Colima
Container runtimes on macOS with minimal setup
The Lens
By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.
Updated Oct 2026
Colima runs Docker containers on a Mac without Docker Desktop. It boots a small Linux VM through Lima and points your normal docker CLI and Compose files at it, so daily commands don't change. It also runs containerd, Kubernetes via k3s and Incus, and now works on Linux too. MIT licensed and free.
Setup is brew install colima docker, then colima start. The default VM gets 2 CPUs, 2GiB of RAM and 100GiB of disk, so raise --cpu and --memory for real workloads. Version 0.10 added GPU-accelerated AI model runs on Apple Silicon.
This matters because Docker Desktop is only free for companies under 250 employees and under $10 million in revenue, and never for government. Past that line it's $9, $15 or $24 per user per month billed yearly ($11, $16 or $24 monthly). Colima has no such terms. Solo: free. Small through large teams: free, and a clean way to drop those seats.
The catch: it's command-line only, with no GUI, no Extensions and no central admin controls, and it lives on one developer's personal account. The last release shipped in June. Podman Desktop and Rancher Desktop are the free GUI options.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
fully freeFree: Everything, MIT licensed, with no company-size or commercial-use limits. Docker and containerd runtimes, optional Kubernetes (k3s), Incus containers and VMs, port forwarding, volume mounts, multiple instances, and GPU-accelerated model runs on Apple Silicon via krunkit.
Self-hosted: Runs locally on macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon) or Linux inside a Lima VM. Install with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix or Mise, plus the Docker client. The default VM is 2 CPUs, 2GiB RAM and 100GiB disk; size it up for heavier workloads.
Paid: No paid tier. The cost it avoids: Docker Desktop requires a paid plan for companies with 250+ employees or $10M+ annual revenue, and for government entities. Docker Pro, Team and Business are $9, $15 and $24 per user per month billed yearly, or $11, $16 and $24 billed monthly.
Free with no company-size limits. Docker Desktop costs $9 to $24 per user per month billed yearly ($11 to $24 monthly) once a company passes 250 employees or $10 million in revenue.
What to do by team size
- Solo
- free; brew install and colima start
- Small team
- free; Docker Desktop is also free under 250 employees and $10M revenue if you want a GUI
- Medium team
- free; drops Docker Desktop seats once you pass the 250 employee or $10M revenue line
- Large team
- free; standardize the VM config yourself, since there is no central admin console
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