# Rancher Desktop

> Rancher Desktop is a free open source app with a container engine (containerd or dockerd) and a local K3s Kubernetes cluster for Linux, macOS and Windows.

- Source: https://www.itwonderlab.com/rancher-desktop/
- Published: 2026-10-06
- Updated: 2026-10-06
- Author: Javier Ruiz Jiménez (https://www.javierruizjimenez.com/)
- Site: IT Wonder Lab (https://www.itwonderlab.com/)

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**Rancher Desktop**, from SUSE, is an Apache 2.0 desktop application that gives developers containers and Kubernetes on Linux, macOS and Windows. It is a popular alternative to Docker Desktop.

### Key concepts

- **Container engine**: choose **dockerd (moby)** with the `docker` command, or **containerd** with `nerdctl`. Only one runs at a time. See [containerd vs dockerd](https://www.itwonderlab.com/rancher-desktop-containerd-vs-dockerd/).
- **Kubernetes**: a [K3s](https://www.itwonderlab.com/install-kubernetes-k3s/) cluster with a selectable version and Traefik as the ingress controller. See [Kubernetes in Rancher Desktop](https://www.itwonderlab.com/rancher-desktop-kubernetes/).
- **Linux VM**: Lima on macOS and Linux, WSL 2 on Windows.
- **Bundled tools**: `docker`, `nerdctl`, Docker Compose, `kubectl`, `helm` and `rdctl`, its own command line. See [rdctl](https://www.itwonderlab.com/rancher-desktop-rdctl-automation/).

### Learn it

[Install Rancher Desktop](https://www.itwonderlab.com/rancher-desktop-install/) on your system and follow the rest of the series [Docker and Rancher Desktop](https://www.itwonderlab.com/tutorials/docker/).