ArcBox vs Colima
How ArcBox compares to Colima, and how to migrate.
Comparison
| ArcBox | Colima | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free (open source) |
| License | MIT/Apache-2.0 (core) | MIT |
| GUI | Native SwiftUI desktop app | None (CLI only) |
| Cold start | ~300ms | ~3–5s |
| File I/O | >90% native | 50–80% native |
| Idle memory | <150 MB | ~300 MB |
| Hypervisor | Virtualization.framework | QEMU / Virtualization.framework |
| Docker compatibility | Full | Full (via Lima) |
| Linux machines | Built-in | Via Lima |
| Sandboxes | Built-in | Not available |
| Kubernetes | Pod/service viewer | K3s built-in |
| Apple Silicon | Native | Native |
| Intel Mac | Not yet | Supported |
What's Better in ArcBox
- Native desktop GUI — visual container management, logs, terminal, stats
- 10x faster startup — optimized kernel and hypervisor vs QEMU overhead
- Better file I/O — >90% native vs 50–80% (depends on Colima's mount type)
- Lower resource usage — <150 MB idle vs ~300 MB
- Sandboxes — disposable dev environments
- Automatic DNS —
.arcboxdomains with zero configuration
What Colima Has That ArcBox Doesn't
- Fully open source — Colima is MIT licensed end-to-end, including the CLI
- Intel Mac support
- K3s Kubernetes — built-in lightweight Kubernetes cluster
- Multiple runtimes — supports containerd and Docker
- SSH-based architecture — simple, debuggable, and scriptable
- Linux/Windows — runs anywhere Lima runs
Migrate from Colima
Stop Colima
colima stopSet Docker Context
docker context use defaultRecreate Workloads
Pull images and start your containers. Compose files work without changes.
Uninstall Colima (Optional)
colima delete
brew uninstall colima
rm -rf ~/.colima