Overview

Docker Compose

Stacks22.3K

Followers16.5K

Votes501

GitHub Stars36.4K

Forks5.5K

Skaffold

Stacks86

Followers186

Votes0

Docker Compose vs Skaffold: What are the differences?

Introduction

In the world of containerization and Kubernetes orchestration, Docker Compose and Skaffold are widely used tools. Both tools are designed to simplify the development and deployment processes, but they have some key differences. In this article, we will explore and highlight the main differences between Docker Compose and Skaffold.

Architecture: Docker Compose is mainly focused on managing multi-container applications on a single host. It allows you to define and manage multiple services within a single YAML file, making it easy to spin up and manage containers locally. On the other hand, Skaffold is specifically designed for Kubernetes development, and it leverages Kubernetes resources and manifests for deployment. Skaffold builds and deploys containerized applications to a Kubernetes cluster, making it an ideal choice for developing and testing applications in a Kubernetes environment.
Deployment Environment: Docker Compose is primarily intended for local development and testing purposes. It provides a simple way to define and manage containers, making it easy to replicate the production environment locally. Skaffold, on the other hand, is more suitable for development and deployment in a Kubernetes cluster. It integrates well with other Kubernetes tools and provides features like automated rollout and auto-redeploy for faster development iterations.
Configuration and Templating: Docker Compose uses a declarative YAML syntax to define services, networks, volumes, and other configurations. It allows you to easily configure and link containers, define environment variables, and mount volumes. Skaffold also uses YAML manifests for configuration, but it extends the Kubernetes manifests with additional features like templating using tools like Helm or Kustomize. This allows for better customization and reusability of configurations in complex deployment scenarios.
Build and Dependency Management: Docker Compose includes built-in support for building images using Dockerfiles and managing image dependencies through the "build" command. It automatically builds images as needed and manages the dependency chain. Skaffold, on the other hand, relies on external build tools like Docker, Bazel, or Kaniko to build container images. It doesn't handle the dependency chain directly but rather relies on the external build tool to ensure image dependencies are resolved.
Automation and CI/CD Integration: Docker Compose is primarily a local development tool and lacks built-in automation and CI/CD integration features. Skaffold, on the other hand, supports automation and CI/CD workflows out-of-the-box. It integrates well with popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, and Tekton, allowing for automated builds, testing, and deployment to Kubernetes clusters.
Observability and Debugging: Docker Compose provides basic logging and container monitoring capabilities, but it is limited in terms of observability features. Skaffold, being a Kubernetes-focused tool, provides better observability and debugging capabilities. It integrates with Kubernetes logging and monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana, allowing for better insights into the deployed applications.

In summary, Docker Compose is best suited for local development and testing of multi-container applications on a single host, while Skaffold is designed for Kubernetes development and deployment, providing more advanced features and better integration with Kubernetes ecosystem tools.

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Advice on Docker Compose, Skaffold

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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Detailed Comparison

Docker Compose	Skaffold
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.	Skaffold is a command line tool that facilitates continuous development for Kubernetes applications. You can iterate on your application source code locally then deploy to local or remote Kubernetes clusters. Skaffold handles the workflow for building, pushing and deploying your application. It can also be used in an automated context such as a CI/CD pipeline to leverage the same workflow and tooling when moving applications to production.
-	No server-side component. No overhead to your cluster.;Detect changes in your source code and automatically build/push/deploy.;Image tag management. Stop worrying about updating the image tags in Kubernetes manifests to push out changes during development.;Supports existing tooling and workflows. Build and deploy APIs make each implementation composable to support many different workflows.;Support for multiple application components. Build and deploy only the pieces of your stack that have changed.;Deploy regularly when saving files or run one off deployments using the same configuration
Statistics
GitHub Stars 36.4K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 5.5K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 22.3K	Stacks 86
Followers 16.5K	Followers 186
Votes 501	Votes 0
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
Integrations
Docker	Kubernetes Google Kubernetes Engine Docker

What are some alternatives to Docker Compose, Skaffold?

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 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

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 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

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

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

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

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 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.