My Top 5 Docker Containers for 2024

This week between Christmas and New Year’s is often a time for top 10 this and top whatever that. I don’t really have a top 10 posts or top 10 tips so I thought I would simply take a look at my top 5 Docker containers going into 2024. But first an update on my favorite Docker containers that I have been using over the year and what ones I still use regularly and then I’ll talk about what new containers I have added to my list.

First to update on the containers from my 2023 top 5 Docker containers post.

• Uptime Kuma I really like Uptime Kuma BUT I no longer run this container. I no longer need to run it because I no longer am running and managing my own server. This site has gone serverless using Cloudflare Pages and since I am serverless I don’t worry about checking if the server is up anymore. I let Cloudflare worry about it. If you are running or managing a server I still highly recommend Uptime Kuma but I found I no longer needed this with the move to Astro and Cloudflare Pages.
• Guacamole Guacamole I still use regularly, particularly when I am away. I will make sure it is on and running before I am away for an extended period of time in case I need to access one of my machines back at home while I am gone. Combined with Cloudflare Access it is still one of the most useful Docker containers I have installed.
• Openvscode-server Similar to Guacamole I will turn this Docker container on when I know I am going to be away for an extended period of time in case I need access to edit specific files when I am away. It came in very handy over the summer when I was away and needed to edit some files for work.
• Webtop While I thought this Docker container was kinda of cool and interesting I never really did find a use case for it and eventually deleted it.
• PhotoPrism Community Edition I still have the PhotoPrism Docker container installed but I have to admit I have not run turned it on in several months. I still like it but finding time to use it has just not happened.

That is the update from the 2023 Docker containers now onto my picks for new to me Docker containers that I have been playing with and I think are great additions for 2024.

Duplicati

At some point in the last year I had some problems running Duplicati on my Mac, it would not start properly. Personally, I blame Apple and some update, but thanks to Docker I simply removed the desktop version of Duplicati and setup the Docker version. Have not had any problems with Duplicati starting, running or restoring since.

Mastodon

Since Twitter (I will not call it X) has become a total hate filled hell hole since some stupid billionaire took it over, I highly suggest people leave the place. I also highly suggest people don’t simply sign up for some other social media service and give away your personal details and content. How do you get away from doing that? Run your own Mastodon instance on Docker just for yourself. I have only been experimenting with this so I don’t know if I will continue to use it but it has been a breath of freshair to not be on the hell site Twitter has become.

This is not as easy as some of the other Docker containers I have installed. I followed the following guide to help me get started. https://gist.github.com/TrillCyborg/84939cd4013ace9960031b803a0590c4

This is not a perfect setup in my opinion but I like the idea of not being the product for another service to sell my details to more advertisers. Time will tell if I keep using this or not.

Snapdrop

Snapdrop is one of those Docker containers I use more often than I thought I would. It has been handy to have installed to dropfiles between the different computers and phones in the house without needing to use file explorer or logging into file shares on the network. Not the app I use everyday but when I need it, it just works. If you don’t want to run your own I suppose you can just visit https://snapdrop.net/ but I like the idea of keeping it in house.

Jellyfin

I was a huge Plex fan, but the more features Plex adds the less I like it. I have been experimenting with Jellyfin to replace Plex and the easiest way to do that has been to use it in Docker. I am not 100% sold on Jellyfin yet either but it has been much easier to experiment with Jellyfin in Docker than doing a complete install on my hardware since I don’t have an excess of hardware I can just play around on.

WeTTY

This Docker container was a bit of a surprise how often I use it. In fact of all the Docker containers I have installed this one might actually be the one I use most often beside Duplicati (because it runs automatically everyday). There is something more convient to just open a web page and has terminal access instead of having to start up a new terminal session or another app. This one surprised me how often I use it but if you find yourself needing to use a terminal often this Docker container might be something to look into. It has sure saved me lots of time since I started using it a few months ago. You can learn more on the WeTTY Github respository.

Overall

It will be interesting to see what Docker containers I am still using a year from now and it is always surprising to me what containers I find I get the most use out of. Sometimes it is the simply tool based ones that are the most useful like WeTTY and Snapdrop that make the biggest daily impact on your day to day activities.