Lando VS DDEV

Posted August 7, 2024 | Updated August 26, 2024

Lando and DDEV are both wrappers for docker containers that make it easy to set up a local development environment.

I have used Lando for a few years, but I am wondering what I may be missing.

Assuming they can be configured to do the same things, here is what I'm looking for:

Clear, easy to follow documentation on how to do the majority of things I need.
A helpful community to assist when I'm lost.
Performance, including time to set up and system efficiency.
Used by teammates and easy to onboard new devs.

Providers

Container service providers.

Options depend on OS.

*Docker gained popularity as a free tool, and later became a paid service for large companies. There are other free and open source alternatives available depending on platform and OS. Docker Engine (docker-ce) is now maintained by https://mobyproject.org/.

Windows can use Docker Engine inside WSL2 instead of Docker Desktop.

Sounds like Colima works on OSX, and Lima is for Linux might work.

Rancher works on OSX for DDEV, untested on others.

Podman doesn't work for either.

https://ddev.com/blog/docker-performance-2023/

https://ddev.com/blog/docker-providers/

https://aalonso.dev/blog/2024/how-to-use-docker-engine-without-docker-desktop-macos-colima

https://opensource.com/article/22/9/docker-desktop-colima

https://dev.to/sergej_brazdeikis/install-docker-on-mac-m1-without-docker-desktop-k6o

https://medium.com/@Rohit_Varma/a-step-by-step-guide-to-install-docker-on-macos-for-efficient-containerization-13654ed1041b

Lando

Only works with Docker.

https://docs.lando.dev/getting-started/requirements.html

Podman: https://github.com/lando/lando/issues/3238

Rancher/Colima: https://github.com/lando/lando/issues/3388

Linux

https://docs.lando.dev/install/linux.html

Docker Engine

Windows/OSX

Docker Desktop (Includes Docker Engine)

DDEV

Supports multiple providers.

https://ddev.readthedocs.io/en/stable/users/install/docker-installation/

OSX

https://ddev.com/blog/docker-providers/

Orbstack "recommended" by DDEV for OSX ($8/mo).
Docker Desktop (Free except for large companies).
Lima (Free).
Rancher (Free). "Slower startup".
Colima (Free). "Unstable".

Podman: https://github.com/ddev/ddev/issues/2276

Installation

First, install the container provider, then lando/ddev.

Lando

Lando installer for Windows/OSX includes docker.

Linux/OSX: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://get.lando.dev/setup-lando.sh)"

Windows: iex (irm 'https://get.lando.dev/setup-lando.ps1' -UseB)

Configuration

Both have multiple platform recipes to get started.

Here is a brief comparison of the drupal10 recipes.

DDEV includes node by default.
Lando can set xdebug: debug,develop to make it triggered by the browser. DDEV has a command to turn it on or off. Both can be configured either way.
Multisite
- Lando proxy makes it easy.

https://docs.lando.dev/plugins

https://ddev.readthedocs.io/en/stable/users/quickstart/

Commands

Turn off all containers.

Lando: lando poweroff all

DDEV: ddev poweroff

DDEV

ddev composer create - Runs composer create-project within container. I think this gets around not being able to create the project within the current directory.