head to head · open source
Docker vs cds
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cds has 4,843 stars, 453 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 1,389% (72,113 vs 4,843 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; cds is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, cds 9%. Docker was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | cds | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 453 |
| 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 cds if
- You want the cds feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cds 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 cds
CDS is an open source, enterprise grade continuous delivery and DevOps automation platform written in Go, for teams that build, run and own their own CI/CD workflows and want to script and scale them without depending on a hosted vendor.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or cds more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and cds has 4,843. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and cds free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cds under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and cds?
Docker is written in Go and cds in Go. 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 cds?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cds if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.