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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.5
Amazon EKS provides cost-effective, scalable cloud services with easy management, despite concerns about OpEx and vendor lock-in.
Sentiment score
8.0
Docker offers cost savings by enhancing efficiency, reducing complexity, and enabling faster deployment with consistent environments and smaller hardware.
We have cost explorer available, and a bill forecast based on usage allows us to determine whether resources are underutilized or overutilized.
It's a fast deployment, with very good documentation, and it's really helpful.
I can recommend using it to save costs and for faster deployment, better performance, security, and easy clustering.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Amazon EKS support is generally praised for responsiveness and expertise, though some users experience occasional delays and challenges.
Sentiment score
4.1
Docker's customer service is praised for documentation, though many use community resources; support averages 7-8/10 in ratings.
We have a paid subscription that provides priority support.
Amazon's technical support is quite good, especially for those who purchase support services.
Having to know what questions to ask is essential.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.0
Amazon EKS excels in scalability and integration, offering efficient cluster management with high reliability and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.5
Docker efficiently scales applications, especially with Kubernetes and Terraform, despite limitations in disk space and local machine scalability.
The ability to scale based on requirements by deploying additional containers is a strong point for Kubernetes.
This allows us to scale our applications or APIs as needed, offering reliability through the automation of scaling processes.
It can scale very well according to needs, and it doesn't have any issues with scalability.
Previously, only one or two applications could run on a server, but now it can handle hundreds of applications, scaling up or down as needed.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Amazon EKS is highly stable, with improved performance and minor issues typically attributed to external factors.
Sentiment score
7.9
Docker is highly regarded for stability and reliability, despite minor issues with Windows compatibility and occasional resource concerns.
Amazon EKS is very stable, and when properly configured, I rate it ten out of ten.
Amazon EKS is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon EKS struggles with stability, UI, and costs, needing improved third-party support, security, networking, and documentation enhancements.
Docker needs improvements in stability, security, documentation, user interface, pricing, and support to enhance adoption and usability.
Simplifying these will enable more people, not just those with strong foundational knowledge, to work effectively with these services.
Amazon EKS can be improved by having the maintenance of Kubernetes versions managed better, as everything is handled by the Kubernetes team and possibly a separate team at AWS.
Adding logging would be a valuable improvement.
Docker is a time-tested, proven solution with industry-wide applications.
In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon EKS offers flexible pricing, appealing to enterprises but potentially expensive for startups and smaller businesses.
Docker's open-source version is free, but licensing for Enterprise users starts at $24 per user monthly, prompting alternatives.
The pricing structure is beneficial for large companies who pay for what they use, but it is not affordable for startups.
Now, it stands at six or seven due to optimizing our workload.
As Amazon is a pay-per-use service, our usage levels are high, so I would desire if Amazon could provide certain discounts or credits for customers who utilize a lot of resources.
I consider Docker's pricing to be affordable.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon EKS provides scalable, managed Kubernetes clusters with seamless AWS integration, enhancing deployment, security, and microservices management.
Docker's key benefits are security, ease of use, portability, quick deployment, and efficient resource management with extensive features and documentation.
The most beneficial aspect of Amazon EKS is that it helps manage the Kubernetes master node, so I don't need to maintain the master node, including tasks like upgrading.
The main benefits that I received from using Amazon EKS are that it is a managed cluster and offers simplicity.
By default, if you just install Amazon EKS, you can deploy your application, but to have it enterprise-ready, you have to configure a number of other things that will boost productivity.
It allows the software to run on various machines without compatibility issues, saving a lot of time.
The most valuable feature is the simple containerization.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EKS
Ranking in Container Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (18th)
Docker
Ranking in Container Management
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 11.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Docker is 3.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Rock Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing complex environments effortlessly while focusing on growth
The most beneficial aspect of Amazon EKS is that it helps manage the Kubernetes master node, so I don't need to maintain the master node, including tasks like upgrading. This allows me to focus on business code. If using services like Fargate, I only need to maintain my workload, simply uploading code that will be deployed to the Kubernetes cluster. This is especially beneficial for startup companies that lack the technical resources to manage the Kubernetes cluster. Furthermore, Amazon EKS allows me to utilize Kubernetes cluster-level expansion. If there’s insufficient resource on a machine, the cluster can automatically expand to add new nodes.
Sunny Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers application conversion to Docker image and a mature environment
The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive. Adopting Docker is a bit difficult because it requires a lot of expertise and background, including an understanding of networking and security concepts. Many professionals are facing issues with the different architectures that interact with each other in Docker. Whenever in our company, we are working with the production environment, professionals are hesitant to adopt Docker due to the extensive learning curve, and most of the team members in our company are more accustomed to an environment like VMware instead of Docker. Docker runs on scripts, so if AI can automate most of the scripting process in Docker, it would be a great advantage in the future version of Docker. As of now, we can create scripts utilizing most of the functions within Docker, but that initial planning phase wherein to understand exactly how you will plan for the resources, how you will convert applications into a Docker-based image, and similar tasks needs to be simplified so that more professionals can adopt Docker.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
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?
My experience with pricing for Amazon EKS is limited as there's a separate team for that, and I do not have much knowledge of specifics. However, the pricing is based on the instance type we use in...
What needs improvement with Amazon EKS?
Regarding the flexibility part, if I want to use something such as Kong/Linkerd service mesh or other solutions, most of the CSPs bind you to their own solutions rather than allow other options to ...
What do you like most about Docker?
We are using Docker to host applications.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker?
Regarding the cost, Mirantis Container Cloud is cheaper than other solutions like Red Hat. The license costs around 10,000 Indian rupees per year.
What needs improvement with Docker?
Mirantis Container Cloud should have AI integration tools, which are not available right now. These tools should assist in app scalability and deployment error handling.
 

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: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.