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Docker vs Kubernetes
Kubernetes orchestrates containers at scale but does not provide the built-in sandbox and AI governance features of Docker.
Which to pick
Pick Docker if you want…
- Secure sandboxes for AI agents
- Container runtime and image management
Pick Kubernetes if you want…
- Container orchestration at any scale
- Container orchestration
- A free, open-source tool
Docker focuses on building and running individual containers, not cluster orchestration
Side by side
- What it is
- Docker:Docker provides secure containers, sandboxes, and governance for building, sharing, and running AI agents and applications.
- Kubernetes:Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
- Best for
- Docker:Secure sandboxes for AI agents
- Kubernetes:Container orchestration at any scale
- Who it’s for
- Docker:Developers and teams needing isolated, auditable container runtimes.
- Kubernetes:Developers and ops teams building and running containerized workloads
- Pricing
- Docker:Freemium
- Kubernetes:Open source
- Plans
- Docker:Personal $0 · Pro $11 per user/month · Team $16 per user/month · Business $24 per user/month
- Kubernetes:—
- Open source
- Docker:—
- Kubernetes:Yes, 128,157 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Docker:Docker Engine, Docker CLI, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, Docker Hub, Docker Scout, Testcontainers Cloud
- Kubernetes:—
Docker features
- Docker Sandboxes. MicroVM isolation with locked-down network and filesystem for each agent session.
- Docker AI Governance. Console for policy enforcement, identity-bound audit logs and zero per-machine setup.
- Docker Hardened Images. Minimal, signed images with SLSA Level 3 provenance and continuous patching.
- Docker Desktop. Full dev loop with Engine, Kubernetes, Compose and GUI on local machines.
- Docker Build Cloud. Cloud-based build service with free trial minutes for CI/CD pipelines.
- Testcontainers Cloud. Runtime environment for container-based tests with allocated minutes per plan.
Kubernetes features
- Automated rollouts & rollbacks. Progressively deploy changes and automatically revert if health checks fail.
- Service discovery & load balancing. Assigns IPs and DNS names to Pods and balances traffic across them.
- Storage orchestration. Mounts local, cloud, or network storage automatically for containers.
- Secret & config management. Updates secrets and configs without rebuilding images or exposing them.
- Self-healing. Restarts crashed containers, replaces Pods, and can auto-scale nodes.
- Horizontal & vertical scaling. Scale workloads up/down manually, via UI, or automatically based on usage.
Docker vs Kubernetes FAQ
Is Docker or Kubernetes free?+
Docker has a free plan (Personal); paid plans start at $11/month per user (Pro). Kubernetes is free and open source.
Which is cheaper, Docker or Kubernetes?+
Kubernetes is free, so it costs less. Docker starts at $11/month per user (Pro).
Is Docker or Kubernetes open source?+
Kubernetes is open source (kubernetes/kubernetes on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Docker.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.