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Docker on macOS

Docker on macOS always runs inside a Linux VM. The official option is Docker Desktop; OrbStack (native, closed-source) and Colima (CLI-only, MIT) are the two established alternatives that manage that VM for you.

Docker Desktop

Section titled “Docker Desktop”

Docker Desktop — the official bundle from Docker: GUI, VM and the whole toolchain in one installer.

Terminal window
brew install --cask docker-desktop
  • Bundles Docker Engine, CLI, Compose, Build, Kubernetes and Docker Scout, plus Extensions and AI tooling (Model Runner, MCP Toolkit, Gordon)
  • Three VM backends: Docker VMM (beta, VirtioFS only), Apple Virtualization.framework and legacy QEMU
  • File sharing via VirtioFS (recommended) or gRPC FUSE
  • The Rosetta option that accelerates x86/AMD64 binary emulation is available only with the Apple Virtualization.framework backend; Rosetta 2 itself is no longer strictly required, only for some Darwin/AMD64 CLI tools
  • Runs on macOS, Windows and Linux — the only one of the three that is not macOS-first
  • Supported on the current and two previous major macOS releases, Apple Silicon and Intel, minimum 4 GB RAM; the Homebrew cask requires macOS 14 or newer
  • Closed source; free for personal use, education, non-commercial open source and small businesses (fewer than 250 employees and under $10M annual revenue), paid subscription otherwise

OrbStack

Section titled “OrbStack”

OrbStack — a native Swift app for macOS that runs Docker containers, Kubernetes and full Linux machines, designed as a drop-in replacement for Docker Desktop.

Terminal window
brew install --cask orbstack
  • Migrates existing containers, images and volumes from Docker Desktop or Colima
  • Ships docker, docker compose and docker buildx, plus orb and orbctl for managing Linux machines; CLI tools live in ~/.orbstack/bin and are symlinked into /usr/local/bin
  • 16 Linux distributions as lightweight machines, with SSH agent forwarding and remote VS Code support
  • VirtioFS file sharing — bind-mounted volumes and image files are browsable in Finder
  • Networking with IPv6, working ICMP (ping, traceroute), local domain names and DNS integration; designed to coexist with VPNs
  • Rosetta-based x86 emulation for Intel images on Apple Silicon
  • USB passthrough, isolated sandboxes, Activity Monitor integration, menu bar app
  • Vendor claims under 0.1 % background CPU usage on Apple Silicon and under 10 MB of disk out of the box
  • Closed-source, although some components are open — free for personal use, subscription for commercial use
  • Requires macOS 14 or newer (per the Homebrew cask)

Colima

Section titled “Colima”

Colima — container runtimes on macOS and Linux with minimal setup, built on Lima and released under the MIT license.

Terminal window
brew install colima
colima start                        # Docker runtime
colima start --kubernetes           # plus a k3s cluster
colima start --runtime containerd   # containerd with nerdctl
colima start --runtime incus        # Incus system containers and VMs
  • Runtimes: Docker, containerd (with nerdctl), Kubernetes via k3s, and Incus
  • Two VM backends selected with --vm-type: qemu (default) or vz for Apple’s Virtualization.framework; --vz-rosetta adds x86 emulation on Apple Silicon and needs macOS 13 or newer
  • Runs on both x86_64 and aarch64; --arch picks the guest architecture
  • Defaults to 2 CPUs, 2 GiB RAM and a 100 GiB disk, adjustable with --cpu, --memory and --disk
  • Multiple named profiles can hold different configurations side by side
  • Port forwarding and volume mounts work out of the box
  • GPU-accelerated AI workloads on Apple Silicon

Which one

Section titled “Which one”
Aspect Docker Desktop OrbStack Colima
Interface GUI app + CLI GUI app + CLI CLI only
License Closed-source, paid above free tier Closed-source, paid for commercial use MIT
Platforms macOS, Windows, Linux macOS only macOS and Linux
Beyond Docker Kubernetes, Scout, Extensions, AI tooling Kubernetes, Linux machines (16 distros) Kubernetes (k3s), containerd, Incus

Docker Desktop is the reference implementation with the widest feature set and the heaviest footprint, and the only one that also covers Windows and Linux. OrbStack keeps the GUI, Finder integration and painless networking while staying much lighter on macOS. Colima fits scriptable, reproducible setups and environments where a permissive license is a requirement.