Docker's Gone — Here's Why It's Time to Move On

Let's cut the noise. Docker was the poster child of DevOps for nearly a decade.

But things have changed. Fast. If you're still treating Docker as your golden hammer in 2025, it's time for a reality check.

This isn't a hate piece. This is a practical breakdown of why Docker is quietly stepping out, and what modern infra teams are doing instead.

What Docker Did Right

Docker changed how we think about infrastructure. Instead of VMs, we got lightweight containers. Portable, repeatable, and blazing fast (back then).

Back in 2013–2018:

• Devs could "Dockerize" an app and ship it.
• CI/CD pipelines got simplified.
• Kubernetes adopted Docker as its default container runtime.
• Everyone and their dog made a Dockerfile.

It was good. Until it wasn't.

What Went Wrong?

1. The Docker Daemon Problem

Docker relies on a single long-running process — the Docker Daemon. This means:

• It's a single point of failure.
• It runs as root, which raises red flags for security.
• Debugging the daemon? Good luck. You kill it, you kill everything.

Alternatives like containerd don't need this central daemon. They're smaller, faster, and don't need God-mode to run.

# Traditional Docker run
docker run nginx

# With containerd
ctr run --rm docker.io/library/nginx:latest nginx /bin/sh

2. Docker Desktop Paywall

Docker made the worst move in its lifecycle: charging developers for Docker Desktop in enterprise environments.

• Teams started looking for alternatives like Podman, Rancher Desktop, and Colima.
• Developers don't like surprises in their toolchain. This was one.

3. Kubernetes Dropped Docker

Let's be clear — Kubernetes didn't drop containers. It dropped Docker as a runtime.

Instead, it moved to containerd and CRI-O.

UML Diagram: Container Lifecycle in Kubernetes (Pre and Post Docker Deprecation)

                +------------------+              +------------------+
                |  kubelet         |              |  kubelet         |
                +--------+---------+              +--------+---------+
                         |                                 |
             +-----------v------------+        +-----------v------------+
             |    Docker Daemon       |        |    containerd / CRI-O  |
             +-----------+------------+        +-----------+------------+
                         |                                 |
                   +-----v-----+                     +-----v-----+
                   | container |                     | container |
                   +-----------+                     +-----------+

K8s prefers runtimes that implement CRI (Container Runtime Interface) natively. Docker doesn't. That added unnecessary shim layers.

4. Podman > Docker (for Most Use-Cases)

Podman is basically a drop-in replacement for Docker. But better:

• Daemonless
• Rootless
• Fully compatible with Docker commands

# Docker
docker build -t my-app .

# Podman (same)
podman build -t my-app .

And the best part? You can alias it:

alias docker=podman

Most devs wouldn't even know the difference. Except for the fact that Podman is faster and more secure.

So What Should You Use Instead?

• For local development, go with Podman, Colima, or NerdCTL. These are lightweight, fast, and don't require Docker Desktop.
• For CI/CD pipelines, use containerd. It's more efficient, integrates better with Kubernetes, and doesn't rely on a daemon.
• For Kubernetes runtime, prefer CRI-O or containerd. Both are Kubernetes-native and don't require extra shims.
• For desktop users, tools like Rancher Desktop (if you want a GUI) or Podman (for terminal folks) are excellent alternatives.

But DockerHub?

Yes, DockerHub is still relevant for image hosting. You can still use it without Docker the tool. Tools like skopeo or ctr can pull from DockerHub.

skopeo copy docker://nginx:latest dir:/tmp/nginx

Real-World Migration Story

We were running a bunch of microservices using Docker and Docker Compose for local dev. Then we hit:

• Inconsistent dev environments
• CI builds timing out due to Docker caching issues
• Docker Desktop licensing issues

What we did:

• Replaced Docker Compose with podman-compose
• Used nerdctl + containerd in CI
• Switched to Rancher Desktop for team members needing GUI

Outcome?

• CI builds were 30% faster
• Zero licensing issues
• Team onboarded to Podman with zero friction

Conclusion

Docker isn't dead. It's just… not essential anymore.

Like jQuery — it solved a problem that's now solved better by other tools.

If you're building anything in 2025 and still default to Docker, ask yourself:

Is this tool helping me, or am I just using it because I always did?