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LXC vs SmartOS: catalog facts
LXC	SmartOS
Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hosting, hardware and…	Free The SmartOS ISO is free and open source; Triton offers paid private and hosted cloud…
Linux, Command line	Self-hosted
System containers feel like a virtual machine without the hypervisor overhead Unprivileged containers run entirely as a normal user	Runs zones and KVM or bhyve VMs on the same host ZFS and DTrace built in
Command-line only; day-to-day management is easier through Incus Container images and templates are Linux-only	Illumos base is less familiar than Linux Cloud management features require Triton on top
Downloadable app	Operating system
Open source	Open source
License: LGPL-2.1	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

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