KinuxOTA vs balena
balena is the stronger choice when your software is built as containers and you can run balenaOS on your devices. KinuxOTA fits devices that already run Ubuntu, Debian or Raspberry Pi OS and should keep it: one agent, then packages, files, scripts and commands, no change of operating system.
balena is a platform for container-based device fleets: devices run balenaOS, and applications are built into containers and deployed to fleets from balenaCloud.
Side by side
| Aspect | KinuxOTA | balena |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A web dashboard and a small agent for Linux devices: OTA updates of packages, files and scripts, remote commands and device health. | A fleet platform: balenaOS on the devices, applications as containers, built and deployed by balenaCloud. |
| Operating system on the device | The device's own Ubuntu, Debian or Raspberry Pi OS (amd64, arm64, armhf). No special image. | balenaOS, a Yocto-based host OS with balenaEngine (a Docker-compatible container engine). |
| Getting started on a device | One command on each device installs the agent from a signed apt repository. | Flash a balenaOS image with the fleet's provisioning key; the device registers itself. |
| What it updates | apt packages, any files with a script, the agent itself. Not full-system images yet. | Application containers (as delta updates), and the host OS. |
| If an update breaks the device | No automatic rollback of a failed update yet (full-system A/B updates are planned). | A host OS update that fails to boot rolls back to the previous version. |
| Rolling out | Runs on up to 100 chosen devices at once, offline devices catch up, re-run only the failed ones. No groups or phased rollouts yet. | Each fleet runs its latest release; update strategies and update locks control timing. |
| Software on the device | Anything apt or a script can install, directly on the OS. | Everything runs in containers (one per service, docker-compose for several). |
| Hosting | Hosted service (EU). No self-hosted edition. | balenaCloud (hosted); openBalena is a self-hosted open-source version. |
| Price | Free during the pilot program, up to 3 devices per account for now. | See balena's pricing page. |
Choose balena when
- Your application is (or can be) a set of containers.
- You can flash balenaOS on every device and want the host OS updated with rollback.
- You want builds and container delta updates handled for you.
Choose KinuxOTA when
- Your devices must keep their Ubuntu, Debian or Raspberry Pi OS install.
- Your software comes as apt packages, .deb files or scripts rather than containers.
- You want to run commands and scripts on the devices directly, with live output.
Try KinuxOTA on your own devices
Free during the pilot program (up to 3 devices per account for now). See which kinds of OTA update it does today.