Software Alternatives & Reviews

k3s VS Docker

Compare k3s VS Docker and see what are their differences

k3s logo k3s

K3s is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution by Rancher Labs intended for IoT, Edge, and cloud deployments.

Docker logo Docker

Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.
  • k3s Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-09
  • Docker Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-25

k3s videos

Siroko K3s Sun Glasses Unboxing and Review | Big Muscle Gains

More videos:

  • Review - Elecraft K3S Transceiver Review

Docker videos

What is Docker in 5 minutes

More videos:

  • Tutorial - What is Docker? Why it's popular and how to use it to save money (tutorial)
  • Review - Real World PHP Dockerfile Review, from a #Docker Captain

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to k3s and Docker)
DevOps Tools
43 43%
57% 57
Developer Tools
18 18%
82% 82
Cloud Computing
33 33%
67% 67
Containers As A Service
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using k3s and Docker. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare k3s and Docker

k3s Reviews

We have no reviews of k3s yet.
Be the first one to post

Docker Reviews

The Top 7 Kubernetes Alternatives for Container Orchestration
Docker uses images as templates to create new containers using Docker engine commands such as Build -t or run -d.
Kubernetes Alternatives 2023: Top 8 Container Orchestration Tools
Docker is an open-source platform for building, managing, deploying containerized applications. Swarm is a native feature in Docker with a group of virtual or physical machines that lets you schedule, cluster, and run Docker applications. It is a Docker alternative for Kubernetes that provides high portability, agility, and high availability.
Top 12 Kubernetes Alternatives to Choose From in 2023
Docker Swarm is a native clustering and orchestration solution provided by Docker, the leading containerization platform.
Source: humalect.com
Podman vs Docker: Comparing the Two Containerization Tools
Looking to go forward with Docker? Be sure to reference the guide linked above, as well as our guide When and Why to Use Docker. To see Docker in action, you may also want to look at our guide on How to install Docker and deploy a LAMP Stack.
Source: www.linode.com
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
Portainer is an open source lightweight container management User Interface that permits you to effortlessly handle your Docker Hosts or Swarm clusters. It supports Linux, Windows and OSX platforms. It comprises a single container that can be executed on any Docker engine.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, k3s should be more popular than Docker. It has been mentiond 159 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

k3s mentions (159)

  • Linux fu: getting started with systemd
    For self-hosting I've found https://k3s.io to be really good from the SUSE people. Works on basically any Linux distro and makes self-hosting k8s not miserable. - Source: Hacker News / 16 days ago
  • 15 Options To Build A Kubernetes Playground (with Pros and Cons)
    K3S: is a lightweight distribution of Kubernetes that is designed for resource-constrained environments. It is an excellent option for running Kubernetes on a virtual machine or cloud server. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • K3s Traefik Ingress - configured for your homelab!
    I recently purchased a used Lenovo M900 Think Centre (i7 with 32GB RAM) from eBay to expand my mini-homelab, which was just a single Synology DS218+ plugged into my ISP's router (yuck!). Since I've been spending a big chunk of time at work playing around with Kubernetes, I figured that I'd put my skills to the test and run a k3s node on the new server. While I was familiar with k3s before starting this project,... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Building a no-code Helm UI with Windmill - Part 1
    I’ve created a local cluster with K3S and installing Windmill could not be simpler with just one chart to configure, which already has sane defaults to get started. For this demo we will also configure workers to passthrough environment variables to our scripts so that they have access to the Kubernetes API server for later. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Highly scalable Minecraft cluster
    You should be familiar with Kubernetes and have set up a Kubernetes cluster. I recommend k3s. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
View more

Docker mentions (62)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing k3s and Docker, you can also consider the following products

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

k3sup - from Zero to KUBECONFIG in < 1 min 🚀. Contribute to alexellis/k3sup development by creating an account on GitHub.

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service

Portainer - Simple management UI for Docker

Apache Karaf - Apache Karaf is a lightweight, modern and polymorphic container powered by OSGi.

Kind - Kind is a web-based tool that provides you the features to operate the local kubernetes clusters with the help of a docker container named nodes.