Docker Desktop might be done. Now what?

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past couple years in the development world, then you already know about Docker and what a great tool it is for developers.

You can easily configure your development environment, agnostic to what OS you are using (Windows, Linux, Mac OS) and ensure that the environment will be same, across all the different operating systems.

On August 31st, 2021, Docker announced that they would be changing their subscription policy. So when it was recently announced that Docker would be making changes their free subscription tier, some of the development community seemed a bit worried about the future of Docker for those who rely on it staying open-source.

To be clear, this change that Docker has introduced to their subscription model will NOT affect individual developers and smaller businesses. But if you own or work for a medium sized business, you should be prepare to purchase a subscription license from the Docker team, or find an alternative.

But let us review the actual changes made by Docker to their subscription.

Essentially, now if you want to use Docker Desktop, you may use the free version to do so if:

• business has less than 250 employees
• business revenue is less than $10 million

Given the above change, I could imagine there are a lot of companies who rely on using the free version of Docker, who are now either scrambling to find a free open source replacement for managing their containers.

And although there is a grace period of being able to use Docker Desktop for free until Jan. 31, 2022, bigger companies not already using a paid subscription from Docker may find themselves pressed for time (we are almost at the end of October 2021).

Do note: these changes only affect Docker Desktop. The other Docker services and tools (Docker Engine) still will remain free under the current Apache v2 license.

For those looks for some sort of replacement, which won’t be an exact drop-in replacement, but are comparable, here are some suggestions:

• Podman
• minikube
• containerd

As a free open-source tool for most developers, I believe these changes to the Docker subscription model won’t affect a lot of developers out there who. work on their own projects on the own time. However, in the corporate space, some companies will have to make a decision on how they go forward with Docker Desktop. In my opinion, Docker is a great tool for managing containers, and if it came down to it, I personally would be willing to pay the subscription model for my team. But given how corporate governance works with licenses and such, it may not always be possible.