DC/OS
DC/OS is a 100% open-source distributed operating system built on Apache Mesos that orchestrates containers, distributed data services, and Kubernetes across cloud and on-premises infrastructure, primarily serving enterprise platform, DevOps, and data engineering teams.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What DC/OS does
DC/OS (Distributed Cloud Operating System) is an open-source distributed operating system built on the Apache Mesos kernel, originally created by Mesosphere (now D2iQ) and open-sourced on April 19, 2016 with version 1.7. The platform manages clusters of machines across cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-premises environments from a single interface, deploying containerized workloads, distributed data services, and legacy applications. Core integrated components include Marathon for container orchestration, Metronome for scheduled jobs, the Universal Container Runtime (UCR), and an installable Kubernetes add-on; the platform is extended via the Universe package catalog, which one-click-installs services such as Cassandra, Elasticsearch, HDFS, Kafka, Spark, Confluent, DataStax DSE, and Jenkins. Day-2 operations features — logging, metrics APIs, automatic failure recovery, zero-downtime upgrades, software-defined networking, and load balancing — are built directly into the platform.
The commercial entity behind DC/OS is D2iQ, Inc. (a private Delaware corporation headquartered at 225 Bush St., Suite 700, San Francisco), which funds development, maintains the trademark, and sells "DC/OS Enterprise" under a subscription model that bundles additional features, support, and certifications unavailable in the community edition. DC/OS itself is distributed under a 100% open-source, freemium model with no licensing fees for the core platform, and the go-to-market is community-led — driven through GitHub, Slack, Jira, documentation, tutorials, blog content, YouTube, Twitter, and a global meetup program spanning North America, EMEA, and APAC. Enterprise lead capture is routed to D2iQ's direct sales motion for the DC/OS Enterprise tier and a complementary D2iQ Kubernetes Platform offering. The platform primarily serves enterprise DevOps and platform teams, data engineering teams building fast-data pipelines, and cloud-native application developers who need hybrid-cloud portability and operational tooling for running both stateless and stateful workloads on the same cluster.
The current latest stable release is DC/OS 2.2 (Oct 29, 2020); no subsequent major open source release has been announced. The company's stated customer segments are enterprise platform teams, data engineering teams, and cloud-native developers, though no named customer logos, revenue, funding rounds, or headcount breakdowns are disclosed in available sources.
DC/OS firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- DC/OS
- Legal name
- D2iQ, Inc.
- Website
- https://dcos.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- DC/OS is a 100% open-source distributed operating system built on Apache Mesos that orchestrates containers, distributed data services, and Kubernetes across cloud and on-premises infrastructure, primarily serving enterprise platform, DevOps, and data engineering teams.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
DC/OS industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Container Orchestration and Distributed Operating Systems
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Orchestration (Private-Cloud-Centric) (HDABABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Hybrid Cloud Compute & Virtualization Stack (HCI/VMs/Kubernetes) (HDABAMAF), Server Operating Systems & Hypervisors (Virtualization) (HDABADAE)
Keywords
Where DC/OS is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
DC/OS business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Open Source Distribution: DC/OS is distributed as 100% open source software with no cost for the core platform. Users can download, install, and use DC/OS freely.
- DC/OS Enterprise: DC/OS Enterprise releases are available by contacting D2iQ sales. Enterprise version includes additional features, support, and commercial certifications not available in the open source version.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Open Source DC/OS |
| Subscription | Others | DC/OS Enterprise |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
DC/OS product offering
Product offeringCore offering
DC/OS (Distributed Cloud Operating System) is an open-source distributed operating system built on the Apache Mesos kernel that manages multiple machines across cloud or on-premises environments from a single interface. It deploys containers, distributed services, and legacy applications, and provides networking, service discovery, resource management, and Day 2 operations. An integrated service catalog (Universe) allows one-click installation of data services, databases, CI/CD tools, and monitoring.
Product overview
DC/OS (Distributed Cloud Operating System) is an open-source distributed operating system based on Apache Mesos, offered as a single unified platform. The core platform manages multiple machines from a single interface, deploying containers, distributed services, and legacy applications with built-in networking, service discovery, and resource management. Key integrated components include Marathon (the default container orchestrator), Metronome (built-in job scheduler), and the Universal Container Runtime. The platform is extended through the DC/OS Universe package catalog containing data services (Cassandra, Elastic, HDFS, Kafka, Spark), CI/CD tools (Jenkins), and the Kubernetes on DC/OS add-on for running Kubernetes clusters alongside other workloads. Additional capabilities include Fast Data pipelines for real-time processing and Day 2 Operations tools for monitoring and maintenance.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- DC/OS (Distributed Cloud Operating System) An open-source distributed operating system based on Apache Mesos that manages multiple machines in cloud or on-premises environments from a single interface. It deploys containers, distributed services, and legacy applications while providing networking, service discovery, and resource management.
- DC/OS Universe The package repository installed by default on DC/OS containing data services, CI/CD tools, and monitoring solutions that can be installed with a single click from the GUI or single command from the CLI.
- DC/OS Enterprise Commercial enterprise version of DC/OS with additional features, support, and commercial certifications not available in the open source version. Available by contacting D2iQ sales.
Quantifiable outcome
- Resource utilization improvements through Mesos two-level scheduling
Companies that use DC/OS
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
DC/OS technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
Feature6 records
DC/OS partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Apache MesoscoreDC/OS is built on Apache Mesos distributed systems kernel. Apache Mesos acts as the kernel for DC/OS, abstracting machine resources (CPU, GPU, memory, storage) and offering them to services running on DC/OS. The Mesos project is an Apache Software Foundation project.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
DC/OS competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Red Hat OpenShift: OpenShift is Red Hat's enterprise Kubernetes platform providing container orchestration, CI/CD, and developer tools. It competes with DC/OS for enterprise container orchestration workloads and offers a more comprehensive commercial platform backed by IBM.
- Rancher (SUSE): Rancher is an open-source Kubernetes management platform acquired by SUSE. It competes with DC/OS in the enterprise container management space and offers multi-cluster Kubernetes orchestration with a strong focus on hybrid cloud.
- D2iQ (formerly Mesosphere): D2iQ is the commercial entity that created and sponsors DC/OS. They now offer the D2iQ Kubernetes Platform as their primary commercial offering, making them both a sponsor of DC/OS and a competitor in the broader enterprise container platform market.
- VMware Tanzu: VMware Tanzu is an enterprise Kubernetes portfolio that provides container orchestration across multi-cloud and on-premises environments. It competes with DC/OS for enterprise distributed workload orchestration with strong VMware ecosystem integration.
- Amazon ECS: Amazon ECS is AWS's proprietary container orchestration service deeply integrated with the AWS ecosystem. It competes with DC/OS for enterprise container workloads, particularly in cloud-native deployments where AWS customers prefer managed services.
Direct peers
- Apache Mesos: Apache Mesos is the underlying distributed systems kernel that DC/OS is built upon. Mesos is technically an open-source project, but it represents the foundational technology layer that defines DC/OS's core scheduling architecture.
- HashiCorp Nomad: Nomad is HashiCorp's workload orchestrator that supports containerized, non-containerized, and batch applications on a single cluster. It competes directly with DC/OS for multi-workload orchestration and is a more direct alternative than Kubernetes in many deployment scenarios.
- Kubernetes (CNCF): Kubernetes is the dominant open-source container orchestrator that DC/OS supports alongside Mesos workloads. They compete for the same container orchestration workload scheduling and cluster management use cases, though Kubernetes has far greater ecosystem momentum.
- Docker Swarm: Docker Swarm is Docker's native container orchestration solution that clusters Docker hosts and schedules containers. It competes with DC/OS for container scheduling and cluster management, though its momentum has slowed relative to Kubernetes.
Emerging players
- Portainer: Portainer provides a lightweight container management UI for Docker, Kubernetes, and other platforms. While not a direct Mesos competitor, it addresses overlapping user needs for simplified cluster management and Day 2 operations tooling.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
DC/OS social profiles
Digital presenceDC/OS financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
DC/OS leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
DC/OS funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
DC/OS M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about DC/OS
What does DC/OS do?
DC/OS (Distributed Cloud Operating System) is an open-source distributed operating system built on the Apache Mesos kernel that manages multiple machines across cloud or on-premises environments from a single interface. It deploys containers, distributed services, and legacy applications, and provides networking, service discovery, resource management, and Day 2 operations. An integrated service catalog (Universe) allows one-click installation of data services, databases, CI/CD tools, and monitoring.
Is DC/OS a public or private company?
DC/OS is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was DC/OS founded?
DC/OS was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is DC/OS based?
DC/OS is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does DC/OS make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Open Source Distribution is the primary driver. The others are DC/OS Enterprise.
Who are DC/OS's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher (SUSE), D2iQ (formerly Mesosphere), VMware Tanzu and Amazon ECS. Direct peers are Apache Mesos, HashiCorp Nomad, Kubernetes (CNCF) and Docker Swarm. Portainer is listed as an emerging player.
Does DC/OS have an API?
Yes. DC/OS provides multiple HTTP APIs for different functions including: Metrics API for cluster and container metrics via HTTP API; Logging API accessible via DC/OS CLI commands (dcos node log, dcos task log); Task exec command for remote process injection and debugging containers; Admin Router for internal service access; Package management API via Cosmos; Service API endpoints for Marathon. The APIs allow developers to monitor, debug, manage services, collect logs and metrics, and perform cluster operations programmatically.
What industry is DC/OS in?
DC/OS's product category is Container Orchestration and Distributed Operating Systems. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABABAE, Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Orchestration (Private-Cloud-Centric), with a secondary code of HDABAMAF, Hybrid Cloud Compute & Virtualization Stack (HCI/VMs/Kubernetes). Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 7372.