Docker vs Kubernetes: Container Technologies Compared

Docker and Kubernetes are often mentioned together, but they serve different purposes in the container ecosystem. Understanding their relationship is key to modern DevOps.\\n\\n**Docker** is a containerization platform that packages applications and their dependencies into containers. It provides the tools to build, ship, and run containers on a single machine. Docker makes it easy to create consistent environments across development, testing, and production.\\n\\n**Kubernetes** is a container orchestration platform that manages multiple containers across multiple machines. It handles deployment, scaling, load balancing, and self-healing of containerized applications. Kubernetes doesn't replace Docker—it uses container runtimes like Docker to run containers at scale.\\n\\n**The Relationship:** Docker creates containers, Kubernetes orchestrates them. You can use Docker without Kubernetes for simple deployments, but you need an orchestrator like Kubernetes when running containers at scale.\\n\\n**Use Docker when:** Developing locally, running simple applications, learning containerization, or deploying to single servers.\\n\\n**Use Kubernetes when:** Running microservices at scale, need automatic scaling and load balancing, require high availability, or managing complex distributed systems.\\n\\n**Reality Check:** Many projects start with Docker and only adopt Kubernetes when they truly need orchestration. Don't over-engineer—Kubernetes adds complexity that small projects don't need.