If you're not wedded to docker-compose, with podman you can instead use the podman kube support, which provides roughly docker-compose equivalent features using a subset of the Kubernetes pod deployment syntax.
Additionally, podman has nice systemd integration for such kube services, you just need to write a short systemd config snippet and then you can manage the kube service just like any other systemd service.
Altogether a very nice combination for deploying containerized services if you don't want to go the whole hog to something like Kubernetes.
This is sort of "fixed" by using a Quadlet ".kube" but IMO that's a pretty weak solution and removes the "here's your compose file, run it" aspect.
Recently (now that Deb13 is out with Podman 5) I have started transitioning to Podmans Quadlet files which have been quite smooth so far. As you say, its great to run things without all the overhead of kubernetes.
teekert · 2h ago
"...removes the "here's your compose file, run it"
`podman generate systemd` was created as a bandaid because it was so difficult to manually write systemd units.
Quadlets now make it much easier to create the units by hand, and ‘
`podman generate systemd` is deprecated.
klysm · 1h ago
Echoing the other comment that quadlet is the way to go here
3abiton · 41m ago
I am curious performance wise about the performance difference between podman and incus. I found incus to be also extremly flexible.
esseph · 13s ago
These seem like two very different stacks designed to solve quite different problems
iTokio · 2h ago
Isn’t that limited to a single node?
How would you configure a cluster? I’m trying to explore lightweight alternatives to kubernetes, such as docker swarm, but I think that the options are limited if you must support clusters with equivalent of pods and services at least.
jabl · 1h ago
> Isn’t that limited to a single node?
Yes. Though unless you have a very dynamic environment maybe statically assigning containers to hosts isn't an insurmountable burden?
sc68cal · 41m ago
> How would you configure a cluster?
So, unless you have a service that requires a fixed number of running instances that is not the same count as the number of servers, I would argue that maybe you don't need Kubernetes.
For example, I built up a Django web application and a set of Celery workers, and just have the same pod running on 8 servers, and I just use an Ansible playbook that creates the podman pod and runs the containers in the pod.
gf000 · 2h ago
In the off chance your search didn't expand to k3s, I can semi-recommend it.
My setup is a bit clunky (having a Hetzner cloud instance as controller and a local server as a node throught Tailscale), from which I get an occasional strange error that k3s pods fail to resolve another pod's domain without me having to re-create the DNS resolver system pod, and that I so far failed at getting Velero backups to work with k3s's local storage providers, but otherwise it is pretty decent.
iTokio · 1h ago
K3s is light in terms of resources, but heavy in operational complexity, I’m not looking for a smaller version of kubernetes but for a simple way to run container backed services when you’re not google but a small company, something that has few moving parts but is very reliable and low maintenance.
zelphirkalt · 1h ago
I once tried Nomad for a very brief moment. Not sure if it fits your bill.
heavensteeth · 58m ago
I tried Podman on my messing around VPS but quickly reverted to rootless Docker.
The straw that broke the camels back was a bug in `podman compose` that funnily enough was fixed two hours ago[1]; if `service1` has a `depends_on` on `service2`, bringing down `service1` will unconditionally bring down `service2`, even if other services also depend on it. So if two separate services depend on a database, killing one of them will kill the database too.
Another incompatibility with Docker I experienced was raised in 2020 and fixed a few months ago[2]; you couldn't pass URLs to `build:` to automatically pull and build images. The patch for this turned out to be a few lines long.
I'm sure Podman will be great once all of these bugs are ironed out, but for me, it's not quite there yet.
Podman compose is an attempt to court Docker users by porting over a bad idea. Instead of that, learn how to create "quadlets" and you'll never want to touch docker again. See: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/quadlet-podman
I recommend starting with .container files instead of .kube, unless you're already familiar with kubernetes.
zoobab · 24m ago
I use a special feature of Docker Buildx with a multistage Dockerfile build, with the SDK in the first part, and an empty container in the second part to copy the build artifact (like firmware.bin), like explained here:
This is an interesting find OP and could help people transition from Docker to Podman (especially if they're used to deploying with Docker-Compose).
I think the better long-term approach though is to use systemd user units for deployment, or the more modern approach of using Podman Quadlets. There's a bit of a learning curve, but these approaches are more native to the Podman platform, and learning how systemd services work is a great skill to have.
mstade · 3h ago
I replaced my Docker usage entirely with OrbStack[1] a few months ago, and have had zero issues with it so far. Great product that I happily pay a license for.
My usage is fairly basic though and I'm sure mileage varies, but for my basic web dev setup it's been perfect.
orbstack is just a vm provider for docker on mac, colima offers the same features without a ui and is a great open replacement but as neither supports podman both are not really relevant to the podman discussion.
epistasis · 49m ago
The UI of OrbStack is probably one the biggest features, so a replacement without the UI doesn't make a ton of sense for most people that like OrbStack.
nicce · 2h ago
> orbstack is just a vm provider for docker on mac
”just” is a big statement here. Performance between colima and OrbStack are from different planets.
Apple just released their own runtime so that is also worth inspecting.
jFriedensreich · 59m ago
can you back that claim up? i see a huge difference between orbstack and docker desktop but colima and orbstack use afaik the same technology and the performance was near identical in my tests. (Though you need to change the colima settings to vz and virtiofs)
lukaslalinsky · 1h ago
I was a huge fan of Podman, but I eventually gave up and use Docker Compose for local development. It's not worth fighting the system.
However, for single server deployments, where I don't need Kubernetes, I now exclusively use Quadlets to run apps and I couldn't be happier. It's a much nicer experience that using typical Docker/Podman setup. It feels integrated into the system.
gz09 · 1h ago
Unfortunately, it's quite a big mess (as the article indicates), which leads to a steep learning curve for someone who "just wants to build some images".
And that's just half of it. Want to build an image on two native architectures (ARM64 and AMD64) and then make a multi-arch image out of them. Might blow someones mind on how complicated that is with 2025 docker technologies: https://docs.docker.com/build/ci/github-actions/multi-platfo...
lloydjones · 3h ago
I encountered this exact issue (no buildkit with Podman) months ago. I gave up and used Docker desktop, but I'm glad you didn't. Well done!
cyprien_g · 3h ago
I have never used Podman, but I hear about it very often. I currently use Colima (https://github.com/abiosoft/colima) and I'm very satisfied with it.
I have tried to find a good comparison between the two, but I find it hard to have a clear opinion on which one is best for me.
cmiles74 · 3h ago
I use Podman, I wanted a Docker-like experience on MacOS or Windows. I use it to provide services during development (PostgreSQL, etc.) and working on image builds. It works pretty well. :-)
rockyj · 3h ago
Colima is related but separate, Colima runs a Linux VM seamlessly in MacOS so you can interact with Docker as if it was running on your host OS. Podman will also need a VM (coz there is no native Docker on MacOS).
dizhn · 3h ago
That sounded like podman needs docker. It's more of a mostly compatible separate product that does not need a daemon to run. Both probably lack things like cgroups (a Linux kernel really) etc on macos.
privatelypublic · 3h ago
Podman Desktop uses a VM on windows too.(WSL2)
haolez · 3h ago
But Docker can run rootless these days, right? Can anyone chime in with how well does this work?
pxc · 3h ago
Actually setting up rootless Docker is pretty manual and kludgy. With Podman, rootless is pretty much effortless.
Additionally, podman has nice systemd integration for such kube services, you just need to write a short systemd config snippet and then you can manage the kube service just like any other systemd service.
Altogether a very nice combination for deploying containerized services if you don't want to go the whole hog to something like Kubernetes.
Last I tried using the .kube files I ran into issues with specifying container networks (https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/12965).
This is sort of "fixed" by using a Quadlet ".kube" but IMO that's a pretty weak solution and removes the "here's your compose file, run it" aspect.
Recently (now that Deb13 is out with Podman 5) I have started transitioning to Podmans Quadlet files which have been quite smooth so far. As you say, its great to run things without all the overhead of kubernetes.
Claude recently hallucinated this for me:
For a brief moment in time I was happy but then:Can you really use "ComposeService" in the systemd unit file? I can't find any reference to it
You're absolutely right to question that - I made an error. There is no ComposeService directive in systemd or Quadlet.
It would be a nice best of both worlds...
Just FYI, `podman generate systemd --files --name mypod` will create all the systemd service files for you.
https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-generate-sy...
Quadlets now make it much easier to create the units by hand, and ‘ `podman generate systemd` is deprecated.
How would you configure a cluster? I’m trying to explore lightweight alternatives to kubernetes, such as docker swarm, but I think that the options are limited if you must support clusters with equivalent of pods and services at least.
Yes. Though unless you have a very dynamic environment maybe statically assigning containers to hosts isn't an insurmountable burden?
So, unless you have a service that requires a fixed number of running instances that is not the same count as the number of servers, I would argue that maybe you don't need Kubernetes.
For example, I built up a Django web application and a set of Celery workers, and just have the same pod running on 8 servers, and I just use an Ansible playbook that creates the podman pod and runs the containers in the pod.
My setup is a bit clunky (having a Hetzner cloud instance as controller and a local server as a node throught Tailscale), from which I get an occasional strange error that k3s pods fail to resolve another pod's domain without me having to re-create the DNS resolver system pod, and that I so far failed at getting Velero backups to work with k3s's local storage providers, but otherwise it is pretty decent.
The straw that broke the camels back was a bug in `podman compose` that funnily enough was fixed two hours ago[1]; if `service1` has a `depends_on` on `service2`, bringing down `service1` will unconditionally bring down `service2`, even if other services also depend on it. So if two separate services depend on a database, killing one of them will kill the database too.
Another incompatibility with Docker I experienced was raised in 2020 and fixed a few months ago[2]; you couldn't pass URLs to `build:` to automatically pull and build images. The patch for this turned out to be a few lines long.
I'm sure Podman will be great once all of these bugs are ironed out, but for me, it's not quite there yet.
[1]: https://github.com/containers/podman-compose/pull/1283
[2]: https://github.com/containers/podman-compose/issues/127
I recommend starting with .container files instead of .kube, unless you're already familiar with kubernetes.
https://docs.docker.com/build/building/export/
Does Podman supports the same feature?
I think the better long-term approach though is to use systemd user units for deployment, or the more modern approach of using Podman Quadlets. There's a bit of a learning curve, but these approaches are more native to the Podman platform, and learning how systemd services work is a great skill to have.
My usage is fairly basic though and I'm sure mileage varies, but for my basic web dev setup it's been perfect.
[1]: https://orbstack.dev/
”just” is a big statement here. Performance between colima and OrbStack are from different planets.
Apple just released their own runtime so that is also worth inspecting.
However, for single server deployments, where I don't need Kubernetes, I now exclusively use Quadlets to run apps and I couldn't be happier. It's a much nicer experience that using typical Docker/Podman setup. It feels integrated into the system.
And that's just half of it. Want to build an image on two native architectures (ARM64 and AMD64) and then make a multi-arch image out of them. Might blow someones mind on how complicated that is with 2025 docker technologies: https://docs.docker.com/build/ci/github-actions/multi-platfo...
I have tried to find a good comparison between the two, but I find it hard to have a clear opinion on which one is best for me.