People ask this as if they were rivals, and they are not. Docker packages your application so it runs the same everywhere. Kubernetes runs and looks after many of those packages across many servers. One builds the box, the other manages the warehouse full of boxes. Most teams that use Kubernetes also use Docker-built images, so the real question is not "which one?" but "do I need the bigger tool yet?"

The short answer

Docker Kubernetes

What it does Builds images and runs containers Runs containers across a group of machines and keeps them healthy

Works on One machine A cluster of machines

You use it to Package an app and run it Deploy, scale, update and restart many apps

Setup effort Install it and write a Dockerfile Much higher: cluster, networking, storage, config

Typical user Every developer Teams running many services in production

What Docker does

A container is your application plus everything it needs to run (runtime, libraries, config), isolated from the rest of the machine.…