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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
7.3
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (13th)
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 (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 14.9%, up from 14.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Docker is 3.1%, down from 3.6% 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.
Renat Babin - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy with an impressive networking feature
The volumes for persistent storage could be more user friendly right out of the box. I would like an option to just use it as local storage or some kind of NSF or CIF. Or to mount the volume straight to a Google Drive or through a particular cloud storage. It's not that these things are impossible, but you have to do some extra work or configurations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important aspect of Amazon EKS is that it is easy to set up and very easy to upgrade."
"What I found most valuable in Amazon EKS is its maturity as a cloud computing technology."
"It has always helped me. It is the repository where we store our images...The microservices appear to be well-made, and I don't have any comments on them as I don't see any flaws."
"The serverless capability of Amazon EKS is quite valuable."
"We do not have to do a lot of administration, such as create virtual machines, or worry about our controllers or nodes going down because the solution is fully managed by Amazon."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"The solution is easy-to-set up."
"AWS cloud services are flexible and have thorough documentation. AWS also has data centers all over the world."
"The most valuable feature is Docker has a fast learning curve."
"Traditional deployments take more time and builds can be inconsistent across different environments. Docker solves these issues."
"The ability to use an image with the software built into it, rather than just the software, is beneficial."
"Docker is convenient and easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is that it is cost-saving."
"Docker is easy to understand and follow. It provides good scalability to the application."
"The scalability of Docker is good."
"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."
 

Cons

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."
"Amazon EKS is predominately public. However, the government has started to have a lot of interest in Kubernetes and is receiving more education on Kubernetes and Amazon EKS. If we can have the security of Amazon EKS align with the security that is set out by the government it would be much better."
"Improvement is needed in reducing the complexity of using EKS. While services like EC2 are user-friendly, EKS and ECS present a steep learning curve with significant responsibilities."
"I would like to see a warm-up time for AWS Fargate, similar to what GCP Cloud Run has."
"Sometimes, we face minor connectivity issues. However, it depends on the applications we are using."
"The tool's setup is complex."
"I'd like to see the solution add a service catalog."
"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."
"Docker can improve the integration with Microsoft Windows. It does not support native installations."
"I would like to see better management layers."
"The solution could improve with a GUI instead of only a command line interface. Having to use the command line interface can be a hassle."
"The solution could offer better documentation."
"We would like to see improvement in adding the node into the Docker Swarm cluster, as at present it is a little tricky and requires a lot of manual steps."
"One item that could be improved is the overall stability of Docker."
"In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved."
"Docker management is very difficult when we have a large number of nodes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon EKS is expensive."
"Amazon EKS’s pricing is ok compared to its competitors."
"Amazon EKS is quite pricey, but the functionality it provides is worth it."
"The solution is cheaper than one of its competitors."
"The product is available at such a huge scale in the market since the resources that are offered under the tool are competitively priced and available at a much cheaper rate compared to other solutions."
"The solution's pricing is fair enough and a little less costly."
"The solution is quite costly and developers will start exploring other solutions or moving their workloads to other clouds if costs aren't reduced."
"My company paid for the license."
"The pricing of the solution is fairly cheap."
"I would rate the pricing of Docker as ten out of ten"
"The solution is an open-source technology and not a commercial product. However, you will have to pay sometimes. The tool's pricing depends on the vendor."
"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."
"Since Docker is an open-source solution, it is free of cost."
"Docker is a free tool."
"Docker's price is good."
"It's free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Insurance Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker?
Our customers buy the software and the prices are available on Docker Hub. The subscription is typically yearly, and customers will need to buy the subscription directly. They can purchase it thems...
What needs improvement with Docker?
Docker is a time-tested, proven solution with industry-wide applications. There can be challenges with port mapping, however, that's not related to Docker itself.
 

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: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.