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Docker vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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

Docker
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Container Management (4th), Software Supply Chain Security (2nd), AI Software Development (15th)
Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

ER
Senior QA and Developer
Local container testing has boosted development speed but still needs lower battery and memory use
The main thing that really frustrates me about Docker is how much battery power it consumes on a Macintosh. I really am not a fan of that, which leads me to not want to run Docker 24/7 because I do not want my laptop battery to be exhausted by Docker instances running or even the Docker CLI or UI being booted up. I tend to not have it running until I need it, and then I run it and close it. It would be really nice if it did not consume as much battery as it does currently. Docker can definitely be improved by reducing the battery and CPU load that it impacts on a Macintosh. If it were possible for me to run Docker without panicking about the battery running out, that would be excellent. I believe battery is the biggest issue with Docker. The other issue is memory. It seems to consume a lot of memory, and I am not a fan of that. This means that I need to have a really powerful, high-specification Macintosh with a lot of battery and a lot of memory for it to work reliably. I do not always have access to that. If Docker could consume less battery and less memory, that would be magnificent.
reviewer2741271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nutanix Administrator at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Has provided seamless upgrade experiences and robust technical support
I have heard there are many features added in NKP that are not available in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, such as load balancer features. The unified control plane feature is not being used in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE. We are currently using a third-party tool for load balancing, but going forward, NKP will include load balancer, ingress, and egress features, making infrastructure management much easier. There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention. Concerning policy-driven governance in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, we have the ability to implement RBAC at the cluster level, which helps maintain security by not granting full admin privileges to every end user, thus restricting access effectively.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Docker packages up an application as a single item that you can then run without the need to install or configure it to work on any specific machine."
"I think that with Docker, it is easy to deploy it on different platforms."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is its integration with other solutions, such as KVM and AlmaLinux."
"We have found the customization feature most valuable, as Docker is used for customizing images and is a self-hosted or self-managed application that is neat and very flexible, letting you have all your applications and dependencies in one image that you can use in different applications and run off other applications."
"The solution is stable."
"The solution is lightweight which is valuable, and the ease of deploying on any cloud is valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is that it revolutionized virtualization by providing a new approach with containers that completely nullified the time it used to take to deploy applications on virtual servers, resulting in deployment times that can be as quick as milliseconds, unless it is a heavy application, such as Java. Additionally, resource utilization has greatly improved with Docker, allowing for more resources to be allocated to other tasks. These are a few key features that make Docker a preferred choice."
"Traditional deployments take more time and builds can be inconsistent across different environments. Docker solves these issues."
"We can do a lot of provisioning."
"I would recommend using this product, it's very good."
"My experience with Nutanix's technical support is excellent."
"The platform is valuable due to its ease of use and quick deployment capabilities."
"The solution is easy to manage. You can get everything in a single platform. It is also easy to work with Terraform as a code."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The solution provides no downtime features. If we face issues, we create a new port, deploy it there, and then drop the existing one. This way, we avoid NKE downtime on our website."
"Karbon is embedded in the hypervisor, there are no deployment costs and the administration is via Prism Central."
 

Cons

"The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive"
"The solution could offer better documentation."
"The vendor should release a monitoring tool or include monitoring capabilities in Docker"
"If you install Docker on a host, it creates its own firewalls. It can become an issue."
"Unfortunately, base images are not currently available."
"Docker can improve the integration with Microsoft Windows. It does not support native installations."
"We'd like knowledge transfer to be easier."
"There can be challenges with port mapping, however, that's not related to Docker itself."
"NKE could benefit from additional features that support more advanced Kubernetes functionalities and configurations."
"The product lacks some virtualization capabilities, making it an area for improvement where the solution can focus on providing users with more virtualization capabilities related to disk systems."
"GUI lacks sufficient information to help with understanding the installation and process."
"It's mostly for lab purposes; we haven't seen a lot of traction in the market from enterprise customers yet."
"There have been challenges related to software bugs, especially regarding long-term licensing options and issues within our customer network."
"I have issues with the product's interoperability."
"In the next release, I would like to have automatic dynamic scaling, both upscaling and downscaling."
"There have been cases where we've deployed with Karbon and haven't seen that it includes errors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its convenience edition is free of cost."
"Docker's price is good."
"The solution offers an open-source version that is free and includes a lot of functionality."
"Docker is a free open-source solution. However, there is the Docker Enterprise which is a paid solution."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"Docker is a free tool."
"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."
"Pricing is based on the number of users."
"The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing as four out of ten."
"I rate NKE's pricing a six out of ten."
"While deploying Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix is cost-effective, there may be additional costs for remote branch offices where Kubernetes is less common."
"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The product's licenses are included in the software version deployed in our data center."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker?
My experience with Docker's pricing, setup costs, and licensing as an architect involves mainly using the free community version for creating containers, while costs for enterprise environments dep...
What needs improvement with Docker?
In my opinion, Docker could improve the experience of container management and monitoring by simplifying the configuration of complex environments and offering more intuitive tools, as I still some...
What is your primary use case for Docker?
I have been using Docker since 2017, when I needed to create some APIs to carry out integrations between systems, specifically to create an API layer to use with two main tools: Salesforce and Sens...
What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
In terms of features, I cannot comment technically, but the real value is the consolidated out-of-the-box solution that Nutanix offers. Nutanix has built great branding and a lot of credibility and...
What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
I have experience with OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Nutanix, as we are one of the largest Nutanix resellers in the Middle East. We handle Kubernetes on the cloud as well, so we manage most of the Kub...
What advice do you have for others considering Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
I don't have a technical role, but we are a system integrator, so we sell solutions such as OpenShift and Kubernetes as part of the sales team. We are a reseller called eSky IT, and I serve as the ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Nutanix Karbon
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen
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