balenaOS Alternatives (January 2026)

Run containers on embedded edge devices - balenaOS

https://www.balen.io/os/

balenaOS: An OS optimized for running Docker containers on embedded devices, focusing on reliability and a productive developer workflow.

4.8/5

21+ reviews

Reviewed on:

Capterra

Trustpilot

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balena - The complete IoT fleet management platform

https://www.balen

.io/

Manage massive fleets of small IoT Linux devices with balena's IoT management cloud platform. Your first 10 devices are full-featured and always free. Develop, deploy, manage and scale your IoT fleet with balena.

Ubuntu Core | Ubuntu

https://ubunt

.com/core/

Ubuntu Core is Ubuntu for IoT and embedded devices, optimised for security and reliable over-the-air (OTA) updates. Run your applications in a high-security, immutable and reliable embedded Linux OS.

Kubernetes and Docker Container Management Software

https://www.portaine

.io/

Portainer is your container management software to deploy, troubleshoot, and secure applications across cloud, datacenter, and Industrial IoT use cases.

Docker: Accelerated Container Application Development

https://www.docke

.com/

Docker is a platform designed to help developers build, share, and run container applications. We handle the tedious setup, so you can focus on the code.

Over-the-air software updates for IoT devices | Mender

https://mende

.io/

Secure, reliable, and scalable over-the-air software updates for IoT devices. Seamlessly manage device software remotely, ensuring end-to-end security and compliance.

Free open source IoT OS and development tools from Arm | Mbed

https://os.mbe

.com/

Mbed OS is the fastest way to build IoT products with Arm processors

containerd – An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness and portability

https://container

.io/

An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness, and portability

MicroK8s - Zero-ops Kubernetes for developers, edge and IoT

https://microk8

.io/

MicroK8s is the simplest production-grade conformant K8s. Lightweight and focused. Single command install on Linux, Windows and macOS. Made for devOps, great for edge, appliances and IoT. Full high availability Kubernetes with autonomous clusters and distributed storage.

SmartOS | Triton DataCenter

https://www.tritondatacente

.com/smartos/

SmartOS is a purpose-built, container-native hypervisor and lightweight container host OS for secure, performant, and convenient container hosting in public and private clouds