Docker vs Kubernetes

16. Docker vs Kubernetes

📊 When to Use What

Feature	Docker + Compose	Kubernetes
Learning curve	Low	High
Setup complexity	Minutes	Hours/Days
Team size	Small (1-10)	Medium-Large
Scale	Single host	Multi-host cluster
Auto-healing	Basic (restart policy)	Full (self-healing)
Rolling updates	Manual	Automated
Service discovery	DNS on same host	Cluster-wide DNS
Load balancing	Nginx manual	Built-in
Secret management	Env files / Docker Secrets	Kubernetes Secrets
Cost	Low	Higher (infra)
Best for	Dev, small prod	Large-scale production

🧭 Decision Guide

Use Docker + Compose when:
  ✅ Single server deployment
  ✅ < 10 containers
  ✅ Small team
  ✅ Development environments
  ✅ Simple microservices
  ✅ Budget constraints

Use Kubernetes when:
  ✅ Multiple servers needed
  ✅ Need zero-downtime deployments
  ✅ Auto-scaling is required
  ✅ 10+ containers / services
  ✅ High availability is critical
  ✅ Large engineering team
  ✅ Complex networking requirements

🔄 The Path from Docker to Kubernetes

Docker CLI          → Learn containers basics
Docker Compose      → Multi-container apps on one host
Docker Swarm        → Simple multi-host clustering (built-in)
Kubernetes          → Production-grade orchestration
Helm                → Kubernetes package manager
Service Mesh        → Istio / Linkerd for advanced networking