Containers.
If a person has been in any technical industry for the last decade they have likely heard of this concept. Multiple software solutions and vendors have their own take on the idea. Names like Docker and Kubernetes have become increasingly well-known throughout the technology world. However, there is often a question that occurs when there are discussions about containers: How are they different from a virtual machine (VM)?
The main difference between a VM and a container is what they are trying to accomplish. A VM will create a software implementation of a computer with its own virtualized hardware and operating system. This is useful is when multiple operating systems need to run on a single machine, or a cloud provider wishes to offer a customer the capability to rent server space. A container will bundle all the necessary dependencies required to run an application and run them on top of an already existing operating system and hardware. This allows for the quick development and deployment of new software and reduces the overhead of managing multiple operating systems.
Source:
https://blog.netapp.com/blogs/containers-vs-vms/
