We're running 5 microservices on Docker Compose and need to scale. Should we go with Kubernetes or Docker Swarm?
Our team has 2 DevOps engineers. Budget is limited — we're on 3 VPS servers.
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For 3 servers and 2 engineers, Docker Swarm is the pragmatic choice.
Here's why:
| Criteria | Docker Swarm | Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 5 minutes | Hours to days |
| Learning curve | Low | Steep |
| Min servers | 1 | 3 (for HA) |
| Resource overhead | Minimal | ~1GB per node |
| Best for | Small-medium scale | Large scale |
Swarm uses the same compose files you already have. You literally run docker swarm init and docker stack deploy.
Kubernetes makes sense when you hit 20+ services or need advanced features like auto-scaling, service mesh, or multi-cloud.
See our Docker Swarm Guide and Kubernetes 101.