A containerized application is an app that runs in a container.

Before we had containers, applications ran on physical servers or in virtual machines. Containers are the next iteration of how we package and run our apps, and they’re faster, more lightweight, and more suited to modern business requirements than servers and virtual machines.

Think of it this way:

Applications ran on physical servers in the age of open-system(roughly in the 1980s and 1990s)

Applications ran in virtual machines in the age of virtual machines (during the 2000s and into the 2010s)

Applications run in containers in the cloud-native era (present time)

While Kubernetes can orchestrate other workload types, including virtual machines and serverless functions, it’s most commonly used to orchestrate containerized apps. 

A containerized application is an app that runs in a container.

Before we had containers, applications ran on physical servers or in virtual machines. Containers are the next iteration of how we package and run our apps, and they’re faster, more lightweight, and more suited to modern business requirements than servers and virtual machines.

Think of it this way:

Applications ran on physical servers in the age of open-system(roughly in the 1980s and 1990s)

Applications ran in virtual machines in the age of virtual machines (during the 2000s and into the 2010s)

Applications run in containers in the cloud-native era (present time)

While Kubernetes can orchestrate other workload types, including virtual machines and serverless functions, it’s most commonly used to orchestrate containerized apps.