head to head · open source
Docker vs aws-cdk
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aws-cdk has 12,905 stars, 4,633 forks, 2,863 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 459% (72,113 vs 12,905 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; aws-cdk is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, aws-cdk 36%. Docker was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Docker | aws-cdk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 4.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docker if
- You weight community size — 72K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aws-cdk if
- You want the aws-cdk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and aws-cdk fits your workflow better
About Docker
Docker, published here as the Moby Project, is the open source collection of container toolkit components and the framework for assembling them into custom container based systems, built for engineers, integrators and enthusiasts who want to modify, hack and build on container code rather than buy a commercially supported product.
read the full Docker overview →
About aws-cdk
AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) is an open source software development framework for defining cloud infrastructure in code and provisioning it through AWS CloudFormation. It lives in the AWS ecosystem and ships under the Apache 2.0 license, with the core implementation written in TypeScript. The framework offers a high level object oriented abstraction that lets developers define AWS resources imperatively using modern programming languages rather than writing raw CloudFormation templates by hand.
read the full aws-cdk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or aws-cdk more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and aws-cdk has 12,905. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and aws-cdk free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and aws-cdk under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and aws-cdk?
Docker is written in Go and aws-cdk in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Docker or aws-cdk?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aws-cdk if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.