Docker vs. Google Kubernetes Engine

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Docker
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Docker Enterprise was sold to Mirantis in 2019; that product is now sold as Mirantis Kubernetes Engine. But Docker now offers a 2-product suite that includes Docker Desktop, which they present as a fast way to containerize applications on a desktop; and, Docker Hub, a service for finding and sharing container images with a team and the Docker community, a repository of container images with an array of…
$5
per month
Google Kubernetes Engine
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Google Kubernetes Engine supplies containerized application management powered by Kubernetes which includes Google Cloud services including load balancing, automatic scaling and upgrade, and other Google Cloud services.
$0.04
vCPU-hr Autopilot Mode
Pricing
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
unlimited public repositories
Pro
$5.00
per month per user
Team
$7.00
per month per user
Business
$21
per month per user
Autopilot Mode - 3 year commitment price (USD)
$0
GKE Autopilot Ephemeral Storage Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - 1 year commitment price (USD)
$0.0000438
GKE Autopilot Ephemeral Storage Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - Regular Price
$0.0000548
GKE Autopilot Ephemeral Storage Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - Spot Price
$0.0000548
GKE Autopilot Ephemeral Storage Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - Spot Price
$0.0014767
GKE Autopilot Pod Memory Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - 3 year commitment price (USD)
$0
GKE Autopilot Pod Memory Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - 1 year commitment price (USD)
$0.0039380
GKE Autopilot Pod Memory Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - Regular Price
$0.0049225
GKE Autopilot Price GB-hr
Autopilot Mode - Spot Price
$0.0133
GKE Autopilot vCPU Price vCPU-hr
Autopilot Mode - 3 year commitment price (USD)
$0.02
GKE Autopilot vCPU Price vCPU-hr
Autopilot Mode - 1 year commitment price (USD)
$0.0356000
GKE Autopilot vCPU Price vCPU-hr
Autopilot Mode - Regular Price
$0.0445
vCPU Price vCPU-hr
Standard Mode
$0.10
per hour
Cluster Management
$0.10
per cluster per hour
Cluster Management
$74.40 monthly credit
per month per hour
Standard Mode - Free Version
Free
per hour
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Small Businesses
Git
Git
Score 10.0 out of 10
Portainer
Portainer
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Git
Git
Score 10.0 out of 10
Docker
Docker
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Git
Git
Score 10.0 out of 10
Docker
Docker
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(13 ratings)
9.0
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
DockerGoogle Kubernetes Engine
Likelihood to Recommend
Docker
You are going to be able to find the most resources and examples using Docker whenever you are working with a container orchestration software like Kubernetes. There will always some entropy when you run in a container, a containerized application will never be as purely performant as an app running directly on the OS. However, in most scenarios this loss will be negligible to the time saved in deployment, monitoring, etc.
Read full review
Google
The Google Kubernetes Engine clusters are very good at being a managed cloud K8s platform - lots of documentation, features, and updates are available. It's also newbie-friendly - for both administrators and developers. Unfortunately, currently, it cannot reach true zero scale - thus, costs (rent for the service) are still involved even if you are barely using it. Thankfully, it's possible to have alternatives in Google Cloud:
  • Your own K8s cluster on Compute Engine VMs - you manage it completely; it will have access to a lot of Google Cloud services.
  • Cloud Run cluster - less documented but more flexible
  • Anthos clusters - you can use this service for a lot of types of K8s clusters - Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Run, on-prem, AWS, Azure
Read full review
Pros
Docker
  • Packaging of application to limit the space occupied
  • Ease of running the application
  • Provide multiple ways to handle the application issues and integration of different components like pipeline, ansible, terraform etc
Read full review
Google
  • Deployment of a new GKE cluster is really fast in comparison to other cloud providers.
  • GCP is ahead other vendors and always provide the most up to date Kubernetes version.
  • GKE automation for master upgrade and the worker nodes pool works really well.
Read full review
Cons
Docker
  • Docker hub image retention policy can be relaxed
  • Docker hub policies can be more developer friendly
  • Docker CLI help section can be improved
  • Image and container storage (local) management can be optimized
Read full review
Google
  • Not as intuitive as it could be
  • Documentation could be better, especially for people using other Google Cloud tools
  • Not the preferred Kubernetes Engine for many apps
Read full review
Usability
Docker
Very easy to use, great tutorials, documentation and cheat sheets out there to help you become a Docker Wiz
Read full review
Google
  • Google Kubernetes Engine has a good UI and documentation that facilitates setup and helps get projects moving along quickly
  • Its built-in logging integrations with StackDriver make it easier to monitor the application and log issues quickly
  • Automated orchestration, deployment, and scaling of nodes and networking are all easily configurable with yaml files
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Docker
Haven't seen any outages, fatal/unrecoverable errors in my usage so far. Enough said.
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Performance
Docker
Docker Desktop. The CPU high usage is a known issue. Needs fixing. Otherwise, it is great overall. Would not use anything else still.
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Docker
No answers on this topic
Google
Very good Kubernetes distribution with a reasonable total price. Integration with storage and load balancer for ingress and services speed up every process deployment.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Docker
The reason why we are still using Docker right now is due to that is the best among its peers and suits our needs the best. However, the trend we foresee for the future might indicate Amazon lambda could potentially fit our needs to code enviornmentless in the near future.
Read full review
Google
GKE spins up new nodes a LOT faster than AKS. GKE's auto scaler runs a lot smoother than AKS. GKE has a lot more Kubernetes features baked in natively.
Read full review
Scalability
Docker
It is the only tool in our toolset that has not [had] any issues so far. That is really a mark of reliability, and it's a testimony to how well the product is made, and a tool that does its job well is a tool well worth having. It is the base tool that I would say any organisation must have if they do scalable deployment.
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Docker
No answers on this topic
Google
  • When issues came up, we reached out to some folks at GCP and they seemed to be very prompt and attentive to our needs. They were always willing to help and provide additional details or recommendations or links to resources. This kind of support is very helpful as it allows us to navigate GKE with more confidence.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Docker
  • Reduces the number of virtual machine which impacted our quarterly billing
  • Using docker with proxy we run multiple application on same port on same host.
  • impact on billing is we have to provide docker training to the people who are working on it.
Read full review
Google
  • Positive: Allowed us to start and produce working software regardless of our experience level.
  • Positive: Integration with other Google Cloud services that we wanted to use anyway.
  • Negative: It's kinda clunky, and some scenarios seem Google Kubernetes Engine-specific instead of being more integrated with other Google Cloud services or the web UI.
Read full review
ScreenShots