Scalar
Scalar's November 5 releases give each API document its own authentication settings
Comparison · Infra & APIs
DNSimple vs runc
A side-by-side editorial comparison of DNSimple and runc — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
DNSimple vs runc: at a glance
What is DNSimple?
DNSimple's origin name servers answer a quarter faster at p90 after erldns work
DNSimple keeps tuning the Erlang stack it now runs end to end. The November 4 post says p90 query time on its origin name servers is down about a quarter, and about a third for DNSSEC queries, with roughly a third less CPU, and record changes now switch in one step so existing records never briefly disappear. It follows October's dns_erlang rewrite, which cut CPU per query by 12%, and the August finish of the migration to fully owned infrastructure. Above that layer sit the CLI launched in May, browser login from June, and Domain Trustee.
What is runc?
runc 1.6.0-rc.1 lifts the 1024-CPU limit and refuses settings it used to quietly ignore
The 1.6.0 cycle opened on October 6 with a first release candidate that is mostly cleanup: deprecated libcontainer APIs removed, Go 1.26 now required, urfave/cli moved from v1 to v3, and the binary about 15% smaller on amd64. The changes with operational weight are that cpuAffinity and NUMA memoryPolicy no longer stop at 1024 CPUs or nodes, and that a container asking for a read-only rootfs without its own mount namespace is now refused. Eleven days earlier 1.5.2 worked around a kernel bug, present since v6.17, that corrupted memory inside runc and caused random crashes on cgroup v2. It also stopped runc exec --cgroup from escaping into a sibling cgroup.
DNSimple vs runc: editorial side-by-side
DNSimple
5.0INFRA · APIS
DNSimple's origin name servers answer a quarter faster at p90 after erldns work
◆ Current state
DNSimple keeps tuning the Erlang stack it now runs end to end. The November 4 post says p90 query time on its origin name servers is down about a quarter, and about a third for DNSSEC queries, with roughly a third less CPU, and record changes now switch in one step so existing records never briefly disappear. It follows October's dns_erlang rewrite, which cut CPU per query by 12%, and the August finish of the migration to fully owned infrastructure. Above that layer sit the CLI launched in May, browser login from June, and Domain Trustee.
◆ Where it's heading
Since owning its full DNS edge, DNSimple has turned to measurable performance work on erldns and dns_erlang, published openly. The product layer above, CLI and API clients, is moving more slowly.
◆ Prediction
Expect more erldns and dns_erlang performance posts; the entries show no sign of a new customer-facing product soon.
runc
2.5INFRA · APIS
runc 1.6.0-rc.1 lifts the 1024-CPU limit and refuses settings it used to quietly ignore
◆ Current state
The 1.6.0 cycle opened on October 6 with a first release candidate that is mostly cleanup: deprecated libcontainer APIs removed, Go 1.26 now required, urfave/cli moved from v1 to v3, and the binary about 15% smaller on amd64. The changes with operational weight are that cpuAffinity and NUMA memoryPolicy no longer stop at 1024 CPUs or nodes, and that a container asking for a read-only rootfs without its own mount namespace is now refused. Eleven days earlier 1.5.2 worked around a kernel bug, present since v6.17, that corrupted memory inside runc and caused random crashes on cgroup v2. It also stopped runc exec --cgroup from escaping into a sibling cgroup.
◆ Where it's heading
The project keeps converting silent behaviour into explicit behaviour. Read-only requests that were ignored now fail, a umask that was dropped is now honoured, and poststart hooks moved to conform to the runtime spec. The same maintainers are shrinking the surface underneath, dropping the deprecated API and the high-level cilium/ebpf path, which took roughly 7.5% off the 1.5.2 binary. Stricter behaviour plus a smaller dependency set is what a component under every container host would be expected to do between majors.
◆ Prediction
1.5.0's notes pointed to a 1.6.0 in late October 2026, and the feed so far shows only rc.1, so further release candidates or the final are the next entries to expect. The refused read-only configurations are the change most likely to surface as user reports during testing.
Alternatives to DNSimple and runc
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either DNSimple or runc.
Algolia
Algolia's AI Assist now writes merchandising rules from a plain-language request
SoftEther VPN
SoftEther returns after 16 months with Windows ARM64 support and a pile of fixes.
Jaeger
Jaeger 2.23 lets people and agents query traces in SQL.
Parse Server
Parse Server 9.11.1 alphas close two beforeSave advisories, one a server crash.
Bitbucket
Bitbucket Pipelines swaps stored credentials for step permissions and container tokens.
See all DNSimple alternatives → · See all runc alternatives →
Recent activity from DNSimple and runc
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoDNSimpleLower latency on our origin name servers
- 14d agoDNSimpleFaster DNS with dns_erlang ⚡
- 1mo agoruncRelease candidate lifts 1024-CPU limit, removes deprecated APIs
- 1mo agoruncWorkaround for kernel bug that crashed runc on cgroup v2
- 2mo agoDNSimpleFully Independent DNS Edge
- 3mo agoDNSimpleNew case study: Always Beyond
- 3mo agorunctmpfs regression on Ubuntu 20.04 kernels fixed
- 4mo agoDNSimpleDNSimple CLI is now available straight from your browser
- 4mo agoruncrunc 1.5.0 stable, with dated support windows for older branches
- 4mo agoruncCVE-2026-41579: /dev symlink host write access fixed
- 4mo agoruncRelease candidate carrying the CVE-2026-41579 fix
- 5mo agoDNSimpleDomain Trustee now available ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between DNSimple and runc?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. DNSimple is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is DNSimple better than runc?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. DNSimple is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to DNSimple?
Top DNSimple alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "DNSimple alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dnsimple for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to runc?
Top runc alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "runc alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/runc for the full list with editorial commentary on each.