The JVM is a container by itself, and it has been able to isolate dependencies and memory requirements for many years before docker was conceived. The JVM doesn

The JVM is a container by itself, and it has been able to isolate dependencies and memory requirements for many years before docker was conceived. The JVM doesn't do everything that docker does, for example it doesn't provide overlay file systems, but this is trivial to add via standard tools (e.g. aufs), and it also doesn't limit CPU usage per container but this is also trivial to add without having to deal with the extra complications of using docker. I think docker is great for non-JVM applications that run into conflicts with other applications, dependency-wise or resource-wise, but I don't see the point of using docker for pure Java applications. It just adds an unnecessary layer that provides no benefit. Edit: If the point is to encapsulate and isolate a Java application as much as possible, I would consider using a unikernel like OSv before considering Docker. This would be more efficient and also more secure.