---
title: "Document Engine: Difference between Docker and Kubernetes"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/docker-vs-kubernetes/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/docker-vs-kubernetes.md"
last_updated: "2026-05-19T10:49:35.406Z"
description: "Explore how Docker and Kubernetes work together for containerization and orchestration, including scaling with Document Engine."
---

# Difference between Docker and Kubernetes

Docker is a containerization platform, and Kubernetes is a container orchestrator for container platforms like Docker.

Document Engine uses the Docker container format. [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) is the most common way to run Docker containers, but [there are other technologies to run Docker containers](https://containerjournal.com/topics/container-ecosystems/5-container-alternatives-to-docker/).

Kubernetes is a container orchestrator for container platforms like Docker. It can be used for systems with a higher load, where one Docker container isn’t enough. Document Engine supports horizontal scaling with running multiple containers of itself. The number of nodes that you can run at the same time are defined in the license agreement. Kubernetes is the most popular orchestrator; however, there are alternatives, such as [Docker Swarm](https://docs.docker.com/engine/swarm/).
---

## Related pages

- [Bug reporting](/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/bug-reporting.md)
- [Common issues](/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/common-issues.md)
- [Ensure Document Engine connects for activation](/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/network-infrastructure.md)
- [PDF Documents Rendering](/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/complexities-of-rendering-pdfs.md)
- [Password-protected PDFs](/guides/document-engine/troubleshooting/miscellaneous/password-protected-pdfs.md)