Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Amazon EKS vs Docker comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 13, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EKS
Ranking in Container Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (14th)
Docker
Ranking in Container Management
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 14.6%, up from 13.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Docker is 3.0%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venkatramanan C.S. - PeerSpot reviewer
Amazon EKS: Why It Shines, Where It Struggles, and How It Can Improve
* EKS incurs an additional management fee ($0.10 per hour per cluster) along with EC2 or Fargate costs.May be expensive for smaller workloads compared to alternatives like AWS ECS.Requires expertise to configure and manage Kubernetes resources effectively.Networking (e.g., setting up VPCs, subnets, and service endpoints) can be complex.Simplifies managing multiple Kubernetes clusters, especially for organizations with hybrid or multi-region setups.Integrated dashboards for Kubernetes metrics, logs, and traces.Simplifies observability without needing third-party tools.
Rikin Parekh - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful to create sandbox environments to run applications and makes it easy to test them
Overall, setting up the Docker environment is quite easy. Many methods exist, such as using Docker Compose and Docker networks to communicate between containers. The main challenge lies in designing the architecture and integrating different frameworks and microservices. I would rate the ease of setting up the tool at around nine out of ten. The time it takes to deploy depends on the scale of the system. For the early-stage startup I'm currently working with, it doesn't take much time. It's just me handling the deployment. In our early-stage startup, we have a couple of teams with around four to five backend APIs and two front-end services. Deploying these doesn't take much time. My focus is more on minimizing costs due to our lean startup structure.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Initial setup is straightforward. It only takes 15 minutes to deploy."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"Provides high performance and easy manageability."
"The product helps us to configure the new environment."
"Amazon EKS offers replatforming and migration capabilities to our customers, enabling them to move from AWS to other platforms like AKS with minimal changes."
"The most important aspect of Amazon EKS is that it is easy to set up and very easy to upgrade."
"Amazon EKS provides good support."
"It's the best option for medium or large enterprises."
"In our line of work, we've been involved in various sectors, such as industrial products, transportation, client engineering, telecom, and medical. For instance, we're currently developing an IT platform. One key use case we're tackling is device management."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is the dedicated QA environment for connecting the team members. Additionally, there are many core features available and it is highly secure when we are imaging a client's server."
"When used in conjunction with Kubernetes, it is seamless because it integrates very well."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the Dockerfile, which makes the life of developers easy. Developers get a real understanding of container creation."
"Docker is perfect for what I do...The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the simple containerization."
"It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Feature-wise, Docker is very user-friendly...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."
 

Cons

"Amazon EKS's vulnerability management of data could be improved."
"Amazon EKS should improve its integration."
"The goal and idea behind microservices are to always be available and capable of handling any load, no matter how many requests come through...All of these services are great, but I also think it would be useful to have the same technology available in a miniature resource size, enabling the same applications and services to run on a small machine."
"I encountered problems with the product’s documentation."
"The dashboard needs to be more user-friendly."
"The product’s pricing needs improvement."
"The main thing to improve with Amazon EKS is the price. However, these services can be very expensive. For example, in countries like Turkey, the cost is too high. That's why we offer our cloud solutions locally. We developed hybrid solutions, but their prices are still very high."
"An area for improvement in Amazon EKS is the user experience. The platform could be more user-friendly. Only an expert can manage and use it."
"We have found that it is not easy to install it into a Windows system."
"In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved."
"The solution’s documentation could improve a bit."
"If you install Docker on a host, it creates its own firewalls. It can become an issue. Usually, when you want to install Docker, you need to restart the firewall or restart the active tables on the machine, but this is not the case with Kubernetes. It uses the default set up by the next administrator, but with Docker, you have to restart the firewall and restart Docker before the firewall on the system will be okay. If you do not the rules will not be created."
"One of the challenges I face with Docker is debugging containers within the infrastructure. It can be tricky to debug applications inside containers, which is a common issue among developers. If easier tools or methods were available to debug applications within Docker containers, it would be very beneficial."
"In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved."
"Deployment could be quicker."
"I would like to see a more UI-based tool so that students can easily understand it rather than memorizing all of the Docker commands."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon EKS is very cost-effective."
"The price could be cheaper. I would rate it as seven out of ten."
"Cloud based pay-as-you-go pricing"
"The solution is more expensive than other competitors and does not require a license."
"The solution is pricey. The tool's pricing is monthly."
"The solution's pricing is fair enough and a little less costly."
"Amazon EKS is not a cheap solution."
"Amazon EKS has fair pricing. It's better in terms of pricing than other platforms."
"For commercial use, it's about $30 per month. The license itself isn't expensive, but if there are many users, the price becomes high."
"Docker is a free-to-use solution. However, Docker Enterprise is not free."
"I use the solution's open-source version."
"Docker is a free open-source solution. However, there is the Docker Enterprise which is a paid solution."
"Since Docker is an open-source solution, it is free of cost."
"The offering and service are quite free."
"Regarding pricing, we primarily use AWS for our deployments since we have funding for it. We don't spend much on Docker-specific services, just the containerization product. Docker Hub isn't particularly expensive either, so overall, the pricing is pretty reasonable."
"The product is not expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Container Management solutions are best for your needs.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Insurance Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EKS?
The product's most valuable features are scalability, observability, and performance.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EKS?
I do not have specific details on EKS's pricing and licensing compared to other services. However, in general, deploying in the cloud offers lower latency and high availability and reduces manual i...
What needs improvement with Amazon EKS?
* EKS incurs an additional management fee ($0.10 per hour per cluster) along with EC2 or Fargate costs.May be expensive for smaller workloads compared to alternatives like AWS ECS.Requires expertis...
What do you like most about Docker?
We are using Docker to host applications.
What needs improvement with Docker?
In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GoDaddy, Pearson, FICO, Intuit, Verizon, Honeywell, Logicworks, RetailMeNot, LogMeIn, Conde Nast, mercari, Trainline, Axway
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EKS vs. Docker and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.