| Application definition | Applications can be deployed as services (or micro-services) in a Swarm cluster.YAML files can be used to specify multi-container.Docker Compose can deploy the app. | An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services). |
| Installation and set-up | Docker Swarm is simple to install as compared to Kubernetes.With Docker, only one set of tools are required to learn to build upon environment and configuration.Docker Swarm also provides flexibility by allowing any new node to join an existing cluster as either a manager or a worker. | installation is manual and it takes serious planning to make Kubernetes up and running.Installation instructions differ from OS to OS provider to provider.Cluster configuration like IP addresses of a node or which node takes what role is needed to know in advance in Kubernetes. |
| Working on two systems | Since Docker Swarm is a tool of Docker, same common language is used to navigate within a structure.This provides variability and speed to this tool and gives Docker a significant usability edge. | It requires knowing CLI (Command Line Interface) to run Kubernetes on top of Docker.You should know Docker CLI to navigate within a structure and then supplemental Kubernetes common language infrastructure to run for those programs. |
| Logging and monitoring | Docker Swarm is supported for only monitoring with the third party applications.It is recommended to use Docker with Reimann for monitoring, however since Docker Swarm has an open API, it makes easier to connect with plenty of apps. | Kubernetes supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster:Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK) logs within the container Heapster/Grafana/ Influx for monitoring in the container Sysdig cloud integration |
| Scalability | As compared to Kubernetes, Docker Swarm can deploy containers faster;this allows fast reaction times to scale on demand. | Kubernetes is more of an all-in-one framework for distributed systems.It is a complex system as it offers a unified set of APIs and strong guarantees about the cluster state, which slows down container deployment and scaling. |
| High availability | Docker Swarm also provides high availability as services can be replicated in Swarm nodes.In Docker Swarm, Swarm manager nodes are responsible for the whole cluster and manage the resources of worker nodes. | In Kubernetes, all pods are distributed among nodes and this provides high availability by tolerating application failure.In Kubernetes, load-balancing services detect unhealthy pods and remove them, this supports high availability. |
| Networking | In a Docker Swarm, a node joining a cluster creates an overlay network of services that span all of the hosts in the Swarm and a host only Docker bridge network for containers.In Docker Swarm, users have the option to encrypt container data traffic when creating an overlay network by on their own. | Kubernetes network is flat, as it enables all pods to communicate with one another.In Kubernetes, the model requires two CIDRs. The first one requires pods to get an IP address, the other is for services. |