Minikube is a tool that makes it easy to run Kubernetes locally.
Minikube runs a single-node Kubernetes cluster inside a Linux VM.
It’s aimed on users who want to just test it out or use it for development.
It cannot spin-up a production cluster, it’s a one node machine with no high availability.
It works on Windows, Linux, and MacOS
You will need Virtualization Software installed to run Minikube. For example, you can use VirtualBox, as its free and downloaded from – https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
You can download Minikube from – https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/

Docker Client features and usecase

Docker is a tool designed to perform operating system-level virtualization, also known as containerization.

What is Docker’s purpose exactly?
Docker makes it easier to create, deploy, and run applications using containers.

It is becoming increasingly popular because it allows independence between applications, environments, infrastructure, and developers.

It’s a simple and intuitive tool.
It enables you to spend less time on configuration and more time on building software.
It will allow you to build up independent containers that will interact with each other seamlessly with accuracy and speed.
It is a fast and consistent way to accelerate and automate the shipping of software.
It saves developers from having to set up and configure multiple development environments each time they test or deploy

When should you use Docker ?
Docker is a helpful tool that you can use it in your work day-to-day.

Use Docker as version control system for your entire app’s operating system
Use Docker when you want to distribute/collaborate on your app’s operating system with a team
Use Docker to run your code on your laptop in the same environment as you have on your server.
Use Docker whenever your app needs to go through multiple phases of development.

Kops and kubeadm are tools to spin-up production Kubernetes cluster.

kops features and usecase

kops helps you create, destroy, upgrade and maintain production-grade, highly available, Kubernetes clusters from the command line. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is currently officially supported, with GCE and OpenStack in beta support, and VMware vSphere in alpha, and other platforms planned.

kops Features

Automates the provisioning of Kubernetes clusters in AWS, OpenStack and GCE
Deploys Highly Available (HA) Kubernetes Masters
Built on a state-sync model for dry-runs and automatic idempotency
Ability to generate Terraform
Supports custom Kubernetes add-ons
Command line autocompletion
YAML Manifest Based API Configuration
Templating and dry-run modes for creating Manifests
Choose from eight different CNI Networking providers out-of-the-box
Supports upgrading from kube-up
Capability to add containers, as hooks, and files to nodes via a cluster manifest

kubeadm features and usecase

Kubeadm is an alternative approach, but kops is still recommended on AWS (kops integration with AWS is automated). However, kubeadm is a generic tool to provision Kubernetes cluster.

Kubeadm is a toolkit for bootstrapping a best-practises Kubernetes cluster on existing infrastructure. Kubeadm cannot provision your infrastructure which is one of the main differences to kops. Another differentiator is that Kubeadm can be used not only as an installer but also as a building block.

Kubeadm sets up a minimal viable cluster. It is designed to have all the components you need in one place in one cluster regardless of where you are running them.