Docker — Benchmarks

Scope

Performance characteristics, scaling limits, and resource consumption for Docker.

Container Performance

Metric	Docker	Native	Overhead
CPU	Near-native	Baseline	< 1%
Memory	Near-native	Baseline	10-30MB per container
Network (bridge)	90-95% native	Baseline	5-10% overhead
Network (host)	Near-native	Baseline	< 1%
Disk I/O (overlay2)	85-95% native	Baseline	5-15% overhead
Disk I/O (bind mount)	Near-native	Baseline	< 1%

Image Size Benchmarks

Base Image	Size	Use Case
scratch	0MB	Static Go binaries
alpine	7MB	Minimal Linux
distroless	15-25MB	Secure, no shell
debian-slim	80MB	Compatibility needed
ubuntu	77MB	Full Linux tools
node:22-alpine	130MB	Node.js apps
python:3.12-slim	150MB	Python apps

Build Performance

Strategy	Cold Build	Cached Build	Size Impact
Single stage	30-120s	5-30s	Large (500MB+)
Multi-stage	60-180s	10-30s	Small (50-150MB)
BuildKit cache	60-180s	3-10s	Same
Buildx bake	30-90s	3-10s	Parallel builds

Compose Scaling

Containers	Memory (runtime)	Startup Time	Notes
10	100-500MB	5-15s	Typical dev setup
50	500MB-2GB	15-45s	Medium application
100	1-5GB	30-120s	Large stack