head to head · open source
Docker vs robusta
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. robusta has 3,099 stars, 325 forks, 204 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 2,227% (72,113 vs 3,099 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; robusta is written in Python under MIT. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, robusta 10%. Docker was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (containers, 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.
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Side by side
| Docker | robusta | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 325 |
| 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 robusta if
- You want the robusta feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and robusta 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 robusta
Robusta is an open source alerting and monitoring project for Kubernetes, written in Python and released under the MIT license. The repository contains Robusta Classic, a rule based alert enrichment engine that connects to Prometheus through a webhook and adds operational context to alerts. It lives in the Kubernetes monitoring ecosystem and is compatible with kube prometheus stack, Prometheus Operator, and other Prometheus based setups.
read the full robusta overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or robusta more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and robusta has 3,099. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and robusta free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and robusta under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and robusta?
Docker is written in Go and robusta 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 robusta?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose robusta if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.