head to head · open source
Docker vs trivy
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. trivy has 37,986 stars, 695 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 90% (72,113 vs 37,986 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; trivy is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, trivy 2%. Docker was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (containers, docker, go, 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 | trivy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 38K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 695 |
| 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 trivy if
- You want the trivy 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 trivy 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 trivy
Trivy is an open source security scanner written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It is an Aqua Security open source project, hosted at trivy.dev, and it lives in the cloud native and DevSecOps ecosystem alongside container runtimes, Kubernetes clusters, and infrastructure as code tooling. The design separates two ideas: scanners, which describe the classes of security issue Trivy looks for, and targets, which describe where it looks. The README presents the project as a comprehensive and versatile scanner, and the topic list — containers, devsecops, docker, iac, infrastructure as code, kubernetes…
read the full trivy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or trivy more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and trivy has 37,986. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and trivy free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and trivy under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and trivy?
Docker is written in Go and trivy 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 trivy?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose trivy if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.