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AWS App Runner vs Docker comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

AWS App Runner
Ranking in Development Platforms
6th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Docker
Ranking in Development Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Container Management (5th), Software Supply Chain Security (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Development Platforms category, the mindshare of AWS App Runner is 0.7%. The mindshare of Docker is 44.2%, up from 37.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2677686 - PeerSpot reviewer
Automated processes have led to significant cost savings and efficiency improvements
There are too many technical details for a single developer to know, making it overwhelming. It would benefit from a roadmap wizard or templates to guide developers. AWS App Runner should have a wizard and templates to simplify creating a REST service. Developers need clearer guidance to avoid spending excessive time understanding the system.
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

"Our company realized tremendous cost savings by eliminating the need for a separate DevOps team."
"I like that the solution is easy to start with."
"Docker is highly scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is that it provides a containerized environment. The isolation between the environments is beneficial. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"Traditional deployments take more time and builds can be inconsistent across different environments. Docker solves these issues."
"Docker is perfect for what I do...The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable feature is that it is cost-saving."
"Containerization is the most valuable feature. I can communicate to the Docker containers using other containers."
"The capability of the solution to convert an application into a Docker image is a vital functionality"
"The most valuable feature of Docker is the dedicated QA environment for connecting the team members. Additionally, there are many core features available and it is highly secure when we are imaging a client's server."
 

Cons

"When you try to deploy some code that you've written and tested on other platforms, you should also tell the system what your configuration would be."
"There are too many technical details for a single developer to know, making it overwhelming."
"The solution could improve with a GUI instead of only a command line interface. Having to use the command line interface can be a hassle."
"The volumes for persistent storage could be more user friendly right out of the box."
"Sometimes, we have sync-up issues where the build doesn't get processed due to these sync issues, causing the build to fail. That's one of the drawbacks I see. When we did a huge sync-up, we faced a couple of issues. It takes some time for us to complete the sync-up. For frequent, smaller updates, we haven't had any issues. However, challenges can arise for those who prefer doing everything in one go. This might not necessarily be due to the tool itself but because of the approach of doing everything in a single batch."
"The vendor should release a monitoring tool or include monitoring capabilities in Docker"
"They should provide proper documentation to understand the solution's cgroup process."
"The command line interface could be more intuitive. I constantly struggle with it."
"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."
"The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You pay as much as your infrastructure and provision are running."
"The product is not expensive."
"Customers pay for the license through a yearly subscription model, where they pay per license. This means that the license is based on a subscription, and the customer pays annually for each license they use."
"It's free."
"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."
"Docker is a free tool."
"We are using the open-source version of the solution."
"The pricing of the solution is fairly cheap."
"There is a license needed to use Docker."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
16%
Insurance Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS App Runner?
To get AWS App Runner up and running, significant resources and expertise are necessary. One individual must have sufficient knowledge, which can be costly for startups but feasible for larger comp...
What needs improvement with AWS App Runner?
There are too many technical details for a single developer to know, making it overwhelming. It would benefit from a roadmap wizard or templates to guide developers. AWS App Runner should have a wi...
What is your primary use case for AWS App Runner?
I use AWS App Runner as a development platform. I create a service locally with Docker containers, and then I'm able to start it up to test. If I need to make a backup, I just put it on a different...
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.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS App Runner vs. Docker and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.