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Compose vs Kubernetes: What are the differences?

What is Compose? We host databases for busy devs: production-ready, cloud-hosted, open source. Compose makes it easy to spin up multiple open source databases with just one click. Deploy MongoDB for production, take Redis out for a performance test drive, or spin up RethinkDB in development before rolling it out to production.

What is Kubernetes? Manage a cluster of Linux containers as a single system to accelerate Dev and simplify Ops. Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

Compose can be classified as a tool in the "MongoDB Hosting" category, while Kubernetes is grouped under "Container Tools".

Some of the features offered by Compose are:

  • One click, production-ready, cloud hosted MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL and RethinkDB, with additional databases in beta.

Every deployment features: database autoscaling based on data size usage - private VLAN, IP whitelisting, SSL, full-stack monitoring, custom alerts - HA and fault tolerance with automatic failover

On the other hand, Kubernetes provides the following key features:

  • Lightweight, simple and accessible
  • Built for a multi-cloud world, public, private or hybrid
  • Highly modular, designed so that all of its components are easily swappable

"Simple to set up" is the top reason why over 41 developers like Compose, while over 134 developers mention "Leading docker container management solution" as the leading cause for choosing Kubernetes.

Kubernetes is an open source tool with 56.2K GitHub stars and 19.6K GitHub forks. Here's a link to Kubernetes's open source repository on GitHub.

According to the StackShare community, Kubernetes has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1440 company stacks & 5226 developers stacks; compared to Compose, which is listed in 110 company stacks and 73 developer stacks.

Decisions about Compose and Kubernetes
Simon Reymann
Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH · | 30 upvotes · 10.7M views

Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:

  • GitHub (incl. GitHub Pages/Markdown for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
  • Respectively Git as revision control system
  • SourceTree as Git GUI
  • Visual Studio Code as IDE
  • CircleCI for continuous integration (automatize development process)
  • Prettier / TSLint / ESLint as code linter
  • SonarQube as quality gate
  • Docker as container management (incl. Docker Compose for multi-container application management)
  • VirtualBox for operating system simulation tests
  • Kubernetes as cluster management for docker containers
  • Heroku for deploying in test environments
  • nginx as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
  • SSLMate (using OpenSSL) for certificate management
  • Amazon EC2 (incl. Amazon S3) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
  • PostgreSQL as preferred database system
  • Redis as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)

The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:

  • Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
  • Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
  • Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
  • Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
  • Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
  • Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.
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Pros of Compose
Pros of Kubernetes
  • 42
    Simple to set up
  • 32
    One-click mongodb
  • 29
    Automated Backups
  • 23
    Designed to scale
  • 21
    Easy interface
  • 13
    Fast and Simple
  • 10
    Real-Time Monitoring
  • 7
    Fastest MongoDB Available
  • 6
    Great Design
  • 6
    REST API
  • 4
    Easy to set up
  • 3
    Free for testing
  • 3
    Geospatial support
  • 2
    Elasticsearch
  • 2
    Heroku Add-on
  • 1
    Automated Health Checks
  • 1
    Email Support
  • 1
    Query Logs
  • 166
    Leading docker container management solution
  • 129
    Simple and powerful
  • 107
    Open source
  • 76
    Backed by google
  • 58
    The right abstractions
  • 25
    Scale services
  • 20
    Replication controller
  • 11
    Permission managment
  • 9
    Supports autoscaling
  • 8
    Simple
  • 8
    Cheap
  • 6
    Self-healing
  • 5
    Open, powerful, stable
  • 5
    Reliable
  • 5
    No cloud platform lock-in
  • 5
    Promotes modern/good infrascture practice
  • 4
    Scalable
  • 4
    Quick cloud setup
  • 3
    Custom and extensibility
  • 3
    Captain of Container Ship
  • 3
    Cloud Agnostic
  • 3
    Backed by Red Hat
  • 3
    Runs on azure
  • 3
    A self healing environment with rich metadata
  • 2
    Everything of CaaS
  • 2
    Gke
  • 2
    Golang
  • 2
    Easy setup
  • 2
    Expandable
  • 2
    Sfg

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Compose
Cons of Kubernetes
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 16
      Steep learning curve
    • 15
      Poor workflow for development
    • 8
      Orchestrates only infrastructure
    • 4
      High resource requirements for on-prem clusters
    • 2
      Too heavy for simple systems
    • 1
      Additional vendor lock-in (Docker)
    • 1
      More moving parts to secure
    • 1
      Additional Technology Overhead

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    What is Compose?

    Compose makes it easy to spin up multiple open source databases with just one click. Deploy MongoDB for production, take Redis out for a performance test drive, or spin up RethinkDB in development before rolling it out to production.

    What is Kubernetes?

    Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use Compose?
    What companies use Kubernetes?
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    Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

    What tools integrate with Compose?
    What tools integrate with Kubernetes?

    Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

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    What are some alternatives to Compose and Kubernetes?
    Docker Compose
    With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.
    Docker
    The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere
    Composer
    It is a tool for dependency management in PHP. It allows you to declare the libraries your project depends on and it will manage (install/update) them for you.
    Docker Swarm
    Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.
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