What is the exact difference between Docker EE (Enterprise Edition), Docker CE (Community Edition) and Docker (Custom Support)
Docker CE (Community Edition) is the simple classical OSS (Open Source Software) Docker Engine.
Docker EE (Enterprise Edition) is Docker CE with certification on some systems and support by Docker Inc.
Docker CS (Commercially Supported) is kind of the old bundle version of Docker EE for versions <= 1.13.
Take a look at this blog post and this other one about Docker CE & Docker EE.
"What is Docker Enterprise Edition?
Docker Enterprise Edition comes in three versions: basic, standard and advanced. The Basic edition comes with the Docker platform, support and certification, while the Standard and Advanced version add additional features such as container management (Docker Datacenter) and Docker Security Scanning.
Docker EE is supported by Alibaba, Canonical, HPE, IBM, Microsoft and by a network of regional partners. Those who want to test Docker EE can download a trial version for free from the official site.
Docker is also offering a certification program to help third-party vendors in ensuring their products work with Docker EE.
What is Docker Community Edition?
Docker Engine has been renamed to Docker Community Edition, and, as the name suggests, it’s a do-it-yourself, community supported version of Docker that’s available for free of cost.
The community edition will be available in two versions: Edge and Stable. Edge will be released each month with the latest features. Stable will be released on a quarterly basis. While Edge will receive security updates and bug fixes for the current release, the stable version will get similar updates for four months after the initial release. This update cycle will give users a big enough window to plan upgrades from older versions.
While the two versions are targeted at different audiences, there isn’t much, or any, difference at source code level. “Both Docker EE and CE are based on the open source Docker project, which is developed in the open with Docker’s community of partners and contributors, and this forms the open, modular core of all Docker CE and EE editions,” said Messina."
- From CIO.com
Also, take a look at the resources here and the official Docker documentation.
TL;TR;
We are currently dealing with two editions of Docker: Docker Community Edition (CE) and Docker Enterprise Edition (EE).
Docker EE comes with additional features that can help enterprises launch, manage, and secure their containers more efficiently, but what is worth emphasizing is that the two editions offer the same core features.
The main differences are that Docker CE is a free to use for everybady and open source and, on the other hand, Docker EE in the basic plan costs $1,500 per node, per year...
Another important difference is the operating systems on which we can run them. Docker CE can run on Windows 10 and Mac, on Azure and AWS, as well as CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu and Docker EE can run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), Oracle Linux, Ubuntu, Windows Server 2016, as well as Azure and AWS.
Thus, in most private and commercial cases of Docker use, Docker CE should be sufficient.
For an in-depth look at all the differences, I encourage you to visit:
Docker Community Edition or Docker Enterprise Edition - Everything You Need to Know