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Amazon EKS vs Docker comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 13, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EKS
Ranking in Container Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (13th)
Docker
Ranking in Container Management
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 13.0%, down from 13.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Docker is 2.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Rock Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing complex environments effortlessly while focusing on growth
The most beneficial aspect of Amazon EKS is that it helps manage the Kubernetes master node, so I don't need to maintain the master node, including tasks like upgrading. This allows me to focus on business code. If using services like Fargate, I only need to maintain my workload, simply uploading code that will be deployed to the Kubernetes cluster. This is especially beneficial for startup companies that lack the technical resources to manage the Kubernetes cluster. Furthermore, Amazon EKS allows me to utilize Kubernetes cluster-level expansion. If there’s insufficient resource on a machine, the cluster can automatically expand to add new nodes.
Rikin Parekh - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful to create sandbox environments to run applications and makes it easy to test them
Overall, setting up the Docker environment is quite easy. Many methods exist, such as using Docker Compose and Docker networks to communicate between containers. The main challenge lies in designing the architecture and integrating different frameworks and microservices. I would rate the ease of setting up the tool at around nine out of ten. The time it takes to deploy depends on the scale of the system. For the early-stage startup I'm currently working with, it doesn't take much time. It's just me handling the deployment. In our early-stage startup, we have a couple of teams with around four to five backend APIs and two front-end services. Deploying these doesn't take much time. My focus is more on minimizing costs due to our lean startup structure.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is a scalable solution."
"The serverless capability of Amazon EKS is quite valuable."
"The solution's performance is good."
"It is the best service because it has proper security packages."
"Application deployment is more automatic."
"Initial setup is straightforward. It only takes 15 minutes to deploy."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"Amazon EKS provides good support."
"The solution is easy to deploy for clients so it saves a lot of hassle."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is automation. When I deploy the solution I am confident it will work anywhere. It is reliable and easy to use."
"Containerization is the most valuable feature. I can communicate to the Docker containers using other containers."
"The current version is quite good with our application."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the Dockerfile, which makes the life of developers easy. Developers get a real understanding of container creation."
"Docker allows you to run multiple virtual machines independently."
"Docker offers a resilient system with minimal failure chances and optimized performance"
"I think that with Docker, it is easy to deploy it on different platforms."
 

Cons

"Amazon EKS is predominately public. However, the government has started to have a lot of interest in Kubernetes and is receiving more education on Kubernetes and Amazon EKS. If we can have the security of Amazon EKS align with the security that is set out by the government it would be much better."
"Amazon EKS needs to improve customer operations and technical support."
"Improvement is needed in reducing the complexity of using EKS."
"The solution should include a popup for clusters so that all relevant information is visible at the bottom of a page."
"There is room for improvement in stability. I faced some problems with the App."
"They should enhance the Jira integration."
"Amazon EKS's vulnerability management of data could be improved."
"I would like Amazon EKS to be easier to configure on various environments like Windows or Linux installations"
"Enhancing artificial intelligence capabilities and cluster management should be a priority. It should facilitate some security management."
"We would like to see improvement in adding the node into the Docker Swarm cluster, as at present it is a little tricky and requires a lot of manual steps."
"Unfortunately, base images are not currently available."
"I want to see if new architectures have been incorporated in Docker or if we have to wait for another release."
"The product does not have an extensive documentation. The tool does not have good scenarios. We have to go through the GitHub repository and investigate similar scenarios. Also, if you are copying multiple things, then you can jeopardize the copy number. The copying aspect also lacks a UI part. We also need to limit the memory."
"I would love to have it available on Linux."
"It could be easier to create images and save them on reports. Just improved development workflow, just quicker, like some better user experience creating the images for the Docker containers."
"I would like to see a single package image orchestration bundled together."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon EKS is quite pricey, but the functionality it provides is worth it."
"I rate Amazon EKS’s pricing a nine out of ten."
"The tool's pricing is good."
"The product is available at such a huge scale in the market since the resources that are offered under the tool are competitively priced and available at a much cheaper rate compared to other solutions."
"Amazon EKS is very cost-effective."
"My company paid for the license."
"Amazon EKS is expensive."
"Amazon EKS’s pricing is ok compared to its competitors."
"The product is a free open-source tool."
"It's free."
"Docker's price is good."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"We are using the open-source version of the solution."
"The solution is an open-source technology and not a commercial product. However, you will have to pay sometimes. The tool's pricing depends on the vendor."
"I would rate the pricing of Docker as ten out of ten"
"Docker is cost-effective and open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Insurance Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EKS?
The product's most valuable features are scalability, observability, and performance.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EKS?
The pricing structure is beneficial for large companies who pay for what they use, but it is not affordable for startups. Offering a free version could help small companies.
What needs improvement with Amazon EKS?
There is room for improvement in making Amazon EKS ( /products/amazon-eks-reviews ) less error-prone when writing on the YAML file. A UI could help generate config files, simplifying the process fo...
What do you like most about Docker?
We are using Docker to host applications.
What needs improvement with Docker?
In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GoDaddy, Pearson, FICO, Intuit, Verizon, Honeywell, Logicworks, RetailMeNot, LogMeIn, Conde Nast, mercari, Trainline, Axway
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EKS vs. Docker and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.