The benefits of using containerization in software development include improved scalability, consistency, and resource efficiency. Containers allow developers to package applications along with their dependencies, ensuring they run uniformly across various environments. This mitigates the "it works on my machine" problem, facilitating smoother transitions from development to production. They enable quick deployment, as containers can be spun up or down rapidly, supporting continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) practices. Additionally, container orchestration tools like Kubernetes help manage container deployment, scaling, and networking effectively.