Orka feature parity across Intel and Apple silicon

Compatibility between Orka features and Intel- and Apple silicon-based nodes, VMs, and images.

Orka 3.6 is the last release to support Intel. Orka 4.0 runs on Apple silicon only, so the Intel columns on this page apply to Orka 3.6 and earlier. MacStadium will continue to support Orka 3.6, including its Intel code paths, through March 2028, maintaining existing Intel functionality without further Intel performance improvements or optimizations. If you still run Intel workloads, stay on Orka 3.6, and we recommend migrating to Apple silicon and completing the transition by December 2027. For details, see the compatibility matrix.

macOS versions

macOS version	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
macOS 13 (Ventura)	✅	✅
macOS 14 (Sonoma)	✅	✅
macOS 15 (Sequoia)	❌	✅ (since Orka 3.2)
macOS 26 (Tahoe)	❌	✅ (since Orka 3.5, guest only; requires Sequoia 15.5 host)

General features

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Use API IP to access Orka	✅	✅
Use built-in Orka domain to access Orka	✅	✅
Use external custom domain to access Orka	✅	✅
View output in TABLE format	✅	✅
View output in WIDE format	✅	✅
View output in JSON format	✅	✅

Tool configuration

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Configure API IP	✅	✅
Configure built-in Orka domain	✅	✅
Configure external custom domain	✅	✅
Upload TLS certificate to use with an external custom domain	✅	✅

Cluster configuration and features

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
VM scheduling	✅	✅
GPU passthrough	✅*	✅**
VM Internet isolation	✅	✅
VM network isolation	✅	✅
Namespaces	✅	✅
Namespaces with custom pods allowed (formerly, sandboxed mode)	✅	✅
Nested virtualization (Beta)	✅	❌

The listed configurations are disabled by default and are available upon request.

** GPU passthrough is always enabled by default on Apple silicon-based nodes.

Checks

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Check the current tool version	✅	✅

Users

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Log in	✅	✅
Log out	✅	✅
Get token	✅	✅
Set token	✅	✅
Manage role bindings for the user	✅	✅

Service accounts

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Create service account	✅	✅
Get service account token	✅	✅
List service accounts	✅	✅
Delete service account	✅	✅
Manage role bindings for the service account	✅	✅

Namespaces

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
List namespaces	✅	✅
Create namespace	✅	✅
Delete namespace	✅	✅
Manage role bindings for the namespace	✅	✅

Nodes

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
List nodes	✅	✅
Assign node to a namespace (formerly, grouping)	✅	✅
Assign node to a namespace with enabled custom pods (formerly, sandboxing)	✅	❌*
Apply tag (node affinity)	✅	✅
Remove tag (node affinity)	✅	✅

Orka rejects moving an Apple silicon node to a namespace with custom pods enabled, with the error arm nodes cannot be moved to namespaces with custom pods enabled.

VMs: Listing and info

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
List all users’ VMs	✅	✅
List specific VMs	✅	✅
List all users’ VM configurations	✅	✅
List specific VM configurations	✅	✅
List the VM’s ports reserved for VNC, SSH, and Apple Screen Sharing	✅	✅
List the VM’s ports reserved for port forwarding	✅	✅

VMs: Create VM configurations

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Create basic VM configuration (name, image)	✅	✅
Create VM configuration with custom memory	✅	✅
Create VM configuration with attached ISO	✅	❌
Create VM configuration with enabled/disabled VNC	✅	✅
Create VM configuration with enabled/disabled I/O boost*	✅	❌*
Create VM configuration with enabled/disabled Network boost setting*	✅	❌*
Create VM configuration with enabled/disabled GPU passthrough*	✅	❌*
Create VM configuration with custom serial number	✅	❌
Create VM configuration with preferred tag (node affinity)	✅	✅
Create VM configuration with required tag (node affinity)	✅	✅
Create VM configuration with custom scheduler	✅	✅

GPU passthrough, I/O boost, and Network boost are always enabled for Apple silicon-based nodes and VMs. You cannot manually disable or override these settings on the VM config or VM level.

VMs: Deploy VMs

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Deploy basic VM (image)	✅	✅
Deploy VM with custom memory	✅	✅
Deploy VM with attached ISO	✅	❌
Deploy VM with enabled/disabled VNC	✅	✅
Deploy VM with enabled/disabled I/O boost*	✅	❌*
Deploy VM with enabled/disabled Network boost*	✅	❌*
Deploy VM with enabled/disabled GPU passthrough*	✅	❌*
Deploy VM with custom serial number	✅	❌
Deploy VM with preferred tag (node affinity)	✅	✅
Deploy VM with required tag (node affinity)	✅	✅
Deploy VM with custom scheduler	✅	✅
Deploy without VM configuration	✅	✅
Deploy VM from VM configuration	✅	✅
Deploy VM from VM configuration and override the VM configuration	✅	✅

GPU passthrough, I/O boost, and Network boost are always enabled for Apple silicon-based nodes and VMs. You cannot manually disable or override these settings on the VM config or VM level.

VMs: Start/stop/suspend/resume

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Stop VM by name (power off)	✅	❌
Start VM by name (power on)	✅	❌
Suspend VM by name (sleep)	✅	❌
Resume VM by name (wake)	✅	❌

VMs: Delete

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Delete VM by name	✅	✅

VMs: Storage

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Shared VM storage	✅	✅
I/O boost*	✅	✅*

I/O boost is always enabled on Apple silicon-based nodes and VMs. You cannot manually disable or override it on the VM config or VM level.

macOS and shared VM storage

macOS version	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
macOS 13 (Ventura)	✅	✅
macOS 14 (Sonoma)	✅	✅
macOS 15 (Sequoia)	❌	✅ (since Orka 3.2)
macOS 26 (Tahoe)	❌	✅ (since Orka 3.5)

VMs: Networking

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
VNC	✅	✅
SSH	✅	✅
Apple Screen Sharing	✅	✅
Port forwarding	✅	✅
Network boost*	✅	✅*

Network boost is always enabled on Apple silicon-based nodes and VMs. You cannot manually disable or override it on the VM config or VM level.

VMs: Performance

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
GPU passthrough	✅	❌
I/O boost*	✅	✅*
Network boost*	✅	✅*

I/O boost and Network boost are always enabled for Apple silicon-based nodes and VMs. You cannot manually disable or override these settings on the VM config or VM level.

Images

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
Deploy from public OCI-compatible images	✅	✅
Deploy from private OCI-compatible images (with registry credentials configured locally)	✅	✅
Push an image from a running VM to an OCI-compatible registry (with registry credentials configured locally)	✅	✅
List images locally stored in the cluster	✅	✅
List remote images	✅	✅
Pull a remote image	✅	✅
Pull a remote image and rename it	✅	✅
Download an image on your local machine	✅	❌
Upload an image from your local machine	✅	❌
Generate a new empty image	✅	❌
Set an image description	✅	✅
Copy and rename an image	✅	✅
Save a new image from the specified VM (Save as)	✅	✅
Overwrite the existing image with its current state from the specified VM (Save)	✅	✅
Resize the disk and automatically resize the partition of the specified VM	✅	✅
Resize the disk and automatically resize the partition of a specified VM and automatically save a new image from it	✅	✅
Only resize the disk of the specified VM	✅	✅
Delete an image	✅	✅

ISOs

Feature	Intel (Orka 3.6 and earlier)	Apple silicon
List ISOs	✅	❌
List remote ISOs	✅	❌
Pull a remote ISO	✅	❌
Pull a remote ISO and rename it	✅	❌
Rename an ISO	✅	❌
Copy and rename an ISO	✅	❌
Delete an ISO	✅	❌
Download an ISO	✅	❌
Upload an ISO	✅	❌

MacStadium

Orka

MacStadium VDI

IaaS

Orka feature parity across Intel and Apple silicon

macOS versions

General features

Tool configuration

Cluster configuration and features

Checks

Users

Service accounts

Namespaces

Nodes

VMs: Listing and info

VMs: Create VM configurations

VMs: Deploy VMs

VMs: Start/stop/suspend/resume

VMs: Delete

VMs: Storage

macOS and shared VM storage

VMs: Networking

VMs: Performance

Images

ISOs

​macOS versions

​General features

​Tool configuration

​Cluster configuration and features

​Checks

​Users

​Service accounts

​Namespaces

​Nodes

​VMs: Listing and info

​VMs: Create VM configurations

​VMs: Deploy VMs

​VMs: Start/stop/suspend/resume

​VMs: Delete

​VMs: Storage

​macOS and shared VM storage

​VMs: Networking

​VMs: Performance

​Images

​ISOs

macOS versions

General features

Tool configuration

Cluster configuration and features

Checks

Users

Service accounts

Namespaces

Nodes

VMs: Listing and info

VMs: Create VM configurations

VMs: Deploy VMs

VMs: Start/stop/suspend/resume

VMs: Delete

VMs: Storage

macOS and shared VM storage

VMs: Networking

VMs: Performance

Images

ISOs