Overview

Docker Compose

Stacks22.1K

Followers16.5K

Votes501

GitHub Stars36.4K

Forks5.5K

Helm

Stacks1.4K

Followers911

Votes18

Docker Compose vs Helm: What are the differences?

Docker Compose and Helm are two popular tools used in the containerization and deployment of applications. While they serve similar purposes, there are key differences between the two.

Configuration Format and Scope: Docker Compose uses a YAML file to define and configure a single application with multiple containers. It focuses on orchestrating containers on a single host or a local machine. In contrast, Helm uses YAML templates to define and configure applications consisting of multiple containers, and it is primarily used for deploying applications on Kubernetes clusters.
Application Deployment: Docker Compose is focused on deploying applications locally or on a single host using Docker. It provides a simple way to define and manage the relationships between containers. On the other hand, Helm is designed for deploying applications on Kubernetes clusters. It provides a package manager-like approach, allowing for easy installation, upgrade, and removal of applications on a Kubernetes cluster.
Versioning and Release Management: Docker Compose lacks built-in support for versioning or release management. Each update requires manually updating the Docker Compose file and re-deploying the application. Helm, on the other hand, provides versioning and release management capabilities out of the box. It allows users to update and roll back to previous versions of an application easily.
Dependency Management: Docker Compose does not have built-in dependency management. If an application relies on other services or containers, the dependencies need to be managed manually. Helm, however, provides a dependency management feature. It allows users to define dependencies between different components or services, ensuring they are deployed in the correct order.
Customizability and Templating: Docker Compose does not provide advanced templating capabilities. Configuration values need to be manually updated or provided outside the Compose file. Helm, on the other hand, offers a robust templating system. It allows users to define and customize deployment configurations using templates, enabling more flexibility and reusability.
Community and Ecosystem Support: Both Docker Compose and Helm have active communities, but Helm is more tightly integrated with the Kubernetes ecosystem. Helm benefits from a larger user base, which results in a wider range of pre-built charts (packages) available for deploying various applications on Kubernetes. Docker Compose, while popular for local development and single-host deployments, has a smaller ecosystem and community.

In summary, Docker Compose is best suited for local development and deploying applications on a single host, while Helm is designed for deploying applications on Kubernetes clusters. Helm provides additional features such as versioning, release management, dependency management, templating, and a larger ecosystem within the Kubernetes community.

Advice on Docker Compose, Helm

Michael

CEO at asencis Ltd

Jan 5, 2021

Needs advice

We develop rapidly with docker-compose orchestrated services, however, for production - we utilise the very best ideas that Kubernetes has to offer: SCALE! We can scale when needed, setting a maximum and minimum level of nodes for each application layer - scaling only when the load balancer needs it. This allowed us to reduce our devops costs by 40% whilst also maintaining an SLA of 99.87%.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Docker Compose	Helm
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.	Helm is the best way to find, share, and use software built for Kubernetes.
Statistics
GitHub Stars 36.4K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 5.5K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 22.1K	Stacks 1.4K
Followers 16.5K	Followers 911
Votes 501	Votes 18
Pros & Cons
Pros 123 Multi-container descriptor 110 Fast development environment setup 79 Easy linking of containers 68 Simple yaml configuration 60 Easy setup Cons 9 Tied to single machine 5 Still very volatile, changing syntax often	Pros 8 Infrastructure as code 6 Open source 2 Easy setup 1 Support 1 Testability and reproducibility
Integrations
Docker	Docker Kubernetes

What are some alternatives to Docker Compose, Helm?

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.

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

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.

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Portainer

It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.

Codefresh

Automate and parallelize testing. Codefresh allows teams to spin up on-demand compositions to run unit and integration tests as part of the continuous integration process. Jenkins integration allows more complex pipelines.

CAST.AI

It is an AI-driven cloud optimization platform for Kubernetes. Instantly cut your cloud bill, prevent downtime, and 10X the power of DevOps.

k3s

Certified Kubernetes distribution designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances. Supports something as small as a Raspberry Pi or as large as an AWS a1.4xlarge 32GiB server.

Flocker

Flocker is a data volume manager and multi-host Docker cluster management tool. With it you can control your data using the same tools you use for your stateless applications. This means that you can run your databases, queues and key-value stores in Docker and move them around as easily as the rest of your app.