smolmachines
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 6 microvm runtimes by recommenders
Recommended as a VM with container-like ergonomics, portable images and subsecond starts for isolated sandboxes. Main caveat: Windows support is lacking.
Recommended as a VM with container-like ergonomics, portable images and subsecond starts for isolated sandboxes. Main caveat: Windows support is lacking.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong isolation for sandboxes
“I've just discovered and started using smolmachines which actually have the requisite isolation.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “GTFOBins” “I definitely would try using this for benchmarks and other places where I need strong isolation”
Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” “this seems very useful for coding agent sandbox environments”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” VM with container ergonomics
“smol machines is a virtual machine that has properties and ergonomics of containers.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” “a virtual machine with the ergonomics of containers + subsecond start times”
Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” Fast subsecond startup
“a virtual machine with the ergonomics of containers + subsecond start times”
Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” “its super fast im just not sure is this really secure”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Podman v6.0.0” Portable artifacts across platforms
“It enables a cross platform, language agnostic plugin system, especially for agents, while being safe in a VM.”
Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines” “The images or rather portable artifacts rehydration on any platform plus the packaging is neat.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines”
Other microvm runtimes people recommend
The four most recommended other microvm runtimes, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firecracker | 78 | 20 | 80% | 12 | — | Approved |
| smolvm by smolmachines | 28 | 9 | 76% | 10 | — | Approved |
| smolmachinesThis page | 27 | 3 | 90% | 6 | — | Approved |
| libkrun | 13 | 6 | 68% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Bhatti | 8 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
34 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I use this mostly for stuff needing docker socket / docker in docker”
“smolmachines would at least take care of being able to use stuff within an app, by offering persistent, portable containers”
“its super fast im just not sure is this really secure”
“now i have linux desktop computers on smol machines!”
“Currently the best implementation I'm aware of.”
“With smolmachines you can use Vulkan through virtio-gpu/Venus which is quite nice.”
“A cool one I've been playing with recently”
“Or put it in a microvm using eg smolmachines.”
“I'm a happy smolmachines user. It has some rough edges but it works really great.”
“I've been happy w smolmachines microvms”
“I find it kind of exciting”
“easily solved without running an entire VM, which "smol" machines seems to be”
“I've just discovered and started using smolmachines which actually have the requisite isolation.”
“congrats on the launch binbin, this is cool!”
“This project is very cool!”
“you built _exactly_ what I wanted”
“smol machines is a virtual machine that has properties and ergonomics of containers.”
“more compatible with most software”
“Congrats that looks really amazing!”
“this seems very useful for coding agent sandbox environments”
“The images or rather portable artifacts rehydration on any platform plus the packaging is neat.”
“This does that. Virtio- balloon dynamically resizes based on memory consumed.”
“Neat! I work with the team on sbx.”
“your storage appears to scale with it”
“I definitely would try using this for benchmarks and other places where I need strong isolation”
“It enables a cross platform, language agnostic plugin system, especially for agents, while being safe in a VM.”
“congrats for your work that's really nice”
“It's been great so far and the team is super responsive. The dev ergonomics are also great.”
“Smol machines do not support Docker inside the microvms”
“Windows support is sorely lacking”
“for most local workloads, it is actually sufficient”
“Great job with the comparison table.”
“its a really innovative idea!”
“a virtual machine with the ergonomics of containers + subsecond start times”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.