head to head · open source
Docker vs st2
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. st2 has 6,537 stars, 787 forks, 603 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 1,003% (72,113 vs 6,537 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; st2 is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, st2 12%. 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 | st2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 787 |
| 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 st2 if
- You want the st2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and st2 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 st2
StackStorm — packaged and installed as st2 — is an open source, event driven automation platform, often described as "IFTTT for Ops", that ties existing infrastructure, monitoring and application tools together so DevOps engineers and SREs can automate remediation, incident response, troubleshooting and deployment as rules and workflows stored as code.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or st2 more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and st2 has 6,537. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and st2 free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and st2 under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and st2?
Docker is written in Go and st2 in Python. 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 st2?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose st2 if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.