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

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