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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Container Registry
  4. Container Tools
  5. Docker Compose vs Helm vs Microcontainers

Docker Compose vs Helm vs Microcontainers

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Docker Compose
Docker Compose
Stacks22.3K
Followers16.5K
Votes501
GitHub Stars36.4K
Forks5.5K
Microcontainers
Microcontainers
Stacks4
Followers60
Votes0
GitHub Stars1.6K
Forks138
Helm
Helm
Stacks1.4K
Followers911
Votes18

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Advice on Docker Compose, Microcontainers, Helm

Michael
Michael

CEO at asencis Ltd

Jan 5, 2021

Needs advice

We develop rapidly with docker-compose orchestrated services, however, for production - we utilise the very best ideas that Kubernetes has to offer: SCALE! We can scale when needed, setting a maximum and minimum level of nodes for each application layer - scaling only when the load balancer needs it. This allowed us to reduce our devops costs by 40% whilst also maintaining an SLA of 99.87%.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Docker Compose
Docker Compose
Microcontainers
Microcontainers
Helm
Helm

With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.

A Microcontainer contains only the OS libraries and language dependencies required to run an application and the application itself. Nothing more. Rather than starting with everything but the kitchen sink, start with the bare minimum and add dependencies on an as needed basis.

Helm is the best way to find, share, and use software built for Kubernetes.

-
Size — MicroContainers are small. As shown above, without changing any code the image is 22 times smaller than a typical image.;Fast/Easy Distribution — Because the size is so much smaller, it’s much quicker to download the image from a Docker registry (eg: Docker Hub) and therefore it can be distributed to different machines much quicker.;Improved Security — Less code/less programs in the container means less attack surface. And, the base OS can be more secure (more below).
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
36.4K
GitHub Stars
1.6K
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
5.5K
GitHub Forks
138
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
22.3K
Stacks
4
Stacks
1.4K
Followers
16.5K
Followers
60
Followers
911
Votes
501
Votes
0
Votes
18
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 123
    Multi-container descriptor
  • 110
    Fast development environment setup
  • 79
    Easy linking of containers
  • 68
    Simple yaml configuration
  • 60
    Easy setup
Cons
  • 9
    Tied to single machine
  • 5
    Still very volatile, changing syntax often
No community feedback yet
Pros
  • 8
    Infrastructure as code
  • 6
    Open source
  • 2
    Easy setup
  • 1
    Support
  • 1
    Testa­bil­i­ty and re­pro­ducibil­i­ty
Integrations
Docker
Docker
Docker
Docker
Docker
Docker
Kubernetes
Kubernetes

What are some alternatives to Docker Compose, Microcontainers, Helm?

Kubernetes

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

Rancher

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

Docker Swarm

Docker Swarm

Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.

Tutum

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Portainer

Portainer

It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.

Codefresh

Codefresh

Automate and parallelize testing. Codefresh allows teams to spin up on-demand compositions to run unit and integration tests as part of the continuous integration process. Jenkins integration allows more complex pipelines.

CAST.AI

CAST.AI

It is an AI-driven cloud optimization platform for Kubernetes. Instantly cut your cloud bill, prevent downtime, and 10X the power of DevOps.

k3s

k3s

Certified Kubernetes distribution designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances. Supports something as small as a Raspberry Pi or as large as an AWS a1.4xlarge 32GiB server.

Flocker

Flocker

Flocker is a data volume manager and multi-host Docker cluster management tool. With it you can control your data using the same tools you use for your stateless applications. This means that you can run your databases, queues and key-value stores in Docker and move them around as easily as the rest of your app.

Kitematic

Kitematic

Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X

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