Incus vs. Docker: System Containers vs. App Containers

A practical comparison of Incus and Docker: when system containers suit development environments better than single-process application containers.

06 Apr 2026 · 3 min read

devops #docker #incus #linux #devops

Audio summary

Docker is the household name in containerization, but it was built around one idea: package a single process. Incus takes a different approach: it packages a full Linux OS as a container, giving you something like an instant VM that runs at container speed. Once you need more than “run this one process,” that difference starts to matter.

Key differences at a glance

Feature	Docker	Incus
Philosophy	One process per container	One full OS per container
Primary use	Microservices, CI/CD, deployment	Development labs, AI sandboxing, VPS replacement
Init system	No (usually just an entrypoint)	Yes (systemd, OpenRC work natively)
Security	Process-level isolation	Unprivileged containers by default, plus VM support
Persistence	Volatile (needs volumes or bind mounts)	Persistent, acts like a physical disk
Hardware	Hard to pass through GPUs or USB	Native, low-latency device passthrough

Command comparison

If you already know Docker, learning Incus is mostly a matter of mapping familiar verbs to new ones.

Action	Docker command	Incus command
Start a container	`docker run -d --name web ubuntu`	`incus launch images:ubuntu/24.04 web`
List containers	`docker ps`	`incus list`
Access shell	`docker exec -it web bash`	`incus shell web`
Stop container	`docker stop web`	`incus stop web`
Remove container	`docker rm -f web`	`incus delete -f web`
Create image	`docker commit web my-image`	`incus publish web --alias my-image`
View logs	`docker logs web`	`incus info --show-log web`
Copy files	`docker cp file web:/path`	`incus file push file web/path`

Setting up Incus (Ubuntu 24.04+)

Incus is officially in the latest Ubuntu repositories, so getting it running is straightforward.

Installation and init

# Install the core packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y incus

# Add your user to the management group
sudo usermod -aG incus-admin $USER
newgrp incus-admin

# Initialize the system (interactive wizard)
incus admin init

During init, choosing ZFS or Btrfs for storage gets you near-instant snapshots later, which is worth the extra setup step.

Launching your first dev box

Unlike Docker Hub, Incus talks to multiple “remotes.” The most common is the community-maintained images: server.

# Launch a persistent Ubuntu 24.04 container
incus launch images:ubuntu/24.04 dev-box

# Launch a MicroVM (for AI sandboxing or extra isolation)
incus launch images:ubuntu/24.04 ai-box --vm

Managing more than one container

Profiles for repeatable configuration

Instead of configuring each container by hand, profiles apply a set of settings, GPU access or mounted folders, for example, to many containers at once.

# Create a profile for Rails development
incus profile create rails-dev

# Add a device to map your code folder from the host
incus profile device add rails-dev my-code disk \
    source=/home/user/projects/app \
    path=/root/app

# Apply this profile to your container
incus profile add dev-box rails-dev

Snapshots as an undo button

This is where Incus is genuinely better than Docker for development work. Before a risky change:

# Create a snapshot
incus snapshot create dev-box pre-upgrade

# Messed up? Restore instantly
incus restore dev-box pre-upgrade

Running Docker inside Incus

You can have both. To nest Docker inside an Incus container:

incus config set dev-box security.nesting=true
incus restart dev-box
# Now install docker inside the dev-box as usual

Which one to reach for

Use Docker when you have a finished app you want to ship to the cloud. Use Incus when you’re building that app: it gives you a stable, persistent, high-performance environment that handles system services and hardware directly, while keeping your host machine clean.