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Kubernetes vs Docker Swarm: a simple comparison

· 1 min read

First published on the pushpanel.io blog as “Kubernetes vs Docker Swarm simple comparison” and archived here. The original domain is no longer ours, so links to it were removed and the headline rewritten for this site; the text of the post is unchanged.

FeatureDocker SwarmKubernetes
InstallationSimple installation but resultant cluster not strongDifficult installation and a resultant cluster is strong
ScalabilityUnlimited nodes with a price of resources lost. 1000 nodes with 30,000 containers
5000+ but most companies will limit you to about 250 max. 5000 nodes with 150,000 containers
Load BalancingAuto load-balancing in one clusterManual load balancing sometimes is required for balancing traffic between pods and containers
RollbacksAutomatic rollback when a deployment fails.Automatic rollback when doing updates
UpdatesA cluster can be upgraded in placeIn-place cluster updates have been constantly maturing
AvailabilityHigh Availability. Auto restarting containers when host fail to deliver.High Availability. Health checks can be defined inside pods.
Monitoring3rd party tools.Tools built-in.
GUINo GUI. 3rd party like #portainer.ioComes with a dashboard.