head to head · open source
Docker vs dagger
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dagger has 16,268 stars, 924 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped today. Docker leads on adoption by 343% (72,113 vs 16,268 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dagger is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, dagger 6%. dagger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (containers, docker), 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 | dagger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 924 |
| 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 dagger if
- You want the dagger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dagger 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 dagger
Dagger is an open source automation engine for software delivery, written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It builds, tests and ships any codebase, and it runs locally, inside a CI server, or directly in the cloud. The project lives in the cloud infrastructure and CI/CD ecosystem, where it occupies the space normally filled by shell scripts and proprietary pipeline YAML. It has been developed for roughly seven years and carries a substantial community footprint, with more than sixteen thousand stars and over nine hundred forks on GitHub.
read the full dagger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or dagger more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and dagger has 16,268. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and dagger free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dagger under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and dagger?
Docker is written in Go and dagger 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 dagger?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dagger if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.