Docker Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Docker for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is Podman, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to Docker and ten of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Docker are BitNami Application Stacks, OrbStack, Apache Mesos and Crane.

Docker alternatives are mainly Virtualization Tools but may also be Web Servers or Server Management Tools. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Docker.

Docker

255

Freemium • Open Source
Virtualization Tool

Docker is an open-source engine that automates the deployment of any application as a lightweight, portable,...

More about Docker

Docker alternatives page was last updated

Podman
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Linux
Windows
Mac
Red Hat
9 Podman alternatives
podman is a daemon-less container runtime for managing containers, pods, and container images. It is intended as a counterpart to CRI-O, to provide low-level debugging not available through the CRI interface used by Kubernetes.
- - Podman is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Docker.
- - Podman is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Docker.
Suggest and vote on features
Podman Features
Secure containerization
No Root Required
Container Orchestration
Docker Container
FOSS
Comments about Podman as a Alternative to Docker
Almost everyone thinks Podman is a great Docker alternative.
Guest
Same syntax, runs without socket, more secure
Positive comment •
5

rabbit5
Drop-in replacement without the license restrictions of Docker
Positive comment •
0
BitNami Application Stacks
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Web Server
Server Management Tool
Mac
Windows
Linux
Online
43 BitNami Application Stacks alternatives
BitNami Stacks make it incredibly easy to deploy your favorite open source software. BitNami Stacks include an open source application and all of the other software necessary to run it, such as Apache, MySQL, PHP or Ruby.
- - BitNami Application Stacks is the most popular Web-based alternative to Docker.
Suggest and vote on features
BitNami Application Stacks Features
Package Installing
One click installation
LAMP
Ruby
OrbStack
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free Personal • Proprietary
Mac
4 OrbStack alternatives
OrbStack is an alternative to Docker Desktop for macOS, designed to offer improved performance for Docker and virtual machines on Linux running on Mac computers. It addresses performance issues that have been experienced in the past, particularly on models with Apple Silicon.
Suggest and vote on features
OrbStack Features
Support for Docker
Apache Mesos
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Virtualization Tool
Operating System
Mac
Linux
31 Apache Mesos alternatives
Apache Mesos is a cluster manager that simplifies the complexity of running applications on a shared pool of servers.
Suggest and vote on features
Apache Mesos Features
VPS
Hypervisor
Opinions about Apache Mesos as a Alternative to Docker
This alternative is disputed. Apache Mesos is still a legitimate Docker alternative, but it might have issues that some users think are important.
Crane
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
11 Crane alternatives
Crane is a container image tool that includes building local Docker images; connecting to DockerHub; listing local and remote container images; pushing local images to the DockerHub registry, and importing remote container images into an MLOps platform cluster.
Suggest and vote on features
Crane Features
Docker Container
Support for Docker
Colima
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Linux
3 Colima alternatives
Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup.
Suggest and vote on features
Colima Features
Support for Docker
Kubernetes
Packer
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Solaris
5 Packer alternatives
Packer is a "source available" tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in...
Packer has no features, suggest some!
Add a screenshot

Comments about Packer as a Alternative to Docker
pros, cons and recent comments
Guest
Packer is a system building and provisioning tool. While it can be used to create a virtual machine, it is not itself virtual machine implementation.
Negative comment •
0

Guest
Packer is NOT an alternative to Docker. it is an API abstraction layer for creating repeatable machine images, not for orchestrating containers
Negative comment •
-1
Turbo.net Client
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Mac
Windows
Android
iPad
6 Turbo.net Client alternatives
The Turbo.net Client allows you to package apps and their dependencies into a lightweight, isolated virtual environment called a "container." Containerized apps can be run on any machine that has the appropriate Turbo.
- - Turbo.net Client is the most popular Android & iPad alternative to Docker.
Suggest and vote on features
Turbo.net Client Features
1. Container VirtualizationTurbo.net Client can make use of isolated user spaces called "containers" to run applications.
Support for Docker
Hypervisor
Comments about Turbo.net Client as a Alternative to Docker
pros, cons and recent comments
JohnDangerbrooks
It is the only solution that runs an OS other than Linux.
Positive comment •
-1
Singularity
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Windows
Linux
9 Singularity alternatives
Singularity is a container solution with a focus on building reproducible software stacks and running them most efficiently on existing HPC, scientific, compute farm and even enterprise architectures.
Suggest and vote on features
Singularity Features
1. Container VirtualizationSingularity can make use of isolated user spaces called "containers" to run applications.
Single file container
Comments about Singularity as a Alternative to Docker
Almost everyone thinks Singularity is a great Docker alternative.
Luca Gibelli
Lightweight, very easy to setup. Moving containers between servers is as easy as copying a file.
Positive comment •
0
DataCol
Is this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Mac
Linux
15 DataCol alternatives
Datacol is a control layer on top of cloud (AWS/GCP), to provide Heroku like experience with the power of Kubernetes under the hood.
Suggest and vote on features
DataCol Features
Support for Docker
Google Cloud
Cloud based
Discontinued
The last update is from 2018.