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Docker Compose vs Rancher: What are the differences?
Docker Compose: Define and run multi-container applications with Docker. 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; Rancher: Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service. 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 Compose and Rancher can be categorized as "Container" tools.
"Multi-container descriptor", "Fast development environment setup" and "Easy linking of containers" are the key factors why developers consider Docker Compose; whereas "Easy to use", "Open source and totally free" and "Multi-host docker-compose support" are the primary reasons why Rancher is favored.
Docker Compose and Rancher are both open source tools. Docker Compose with 16.4K GitHub stars and 2.52K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Rancher with 11.8K GitHub stars and 1.31K GitHub forks.
CircleCI, Harvest, and Leftronic are some of the popular companies that use Docker Compose, whereas Rancher is used by Packet, Redox Engine, and VCCloud. Docker Compose has a broader approval, being mentioned in 787 company stacks & 608 developers stacks; compared to Rancher, which is listed in 88 company stacks and 35 developer stacks.
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%.
Pros of Docker Compose
- Multi-container descriptor123
- Fast development environment setup110
- Easy linking of containers79
- Simple yaml configuration68
- Easy setup60
- Yml or yaml format16
- Use Standard Docker API12
- Open source8
- Go from template to application in minutes5
- Can choose Discovery Backend5
- Scalable4
- Easy configuration4
- Kubernetes integration4
- Quick and easy3
Pros of Rancher
- Easy to use103
- Open source and totally free79
- Multi-host docker-compose support63
- Load balancing and health check included58
- Simple58
- Rolling upgrades, green/blue upgrades feature44
- Dns and service discovery out-of-the-box42
- Only requires docker37
- Multitenant and permission management34
- Easy to use and feature rich29
- Cross cloud compatible11
- Does everything needed for a docker infrastructure11
- Simple and powerful8
- Next-gen platform8
- Very Docker-friendly7
- Support Kubernetes and Swarm6
- Application catalogs with stack templates (wizards)6
- Supports Apache Mesos, Docker Swarm, and Kubernetes6
- Rolling and blue/green upgrades deployments6
- High Availability service: keeps your app up 24/76
- Easy to use service catalog5
- Very intuitive UI4
- IaaS-vendor independent, supports hybrid/multi-cloud4
- Awesome support4
- Scalable3
- Requires less infrastructure requirements2
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Cons of Docker Compose
- Tied to single machine9
- Still very volatile, changing syntax often5
Cons of Rancher
- Hosting Rancher can be complicated10
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What is Docker Compose?
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