Docker vs HashiCorp Nomad comparison

Docker and HashiCorp are both solutions in the Container Management category. Docker is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.9, while HashiCorp is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.0. Docker holds a 2.6% mindshare in CM, compared to HashiCorp’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Docker users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of HashiCorp users who would recommend it.

Docker

Read 56 Docker reviews

1,212 Views
724 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

HashiCorp Nomad

Read 2 HashiCorp Nomad reviews

852 Views
556 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Docker

HashiCorp Nomad

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 13, 2024

HashiCorp Nomad and Docker compete in container orchestration. Docker has an edge in feature richness and ecosystem support, making it preferable for organizations valuing extensive integrations. Nomad offers competitive pricing and scalability, appealing to enterprises focusing on cost optimization.

Features: Docker is renowned for its comprehensive containerization capabilities, extended ecosystem support, and wide range of integrations. It offers development tools that provide a broad feature set. HashiCorp Nomad is recognized for its lightweight framework, the ability to orchestrate both containerized and non-containerized applications, and native multi-datacenter support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Docker's deployment model is known for simplicity, enabling rapid setup in diverse environments. Its community support is extensive, offering a wealth of resources. HashiCorp Nomad, while slightly more complex to deploy, provides robust scalability and versatility for orchestrating diverse workloads. It offers specialized support channels tailored for enterprise deployments.

Pricing and ROI: HashiCorp Nomad features a more attractive pricing structure due to lower setup costs and efficient resource management, offering higher potential ROI for scalable solutions. Docker, although having potentially higher setup costs, justifies its expense with an extensive feature set and comprehensive support infrastructure, contributing to a potential long-term ROI for businesses investing widely in containerization.

To learn more, read our detailed Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

Docker

Ranking in Container Management

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (5th)

HashiCorp Nomad

Ranking in Container Management

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Docker is 2.6%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HashiCorp Nomad is 2.9%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Management

Featured Reviews

Rikin Parekh

Backend Engineer at Northeastern University

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.

Read full review

Zeeshan Akhtar

Full stack developer at VMware

Has out of the box features , which is good for companies that don't want to spend too much time on research

I've noticed a few UI issues. For example, when monitoring services and tasks, sometimes the tasks keep disconnecting. If you open the shell in HashiCorp Nomad using the exit button, it often disconnects, and you have to log in again. Sometimes, when I check the logs in the UI for microservices tasks, I encounter an issue where the logs are not visible. However, if I log in again after some time, refresh the page, or check a different container, the logs usually appear. These logs are being generated, as I can see them being shipped to my LogView. I'm not sure if this is a product issue or something related to our deployment, but I've noticed it.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use Docker to facilitate deployment, updates, and management."

"The initial setup was easy, and you are only required to run commands."

"Docker allows you to run multiple virtual machines independently."

"The most valuable feature of Docker is that it revolutionized virtualization by providing a new approach with containers that completely nullified the time it used to take to deploy applications on virtual servers, resulting in deployment times that can be as quick as milliseconds, unless it is a heavy application, such as Java. Additionally, resource utilization has greatly improved with Docker, allowing for more resources to be allocated to other tasks. These are a few key features that make Docker a preferred choice."

"Docker's containerization property is its main selling point."

"The most valuable feature is the simple containerization."

"The deployment is quite fast, which is beneficial."

"We are able to stop our containers or stop the service with a single command."

More Docker pros

"You could get most of HashiCorp Nomad's features from other microservice orchestrators like Kubernetes. The tool's advantage is its ease of use and integration with services like Envoy. With Kubernetes, you must think about many things, like UI integration, which vault to use, and how to discover the service. With the tool, many things come out of the box, making it easy to start. For example, using the Ingress proxy with the tool is quite easy, while it's trickier with Kubernetes."

"If you face an issue with an image during deployment, the solution will automatically revert to the last stable image."

Cons

"The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive"

"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."

"The solution’s documentation could improve a bit."

"They should provide proper documentation to understand the solution's cgroup process."

"Stability is an area with a shortcoming."

"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."

"We'd like knowledge transfer to be easier."

More Docker cons

"I've noticed a few UI issues. For example, when monitoring services and tasks, sometimes the tasks keep disconnecting. If you open the shell in HashiCorp Nomad using the exit button, it often disconnects, and you have to log in again. Sometimes, when I check the logs in the UI for microservices tasks, I encounter an issue where the logs are not visible. However, if I log in again after some time, refresh the page, or check a different container, the logs usually appear. These logs are being generated, as I can see them being shipped to my LogView. I'm not sure if this is a product issue or something related to our deployment, but I've noticed it."

"It would be good to have a UI interface so that developers could receive notifications for jobs in a bad state."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a free open-source tool."

"Docker is a free tool."

"Docker is cost-effective and open-source."

"There is a license needed to use Docker."

"Docker has made some changes and there is an enterprise version that is affordable."

"The current cost for us is nothing as an open source."

"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."

"We use the open-source version."

More Docker pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Container Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Docker?

We are using Docker to host applications.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker?

I consider Docker's pricing to be affordable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Docker?

In terms of communication between services, perhaps the configuration within networks between containers could be improved.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HashiCorp Nomad?

Sometimes, the job is in a bad state, and we don't get any notifications. It would be good to have a UI interface so that developers could receive notifications for jobs in a bad state.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HashiCorp Nomad?

We use HashiCorp Nomad mainly to deploy our images in the form of jobs. It is also used for load balancing, containerization, and instance deployment.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering HashiCorp Nomad?

I would recommend HashiCorp Nomad to other users because it is the best tool for deployment. It is easy for a beginner to learn to use HashiCorp Nomad for the first time. Any developer with a decen...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Docker

Compared 27% of the time

Mirantis Container Runtime vs Docker

Compared 13% of the time

Codespaces vs Docker

Compared 13% of the time

Rancher Labs vs Docker

Compared 11% of the time

AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) vs Docker

Compared 7% of the time

More Docker Competitors

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs HashiCorp Nomad

Compared 38% of the time

Rancher Labs vs HashiCorp Nomad

Compared 22% of the time

Portainer vs HashiCorp Nomad

Compared 17% of the time

Amazon EKS vs HashiCorp Nomad

Compared 6% of the time

Kubernetes vs HashiCorp Nomad

Compared 6% of the time

More HashiCorp Nomad Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Docker

June 2025

Download Docker product report

Buyer's Guide

Container Management

May 2025

Download HashiCorp Nomad product report

Overview

Docker is a versatile container platform used for running and deploying applications in isolated environments, ensuring consistency across development, testing, and production.

Docker offers solutions for containerizing applications, automating deployments, and managing infrastructure through its robust platform. It supports CI/CD workflows, provides a development platform for container management, and simplifies the setup by using streamlined tools. Organizations leverage Docker for building microservices, running UI applications, deploying web services, and setting up secure environments. It also facilitates managing containers via Kubernetes and creating development stacks for enhanced productivity.

What are Docker's key features?

Security: Offers containment and isolation of applications.
Easy Use: Simplifies the deployment and management of applications.
Documentation: Extensive resources to aid in understanding and implementation.
Customization: Flexible environment configurations.
Scalability: Efficiently handles applications irrespective of scale.
Internal DNS: Manages network configurations within the container ecosystem.
Overlay Networks: Facilitates seamless inter-container communication.
Resource Efficiency: Optimizes usage of system resources.

What benefits should users look for?

Consistency: Ensures homogeneous environments across development, testing, and production stages.
Portability: Allows applications to run consistently on any platform.
Cost-Effectiveness: Reduces overhead costs associated with application deployment.
Speed: Accelerates the build, test, and deployment cycles.
Flexibility: Supports various tools and integrations to adapt to different workflows.

Industries implement Docker for CI/CD pipelines, scaling services, and improving resource utilization. Tech companies use Docker for building and deploying their software in isolated environments. Finance and healthcare sectors deploy applications securely, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Educational institutions set up consistent development environments for coding labs and training students in advanced technologies.

Docker

HashiCorp was founded by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar in 2012 with the goal of revolutionizing datacenter management: application development, delivery, and maintenance.

The datacenter of today is very different than the datacenter of yesterday, and we think the datacenter of tomorrow is just around the corner. We're writing software to take you all the way from yesterday to today, and then safely to tomorrow and beyond.

Physical, virtual, containers. Private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud. IaaS, PaaS, SaaS. Windows, Linux, Mac. These are just some of the choices faced when architecting a datacenter of today. And the choice is not one or the other; instead, it is often a combination of many of these.

HashiCorp builds tools to ease these decisions by presenting solutions that span the gaps. Our tools manage both physical machines and virtual machines, Windows, and Linux, SaaS and IaaS, etc. And we're committed to supporting next-generation technologies, as well.

HashiCorp was founded and continues to be run by the primary authors of all our core technologies powering thousands of companies worldwide. We speak at conferences and write books related to application and infrastructure management.

All our foundational technologies are open source and developed openly, and have been since 2010.

The Tao of HashiCorp is the foundation that guides our vision, roadmap, and product design. As you evaluate using or contributing to HashiCorp's products, it may be valuable to understand the motivations and intentions for our work.

HashiCorp

Buyer's Guide

Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad

June 2025

Free Report: Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad

Find out what your peers are saying about Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Docker vs. HashiCorp Nomad report.

See our list of best Container Management vendors.

We monitor all Container Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.