head to head · open source
Docker vs sops
Docker has 72,240 GitHub stars, 19,301 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sops has 23,615 stars, 1,112 forks, 446 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 206% (72,240 vs 23,615 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; sops is written in Go under MPL-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, sops 5%. 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 | sops | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 24K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 sops if
- You want the sops feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and sops fits your workflow better
About Docker
The Moby Project ================ Moby is an open source project created by Docker to enable and accelerate software containerization. It provides a "Lego set" of toolkit components, the framework for assembling them into custom container based systems, and a place for all container enthusiasts and professionals to experiment and exchange ideas. Components include container build tools, a container registry, orchestration tools, a runtime and more, and these can be used as building blocks in conjunction with other tools and projects. Principles Moby is an open project guided by strong principles, aiming to be…
read the full Docker overview →
About sops
SOPS: Secrets OPerationS ======================== SOPS is an editor of encrypted files that supports YAML, JSON, ENV, INI and BINARY formats and encrypts with AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, HuaweiCloud KMS, age, and PGP. ( demo ) .. image:: .. image:: :target: Documentation You can find the SOPS documentation on getsops.io under "Docs" . Security Please report any security issues privately using GitHub's advisory form . License Mozilla Public License Version 2.0 Authors SOPS was initially launched as a project at Mozilla in 2015 and has been graciously donated to the CNCF as a Sandbox project in 2023, now…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or sops more popular?
Docker has 72,240 GitHub stars and sops has 23,615. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and sops free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sops under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and sops?
Docker is written in Go and sops 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 sops?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,240 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sops if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.