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Lima vs Multipass: catalog facts
Lima	Multipass
Free Free and open source under Apache 2.0, a CNCF project.	Free Free and open source under the GPL, published by Canonical.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux
Automatic file sharing and port forwarding, so the VM feels like part of the host Runs containerd, Docker, Podman and Kubernetes, not just one of them	One command for a fresh Ubuntu VM, with images fetched and kept updated for you Uses the native hypervisor on each platform for minimal overhead
Command-line only; there is no graphical management interface Linux guests only	Ubuntu-focused; other distributions are not the use case The Homebrew cask is community-maintained and not officially supported
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: GPL-3.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.