docker-desktop-alternative.adoc

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Why we chose Rancher Desktop as Docker-Desktop alternative

Introduction

As Docker Desktop has changed its licensing we have been looking for a license-free alternative. This document gives a rationale why we have choosen Rancher Desktop as alternative to setup and manage docker and kubernetes.

Why we chose Rancher Desktop as Docker-Desktop alternative

Our main criteria for tool comparision were:

• The softwares licence

• Match of toolset compared to Docker Desktop

• Complexity of installing and setting up the toolset

• Stability of the solution

• Future-proofness (community activitiy, regular updates and fixes)

	Rancher Desktop	Podman-Minikube	Others
Pro	- It comes very close to what Docker-Desktop offers, as it installs most of Docker-Desktop’s cli-tools → Almost frictionless shift - Installs and sets up a good toolset including typical docker compnents as well as kubernetes - Makes installation and setup very easy - Cloud tools like Helm or Terraform are usable - Works on macOS, Windows and Linux - Comes with a GUI - Easy shift between Kubernetes versions via GUI - Works with VPN when using wsl-vpnkit - Licence free	- Works deamon less, also OCI-Containers (like Docker) - Root less Containers, giving security improvements over Docker - Not that hard to install and setup - Kubernetes usable locally - Licence free	Interesting components: - e.g. Lazydocker gives a pretty and compact graphical component - e.g. MicroK8s as a lightweight, fast version of Kubernetes
Contra	-does not have all features Docker Desktop has, like image security scans	- Has most usual Docker-commands, but not all of them - For ongoing Docker-projects might not be worth it, because of some differences to Docker → Porblems during software migration - GUI less - More work when it comes to implementation - minikube only gives us one cluster - Does not have all features Docker Desktop has, like image security scans	- In some cases not available for all OS - Software often just one component of what we need (like Kind for running Clusters using Docker; Buildah for building Containers…​), therefore need to mix tools - Especially for a manual mix of tools severe implementation/maintenance increase possible - More error-prone, particularly when using a rather uncommon mix of tools - Unclear future of some projects - Some options were bleeding edge