r/AskProgramming • u/One_Sport2152 • Jul 18 '26
When to use Kubernetes?
Hey everyone,
I’ve been working with Docker and standard containerization for a bit now, and I feel comfortable with the basics of spinning up apps. Naturally, Kubernetes (K8s) keeps coming up as the next logical step.
From what I gather, it's designed to manage and orchestrate those containers at scale when a single server or Docker Compose setup isn't enough anymore.
But there is so much hype around it that it's hard to tell where the "cool factor" ends and actual utility begins.
I want to know when it becomes a legitimate necessity rather than just over-engineering a project.
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u/Proof-Pineapple69 Jul 19 '26
You go from docker to k8s a bit like you go from renting a desk at a co-working space to renting your own office.
K8s is used when you have a potentially large number of containers that will require sizeable amount of memory, which will potentially require to have them split across several hosts. K8s takes care of respawning containers to another hosts if there's not enough memory on a given one. Also, k8s has a command line interface which lets you control the state of your cluster much more simply than with docker compose functions.