nbdclient vs Buildah: 2026 Comparison
nbdclient is a free container security tool. Buildah is a free container security tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best container security fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Infrastructure teams managing storage-heavy containerized workloads will find nbdclient valuable for its lightweight network block device protocol implementation that avoids the overhead of full virtualization layers. At 515 GitHub stars with active development, the tool demonstrates proven adoption in production environments where direct network storage access is critical to performance. Skip this if your team needs integrated storage encryption, access controls, or compliance auditing; nbdclient is a transport mechanism, not a security enforcement point, and works best paired with separate storage hardening practices.
DevOps teams building container images in air-gapped or daemon-constrained environments need Buildah because it eliminates the Docker daemon dependency that creates both operational friction and a persistent privileged process. With 8,671 GitHub stars and adoption across Red Hat's ecosystem, it's proven at scale for rootless builds and OCI compliance. Skip this if your team is standardized on Docker Desktop and wants a single tool for both image building and local testing; Buildah excels at the build step but won't replace your container runtime.
