What is the difference between systemd and Supervisor?

Yobi Bina Setiawan
28 Jan 2025 ยท DevOps

systemd and Supervisor are both tools used for process management, but they have different purposes and capabilities:

  1. systemd:

    • It is a system and service manager for Linux operating systems. It is designed to manage system services, daemons, and other processes during boot and runtime.
    • It replaces older init systems like SysVinit and Upstart.
    • systemd is highly integrated into the Linux system, controlling various system resources like networking, logging, and device management.
    • It provides features like service dependency management, parallel startup, and cgroup management for resource control.
    • systemd is used for managing system-wide services, starting them during boot, and handling shutdowns.
  2. Supervisor:

    • Supervisor is a process control system that focuses on managing user-defined processes, not the system services or the overall system startup.
    • It provides a way to keep your applications running by restarting them if they crash, logging output, and controlling the process state (start, stop, restart).
    • Supervisor is often used for managing individual applications or services in a development or production environment.
    • It is more lightweight than systemd and is often used in situations where you need to manage a few processes, not the entire system.

Key Differences:

  • Scope: systemd manages system-level processes and services, while Supervisor is more focused on managing user-level processes.
  • Integration: systemd is integrated deeply into the Linux OS for system boot and service management, whereas Supervisor is a separate tool often used alongside systemd or other init systems.
  • Features: systemd has broader functionality, including logging, resource management, and service dependencies. Supervisor is simpler and focused on ensuring specific processes run continuously.

In summary, if you need to manage system-level services, systemd is your choice. If you're looking to manage user-defined processes or applications, Supervisor is more suited for that purpose.