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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Container Registry
  4. Container Tools
  5. Kitematic vs Rancher

Kitematic vs Rancher

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Kitematic
Kitematic
Stacks67
Followers116
Votes14
Rancher
Rancher
Stacks952
Followers1.5K
Votes644

Kitematic vs Rancher: What are the differences?

What is Kitematic? The easiest way to start using Docker on your Mac. Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X.

What is Rancher? Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service. 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.

Kitematic and Rancher belong to "Container Tools" category of the tech stack.

Some of the features offered by Kitematic are:

  • Mac App with GUI for Docker
  • Create images from any folder with a Dockerfile in it
  • Configure environment variables

On the other hand, Rancher provides the following key features:

  • Manage Hosts, Deploy Containers, Monitor Resources
  • User Management & Collaboration
  • Native Docker APIs & Tools

"I like it because it sucks" is the top reason why over 4 developers like Kitematic, while over 89 developers mention "Easy to use" as the leading cause for choosing Rancher.

Kitematic and Rancher are both open source tools. Rancher with 11.9K GitHub stars and 1.34K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Kitematic with 10.5K GitHub stars and 1.26K GitHub forks.

According to the StackShare community, Rancher has a broader approval, being mentioned in 89 company stacks & 35 developers stacks; compared to Kitematic, which is listed in 5 company stacks and 8 developer stacks.

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Detailed Comparison

Kitematic
Kitematic
Rancher
Rancher

Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X

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.

Mac App with GUI for Docker;Create images from any folder with a Dockerfile in it;Configure environment variables;Check App logs;Easily terminal into apps;Restart apps
Manage Hosts, Deploy Containers, Monitor Resources;User Management & Collaboration;Native Docker APIs & Tools;Monitoring and Logging;Connect Containers, Manage Disks, Deploy Load Balancers;Docker App Catalog; Included Kubernetes Distribution;Included Docker Swarm Distribution; Included Mesos Distribution;Infrastructure Management
Statistics
Stacks
67
Stacks
952
Followers
116
Followers
1.5K
Votes
14
Votes
644
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 8
    I like it because it sucks
  • 3
    No command line, Docker in one app, gui, easy to set up
  • 2
    Good for first timer
  • 1
    Easy to get started
Pros
  • 103
    Easy to use
  • 79
    Open source and totally free
  • 63
    Multi-host docker-compose support
  • 58
    Load balancing and health check included
  • 58
    Simple
Cons
  • 10
    Hosting Rancher can be complicated
Integrations
Docker
Docker
Jenkins
Jenkins
Datadog
Datadog
Google Compute Engine
Google Compute Engine
Docker Compose
Docker Compose
Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean
GitHub
GitHub
Docker
Docker
Kubernetes
Kubernetes
Drone.io
Drone.io

What are some alternatives to Kitematic, Rancher?

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.

Docker Compose

Docker Compose

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.

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.

Docker Machine

Docker Machine

Machine lets you create Docker hosts on your computer, on cloud providers, and inside your own data center. It creates servers, installs Docker on them, then configures the Docker client to talk to them.

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