Kubernetes is the industry standard, Docker Swarm is a simpler alternative.
Kubernetes¶
- Most widely used orchestrator
- Huge ecosystem (Helm, Operators, Service Mesh)
- Auto-scaling, rolling updates, self-healing
- Steep learning curve
- Managed: EKS, GKE, AKS
Docker Swarm¶
- Integrated in Docker
- Simple configuration (docker-compose → deploy)
- Fewer features, but sufficient for smaller projects
- Community is shrinking
Comparison¶
- Complexity: Swarm ★☆☆, K8s ★★★
- Features: K8s significantly more (CRD, operators, RBAC)
- Ecosystem: K8s dominates
- Scale: K8s thousands of nodes, Swarm tens
- Learning curve: Swarm hours, K8s weeks-months
When to Use Which¶
- K8s — 10+ services, cloud, enterprise, team > 5 people
- Swarm — small projects, simplicity, single team
K8s Is the Standard¶
Kubernetes for production. Swarm for simple projects where K8s is overkill.
kubernetesdocker swarmorchestrace