- smolvm by smolmachinesLightweight cross-platform microVM tool that people use instead of containers, citing kernel-level isolation and fast boot. Critics note weaker security than Firecracker and limited documentation.28recommend
- smolmachinesRecommended as a VM with container-like ergonomics, portable images and subsecond starts for isolated sandboxes. Main caveat: Windows support is lacking.27recommend
- libkrunRecommended as an embeddable microVM library and drop-in backend for Podman and crun; the most common caveat is that it is not production ready.13recommend
- BhattiFree, self-hostable Firecracker orchestrator that runs isolated VMs for AI agents and pauses idle ones to free memory.8recommend
- Local-First Linux MicroVMs for macOSCommenters like that it runs Linux microVMs on the user's own Mac, keeping everything on local hardware, and several call it a promising project.8recommend