From Docker Desktop (300% CPU) to Colima and Portainer (0.2%) on macOS

11 points by muthuishere 226 days ago | 1 comment

Docker Desktop on macOS often sits in a VM that constantly sucks CPU. For years I tolerated it—until today, when running just two Node.js apps + one Python app pegged my system, froze the UI.

I switched to Colima and pointed docker context use colima. Then added Portainer for UI (docker run -d -p 9000:9000 ...).

With the same compose setup, Colima usage dropped to ~0.2%

Portainer provides containers/images/console UI

All while keeping the Docker CLI workflow

Full write-up (with screenshots) here: https://muthuishere.medium.com/docker-desktop-colima-portainer-my-mac-finally-breathes-b70d82d6cf0f

metadat 226 days ago |

Have you tried Orbstack? Curious how they compare.

And yeah, docker desktop is Rough on macOS!