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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
7.2
Number of Reviews
48
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 (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 13.8%, up from 13.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Docker is 2.9%, 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

"The most valuable feature is the cluster engine."
"Amazon EKS is a useful solution for modern, cloud-native applications. It offers both horizontal and vertical scaling, which is a big advantage. The tool can also help manage costs while maintaining high availability."
"Amazon EKS allows upscaling and downscaling by reallocating resources."
"Amazon EKS is like Kubernetes, but it helps manage our nodes and scalability in AWS."
"Provides high performance and easy manageability."
"The solution's Autoscaler option allows for an increase in worker notes whenever particular thresholds are exceeded."
"It is a scalable solution."
"Through Amazon EKS, we can have the blue-green deployment very easily."
"Docker offers a resilient system with minimal failure chances and optimized performance"
"The solution's most valuable feature is the Dockerfile, which makes the life of developers easy. Developers get a real understanding of container creation."
"The capability of the solution to convert an application into a Docker image is a vital functionality"
"Kubernetes is the primary container orchestration tool I use with this solution. Docker provides a complete solution for deploying and managing workloads across multiple nodes. Container orchestration has significantly impacted my workload by automating tasks and streamlining operations. The availability of systems like Kubernetes is crucial for planning and managing complete clusters and computing environments. Every client's needs are different, and not one solution fits all."
"We are using Docker to host applications."
"The solution is stable."
"We find the auto scaling and auto healing functionality of this solution very good."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is its integration with other solutions, such as KVM and AlmaLinux."
 

Cons

"Sometimes, we face minor connectivity issues. However, it depends on the applications we are using."
"Setup depends on what kind of architecture you have"
"It is very cumbersome to assign permissions to users to interact with a cluster."
"I'd like improved traffic handling and additional application details within the system."
"The solution's graphical interface is not the best."
"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."
"Amazon EKS is very scalable, but scaling can sometimes cause trouble. When Amazon EKS scales up or down, there might be occasional intermediate pod interruptions, though it's rare."
"Amazon EKS needs to improve customer operations and technical support."
"Enhancing artificial intelligence capabilities and cluster management should be a priority. It should facilitate some security management."
"We are facing multiple issues with the solution's stability."
"Docker could improve by having security vulnerability reports."
"I would like to see a single package image orchestration bundled together."
"One item that could be improved is the overall stability of Docker."
"Stability is an area with a shortcoming."
"It could be easier to create images and save them on reports. Just improved development workflow, just quicker, like some better user experience creating the images for the Docker containers."
"Deployment could be quicker."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like a cheaper version of it."
"Amazon EKS is quite pricey, but the functionality it provides is worth it."
"The solution is cheaper than one of its competitors."
"The solution is quite costly and developers will start exploring other solutions or moving their workloads to other clouds if costs aren't reduced."
"The solution is more expensive than other competitors and does not require a license."
"The tool's pricing is good."
"Amazon EKS’s pricing is ok compared to its competitors."
"My company paid for the license."
"Docker is cost-effective and open-source."
"Docker has made some changes and there is an enterprise version that is affordable."
"I would rate the pricing of Docker as ten out of ten"
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"Docker is open source. To use a Docker enterprise model, we would need to pay for it."
"The product is a free open-source tool."
"There is a license needed to use Docker."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
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.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.