head to head · open source
Docker vs floci
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. floci has 24,751 stars, 2,682 forks, 130 open issues and last shipped today. Docker leads on adoption by 191% (72,113 vs 24,751 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; floci is written in Java under MIT. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, floci 11%. floci was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Docker | floci | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 25K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| 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 floci if
- You want the floci feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and floci 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 floci
Floci is a free, MIT licensed, open source local AWS emulator that gives developers, testers, and CI pipelines AWS shaped services on their own machine without a cloud account, an auth token, or paid feature gates.
read the full floci overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Cloud Infrastructure Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Cloud Infrastructure Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or floci more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and floci has 24,751. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and floci free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and floci under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and floci?
Docker is written in Go and floci in Java. 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 floci?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose floci if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.