Cup vs What's Up Docker
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cup | What's Up Docker |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,345 | ★ 3,925 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Watchtower | Watchtower |
What are Cup and What's Up Docker?
Cup
Cup is a lightweight tool written in Rust that checks your Docker containers for available image updates. It offers a CLI, a web dashboard, and a JSON API for integration with monitoring systems.
- Fast update checks
- Web dashboard and CLI
- JSON API
- Very low resource use
What's Up Docker
What's Up Docker is an open-source tool that watches running containers and reports when newer image versions are available. It is self-hosted to automate awareness of container updates with many notification triggers.
- Container update detection
- Many notification triggers
- Web dashboard
- REST API
Cup vs What's Up Docker: key differences
Cup is written in Rust, while What's Up Docker is built with TypeScript. Cup is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for What's Up Docker. What's Up Docker is the more established project (first released 2020), while Cup arrived in 2024. What's Up Docker has the considerably larger community, at 3,925 GitHub stars versus 1,345.
Why pick each one
Choose Cup if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
Choose What's Up Docker if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Cup or What's Up Docker better?
Neither is universally better. What's Up Docker has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cup and What's Up Docker free and open-source?
Yes. Cup is licensed under MIT and What's Up Docker under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cup and What's Up Docker with Docker?
Cup: yes. What's Up Docker: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Cup or What's Up Docker?
Cup has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for What's Up Docker. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.