Updated on November 20th, 2017 in Should You Install Docker With the Docker Toolbox or Docker for Mac / Windows? If you're running MacOS or Windows you have a few options for installing Docker. 
There's even a third way too, and we'll compare them here.
Get started with Docker Machine and a local VM Estimated reading time: 13 minutes Let’s take a look at using docker-machine to create, use and manage a Docker host inside of a local virtual machine. Prerequisite Information. With the advent of Docker for Mac and Docker for Windows as replacements for Docker Toolbox, we recommend that you use these for your primary Docker workflows.
Quick Jump: If you’re on MacOS or Windows you can install Docker with: • Docker for Mac / Windows • Docker Toolbox • Running your own Virtual Machine and installing Docker yourself All 3 of those options have their own pros and cons and in this article we’re going to cover them. If you’re looking for a high level overview of what Docker for Mac / Windows and Docker Toolbox is, then check out this article on.
OS and Hardware Requirements It’s helpful to know what you can install before we compare everything, so let’s do that: Docker for Mac Docker for Mac requires that you’re running Yosemite 10.10.3+ or newer but it’s worth mentioning that you should upgrade to 10.11+ because 10.10.x releases are considered “use at your own risk”. You CAN run VirtualBox alongside Docker for Mac as long you’re using a somewhat new version of VirtualBox.
All of the 5.x releases are ok. This is pretty useful because you might have some legacy apps running in Vagrant / VirtualBox to deal with (I know I do!). Docker for Windows Docker for Windows requires that you’re running Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition. Sorry, Home edition isn’t available and that’s because Microsoft doesn’t currently allow Hyper-V to be installed on Home editions.
Also, unlike Docker for Mac, you cannot run any version of VirtualBox, VMWare or any other Type 2 hypervisor along with Docker for Windows. That’s because Docker for Windows uses Hyper-V under the hood which is a Type 1 hypervisor. Docker Toolbox If you can’t run Docker for Mac or Docker for Windows then there’s the Docker Toolbox. It has much less strict requirements. As long as you can run VirtualBox then you’re good to go (Docker Toolbox manages this for you). Excel 15.29.1 for mac error bars problems. It works all the way back to MacOS 10.8 and Windows 7 (yep, even Home editions).
Your own Virtual Machine Docker will happily run inside of VirtualBox, VMWare or any other Type 1 / 2 Hypervisor that’s running a major distribution of Linux. So, similarly to the Docker Toolbox, rolling your own VM has the same requirements. Pros and Cons Now for the good stuff! Docker for Mac / Docker for Windows Pros • Offers the most “native” experience, you can easily use any terminal you you want since Docker is effectively running on localhost from MacOS / Windows’ POV. • Docker is heavily developing and polishing this solution. Cons • On Windows, if you have legacy apps that need a VM, you can’t reasonably do both. • On Windows, volume mount performance is still quite poor, but it’ll improve in due time.
Update Nov 2017: Volume mount performance is very usable now on Windows! Docker Toolbox Pros • Offers an “out of the box” Docker experience if you have no other choice. • May offer better volume mount performance under Windows (but this will change).