Free Docker Swarm Alternatives

The best free alternative to Docker Swarm is Kubernetes, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to Docker Swarm and 17 is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Docker Swarm are Rancher, Dokku, DDEV and Rancher Desktop.

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Alternatives list

  1. Kubernetes icon
     77 likes

    Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  2. Rancher icon
     47 likes

    Rancher is an open source container management platform built for organizations that deploy containers in production. Rancher makes it easy to run Kubernetes everywhere, meet IT requirements, and empower DevOps teams.

    37 Rancher alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  3. Dokku icon
     18 likes

    Docker powered mini-Heroku in around 100 lines of Bash.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  4. DDEV icon
     5 likes

    Local or cloud development environment for web developers. Powered by Docker. But without the complexities of bespoke configuration.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  5. Rancher Desktop is an open-source desktop application for Mac, Windows and Linux. It provides Kubernetes and container management. You can choose the version of Kubernetes you want to run. You can build, push, pull, and run container images.

    47 Rancher Desktop alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
    Rancher Desktop vs Docker Swarm Comments
    Farrukh
    Negative
    0

    Rancher Desktop is not the Docker Swarm alternative. It is the Kubernetes and Container Management application, not a Container Orchestrition application like Docker Swarm or Kubernetes. It is the alternative to Docker Desktop.

    • Rancher Desktop is Free and Open SourceDocker Swarm is Free and Proprietary
  6. Simplecontainer manager a.k.a smr. Standalone and cluster mode, GitOps, Secrets, Reconciliation, and YAML definitions for Docker.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
     
  7. Cycle.io icon
     5 likes

    Cycle is the leading LowOps platform built to simplify containers, standardize infrastructure, and automate DevOps. Deploy to your own infrastructure whether it's in the cloud, on-prem, or a mixture of both. The power of Kubernetes, without Kubernetes.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
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    1
    Cycle.io vs Docker Swarm Comments
    Lexi
    Positive
    0

    Docker swarm is a manual operating system, while Cycle is a container orchestration platform that abstracts and standardizes all infrastructure so that it can be managed as a single pool of resources.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Cycle.io is Freemium and ProprietaryDocker Swarm is Free and Proprietary
  8. Apache Mesos icon
     20 likes

    Apache Mesos is a cluster manager that simplifies the complexity of running applications on a shared pool of servers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  9. Nomad is an easy-to-use, flexible, and performant workload orchestrator that can deploy a mix of microservice, batch, containerized, and non-containerized applications.

    9 HashiCorp Nomad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
  10. OpenFaas icon
     1 like

    OpenFaaS® makes it easy for developers to deploy event-driven functions and microservices to Kubernetes without repetitive, boiler-plate coding. Package your code or an existing binary in a Docker image to get a highly scalable endpoint with auto-scaling and metrics.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
     
  11. Nebula container orchestrator aims to help devs and ops treat IoT devices just like distributed Dockerized apps. It aim is to act as Docker orchestrator for IoT devices as well as for distributed services that can span thousands of devices worldwide.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  12. Mesosphere DCOS organizes your entire infrastructure as if it was a single computer. It runs all your apps and workloads, from PaaS-based microservices to big data to databases.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
     
12 of 17 Docker Swarm alternatives