Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Apache Mesos: What are the differences?

# Key Differences between Amazon EC2 Container Service and Apache Mesos

Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Apache Mesos are both container orchestration platforms but have several key differences that differentiate their functionalities and use cases. 

1. **Resource Management**: ECS is tightly integrated with AWS services, making it easier to manage resources within the AWS environment. On the other hand, Mesos offers greater flexibility in managing resources across multiple data centers and clouds, providing more extensive resource management capabilities. 

2. **Scaling**: When it comes to scaling, ECS is designed to easily scale containers within a single AWS region, whereas Mesos allows for efficient scaling across multiple regions and cloud providers, providing a more versatile scaling solution.

3. **Community Support**: Apache Mesos is an open-source project with a large and active community of contributors, providing a wide range of plugins and integrations. In contrast, ECS is a part of the AWS ecosystem with limited community support outside of AWS services and documentation.

4. **Scheduling Algorithm**: ECS uses a proprietary scheduling algorithm that optimizes task placement based on predefined rules and constraints set by the user. Mesos, on the other hand, offers a sophisticated resource sharing model that allows for more granular control over task scheduling and prioritization.

5. **Integration with Other Tools**: ECS seamlessly integrates with other AWS services such as ECR, ELB, and CloudWatch, providing a comprehensive ecosystem for container management. Mesos, while offering integrations with various third-party tools, may require more configuration and setup to achieve the same level of integration with external services.

6. **Docker Support**: Both ECS and Mesos support Docker containers, but ECS is specifically designed to work with Docker containers within the AWS environment, providing native support for Docker images from ECR. Mesos offers more general support for Docker containers and can work with containers from any Docker registry or repository.

In Summary, Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Apache Mesos have distinct differences in terms of resource management, scaling capabilities, community support, scheduling algorithms, integration with other tools, and Docker support, catering to different needs and preferences in container orchestration.