head to head · open source
Docker vs terragrunt
Docker has 72,238 GitHub stars, 19,309 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. terragrunt has 9,910 stars, 1,249 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Docker leads on adoption by 629% (72,238 vs 9,910 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; terragrunt is written in Go under MIT. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, terragrunt 13%. terragrunt 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 | terragrunt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 terragrunt if
- You want the terragrunt feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and terragrunt 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 terragrunt
Terragrunt 🎉 Terragrunt v1.0 is here! Read the announcement to learn more. Terragrunt is a flexible orchestration tool that allows Infrastructure as Code written in OpenTofu/Terraform to scale. Please see the following for more info, including install instructions and complete documentation: Terragrunt Website Getting started with Terragrunt Terragrunt Documentation Terragrunt Scale Contributing to Terragrunt Commercial Support Join the Discord! Join our community for discussions, support, and contributions: License This code is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE.txt.
read the full terragrunt overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or terragrunt more popular?
Docker has 72,238 GitHub stars and terragrunt has 9,910. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and terragrunt free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and terragrunt under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and terragrunt?
Docker is written in Go and terragrunt 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 terragrunt?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,238 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose terragrunt if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.