specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Containerd
providerId: containerd
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Cloud Native
  - Container Runtime
  - CRI
  - Docker
  - gRPC
  - Kubernetes
  - OCI
description: Containerd is a CNCF-graduated open-source container runtime distributed under the Apache
  License 2.0. Its gRPC API (containers, images, content, snapshots, tasks, namespaces, leases, events,
  plugins) is exposed locally by the containerd daemon via Unix socket / gRPC; there is no commercial
  offering, no per-call price, and no SaaS service. Operational cost lives in the host infrastructure
  that runs containerd (Kubernetes nodes, container hosts, registries).
sources:
  - https://containerd.io
  - https://github.com/containerd/containerd
plans:
  - id: containerd-oss
    name: Containerd OSS
    type: free
    description: Open-source container runtime under Apache 2.0. No license fee, no SaaS billing.
    entries:
      - label: Self-Hosted Runtime
        description: Apache 2.0 open-source container runtime; no per-call or per-resource fee from the
          containerd project
        name: oss_runtime
        type: subscription
        metric: month
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Containerd gRPC API
      - name: CRI Plugin
      - name: Snapshotter Plugin Surface
      - name: Community Support (CNCF)
      - name: Apache 2.0 License
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
x-canonical:
  generated: '2026-10-08'
  vocabulary: all/0-working/economics/plans-canonical.yml
  models:
  - subscription
  units:
  - period
  plans:
  - name: Containerd OSS
    access: free
    model: subscription
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - period
    periods:
    - month