ZOT is an open-source, lightweight OCI registry built for development teams and organizations that want to manage container images, software artifacts and metadata securely and efficiently. It fully follows the Open Container Initiative (OCI) standards and is optimized for both local deployments and cloud environments.
What sets ZOT apart:
Simple deployment: a single binary, quickly up and running in Docker or Kubernetes
OCI compliance: supports container images, SBOMs, attestations and other artifacts
Security: built-in support for signatures, access control and authentication
High performance: in-memory caching and efficient storage management
Extensibility: web UI, API integration, plugins and federation support
Cloud and on-premises ready: flexible for DevOps, edge or internal clusters
This makes ZOT a modern, resource-efficient alternative to large registry solutions such as Harbor or GitLab Registry, ideal for teams that need security, simplicity and full control over their container and artifact management.
Our experience with Zot in client projects
Since nearly all of our applications are containerized, we need a powerful and reliable container registry. We rely entirely on Zot internally, a fully OCI-compliant solution that we use to manage and distribute our custom images. Zot is the central registry for all of our internal container images and plays a key role in our daily development and operations environment. Through continuous use, we know both the strengths and the operational challenges of the system from practice.
Understanding the strengths and mastering the challenges
We have integrated Zot deeply into our identity management system and have extensive experience with the OCI specification, its metadata and structures. We have also successfully migrated registries from Harbor to Zot and know the particularities of such transitions. Our daily work includes topics such as caching container images to optimize build times and network load, and handling circular dependencies in complex build pipelines. This experience tells us how to build reliable, highly available and secure registry setups.
Our contribution to stable Zot environments
Our developers rely on internal documentation and best practices for using Zot, based on many years of operational experience. We support the setup, operation and integration of registries into CI/CD systems and automation processes. In doing so, we put great emphasis on performance, security and ease of maintenance. Running our own Zot clusters every day has given us a deep understanding of how the registry, build systems and infrastructure components interact.
Why we are the right partner for Zot
Extensive experience with the OCI specification, metadata and registry integration
Migration experience from existing systems such as Harbor
Know-how in building secure, highly available and high-performance registry setups
Integration into CI/CD and identity management systems
Operation on our own infrastructure for maximum control and speed