Docker is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) developed by Docker, Inc. that allows users to build, test, and deploy applications quickly into any environment. It eliminates repetitive and mundane configuration tasks and makes development more efficient, scalable, and predictable.

Docker uses OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages into standardized units called containers, and the software that hosts the containers is called Docker Engine. Docker containers have everything the software needs to run, such as system tools, code, libraries, runtime, and so on. As such, Docker is widely accepted, and the services are used by different types of companies and different teams.

See below to learn all about Docker and where it stands in the containerization sector:

The container orchestration market is growing rapidly and will reach a billion-dollar market value within a few years. The global container orchestration market value was $454 million in 2021, and it is expected to reach $1.78 billion by 2027, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.62% from 2022 to 2027.

Docker is the container orchestration market leader with an 82.58% market share. As such, it encourages users to build, share, and run modern applications. More than 13 million developers are using Docker for more than seven million applications and more than 13 billion monthly image downloads. The demand for Docker is increasing rapidly with its scalability, performance, and security.

Docker is a feature-rich software platform. Its comprehensive end-to-end platform includes application programming interfaces (APIs), command-line interfaces (CLIs), user interfaces (UIs), and security that are engineered to work together across the entire application delivery life cycle. Some of the features and benefits of Docker are given below.

Security is an important concern, Docker allows users to build, share, and run applications securely across the entire software supply chain with simple but powerful tools that improve application security without impeding developer productivity.

Docker offers the industry-leading container runtime. Its Docker Engine can run on various Linux and Windows Server operating systems and can enable containerized applications to run anywhere consistently on any infrastructure.

Docker’s developer tools, a set of Docker CLI plugins, deliver the fastest way to securely build, test, and share cloud-ready containerized applications and microservices. The tools integrate Docker with the user’s development environment and augments their normal code-build-test cycles.

In addition, the extending functionality of Docker Engine, Compose, and other core Docker APIs enhance collaboration and simplify the management process of Docker Apps, images, and registries. Compose V2 accelerates users’ daily local development, build and run of multi-container applications, and development cycle, and it ensures easy switching from the development environment to the production environment.

Docker Hub is a hosted repository service that enables finding and sharing container images with the user’s team. Key features include Private Repositories, Automated Builds, Teams and Organizations, Official Images, Publisher Images, and Webhooks.

It is the world’s largest community of container images and is the central meeting place for container community developers, open-source projects, and independent software vendors (ISVs). Premium and verified images let users pick the right containers, and the hub image security just got better with built-in scanning by Snyk.

Docker Extensions help to boost Docker Desktop capabilities by directly integrating an array of developer tools. They seamlessly connect favorite development tools to users’ application development and deployment workflows and enhance Docker Desktop with debugging, testing, security, and networking functionalities.

Also, Docker Extensions’ SDK makes it easy to create custom Docker Desktop functionalities and explore the possibilities by adding a variety of tools to development workflows. The created Extensions can be shared with Docker’s entire community for any contributor, group, or organization to benefit from a vast collection of solutions.

Docker shares its production plans with customers early and often, so it can get users’ feedback. The road map helps to identify the right projects for Docker to focus on and allows customers to make early decisions. During live feedback sessions, the company often shows work-in-progress features or ideas to get users’ input or asks users more about how they use Docker to discover any pain points.

Docker works to remove complexity and busy work from the development life cycle, so developers can spend more time on innovating. When users are publicly distributing their software via Docker Hub, the Docker Verified Publisher (DVP) program allows images to be verified and marked as trusted content.

In addition, Docker has acquired a portfolio of well-known alliance partners, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), JFrog, Microsoft Azure, Snyk, and Nuaware.

Docker is a widely used software platform that delivers container orchestration for a variety of users within organizations of all sizes.

“We have used Docker for creating images for our project and deploying that image using Kubernetes. It is very much useful for other developers, as if we are creating images successfully, then no one will face errors in their systems. We have added this phase in our Jenkins build so that this step will not be missed.” -Abhishek Raj, senior software engineer, SaltPharmaceuticals

“Our company uses Docker to maintain a consistent environment between different contributors to the same codebase. Docker makes it so easy to maintain modules and compare computational performance across machines. This is increasingly important as the codebase expands and as we add contributors and particularly as we onboard clients to contribute as well.” -Lindsay Veazey, senior data scientist, Very

“Docker is used to build and deploy all our images. We also use Docker to host all our images in a registry, which is used company-wide to make it easy for different teams to pull down and push images.” -Nini Olo, DevOps engineer, Sky

Docker receives mostly positive reviews and recommendations from several user review sites. According to the G2 review , users rate Docker at 4.6 out of 5, and the users at TrustRadius rate Docker at 9 out of 10.

According to Gartner Peer Insights , users rate Docker at 4.6 out of 5, with a 96% recommendation rating and additional customer experience ratings, such as:

Docker offers four pricing and subscription models : Personal, Pro, Team, and Business.

The Personal model is free to use and is ideal for individual developers, education, open-source communities, and small businesses. The main features include Docker Desktop, Unlimited public repositories, Docker Engine and Kubernetes, 200 image pulls per six hours, and unlimited scoped tokens.

Pro model pricing starts from $5 per month and includes pro tools for individual developers to accelerate their productivity. The main features include Docker Desktop, unlimited private repositories, 5,000 image pulls per day, five concurrent builds, and 300 hub vulnerability scans.

Team model pricing starts from $7 per user per month and $25 per 5 users. It is ideal for teams and includes capabilities for collaboration, productivity, and security. The main features include everything in Pro, plus unlimited teams, 15 concurrent builds, unlimited image scans, role-based access control, and audit logs.

Business model pricing starts from $21 per user per month and is ideal for medium and large businesses that need centralized management and advanced security capabilities. The main features include everything in Team, plus centralized management, registry access management, image access management, and single sign-on (SSO).

As the market leader, Docker is a widely accepted service provider for container orchestration platforms. The right container orchestration services help companies to achieve their business goal by enhancing functionalities. When searching for an appropriate container orchestration provider, users should understand what type of features they need for their organization and how much they want to pay for them.

Docker offers ease to use, higher security, low operational costs, and exceptional performance. It has some useful tools and is easy to deploy containerized applications that can work in large development teams. It is also easy to understand for beginners, and its security issues can be solved by cloud services. Altogether, Docker can be a good containerization option for any enterprise or personal use.

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