If you produce a static binary and can copy it to the server, sure, Docker might be overkill. But how do you reproduce an ensemble of services and their exact version in prod environment? Even just having a stable dev environment by using Docker images with fixed version for database and other auxiliary services is very valuable.

You can use something like Nix or Guix for example.

Bonus: it produces OCI images also.

While this is definitely a valid option I'm not sure that introducing Nix/Guix simplifies the stack compared to using Docker. Depends on the setup and experience, I guess.

I love Docker as a solo dev:

- builds and dependency management, all in one

- works “the same” on my laptop and server

- there’s an easy way to reset services when they break

How do you `docker push` from your laptop to the server with consumer broadband? I've heard docker times out after about 50-75%. Great fun.

This might be a "person in a country with pretty fast internet connection" opinion but I don't think I ever had that issue. Might also depend on the container size, pushing > 1GB containers might be more error prone than pushing small(ish) containers.

Sounds like you need a better internet connection.

Why use Docker on a managed container service when you can just pay more to manage your own VMs, VPC, reverse proxy and blue/green deployment infrastructure?

agree at a gut level, but look how productive people are .. ps- checkout podman