Kubernetes is unquestionably the most widely-used container orchestrator today. That is important—it bears directly on questions like the ecosystem surrounding the platform. But it shouldn’t be the sole basis for a decision; common use-cases may not match yours.
There are four major variables to consider:
- Scale
- Ease of use
- Security
- Ecosystem
You could say that Docker Swarm is designed from—and tailored to—the perspective of a developer, rather than the bird’s-eye view of an operator. Broadly speaking, Swarm is interested in helping you get a containerized service from dev to prod with minimal fuss. Kubernetes, by contrast, takes a global view. There is an API-manageable abstraction for everything. It’s a rich and configurable system that doesn’t mind shifting additional cognitive burden onto developers.
These two different design philosophies give rise to many of each system’s respective strengths and weaknesses.
| Kubernetes | Swarm | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | Designed for scaling- Clusters up to 10,000 services. | Small Scale Clusters |
| Ease of Use | Steep Learning Curve | Easy- quick onboarding |
| Security | Validation – more difficult. Lots of moving pieces harder to validate each against secure managed services. | Easier to Validate |
| Ecosystem | Extensive – virtuous cycle of expansion | Limited |