--- title: Isn’t SRE Just DevOps? description: Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) differs from DevOps in that it prescribes how to succeed in the areas where DevOps teams works. SRE is a job description. image: https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/diagrams_blog_1.png --- Check out our **[Cloud Native Services](https://www.container-solutions.com/services) **and** **book a call with one of our experts today!  [![Container Solutions](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/CS_blog/logo-main.svg "Container Solutions")](http://container-solutions.com) - share: - [**](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.container-solutions.com%2Fisnt-sre-just-devops) - [**](https://www.twitter.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.container-solutions.com%2Fisnt-sre-just-devops) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.container-solutions.com/isnt-sre-just-devops) - [**](https://blog.container-solutions.com/isnt-sre-just-devops#) [![](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/diagrams_blog_1.png) ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/isnt-sre-just-devops) [SRE](https://blog.container-solutions.com/tag/sre) # Isn’t SRE Just DevOps? [Michael Müller](https://blog.container-solutions.com/author/michael-müller) ![Michael Müller](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/CS--Dev__Assets/asset%2017.jpeg) August 1, 2020 3 minutes Read *This is the conclusion of a three-part blog series. For more information, request our free e-book*, [SRE: The Cloud Native Approach to Operations](https://info.container-solutions.com/sre-the-cloud-native-approach-to-operations-e-book).  If you’ve been following [parts 1](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-sre-is-and-how-it-helps-you-keep-innovating) and [2](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-does-sre-have-to-do-with-cloud-native) of this blog series, you might be wondering,  *Isn’t SRE basically just DevOps?* Let’s start by defining the differences and similarities between SRE and DevOps. SRE, or Site Reliability Engineering, is—as the name suggests—an engineering discipline that focusses on reliability. DevOps is a cultural movement that emerged from the urge to break down the previously mentioned silos of Development and Operations. SRE is a job title. DevOps isn't. Both DevOps and SRE require and adopt Agile principles and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery of software (CI/CD), and both emphasise monitoring/observability and [automation](https://blog.container-solutions.com/cloud-native-transformation-patterns-automated-infrastructure) (though perhaps for different reasons). SRE, which [evolved at Google](https://landing.google.com/sre/) to meet internal needs in the early 2000s independently of the DevOps movement, happens to embody the philosophies of DevOps, but has a much more prescriptive way of measuring and achieving reliability through engineering and operations work. In other words, SRE prescribes how to succeed in the various DevOps areas. For example, the table that follows illustrates the seven DevOps pillars and the corresponding SRE practices. ## **DevOps in a nutshell** By taking over operational responsibilities, cross-functional DevOps teams optimise for zero handovers and therefore shorter lead time. As teams are typically small—following the famous [Amazon ‘Two-Pizza-Teams’ rule](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/jeff-bezos-2-pizza-rule-can-help-you-hold-more-productive-meetings.html), a highly automated software delivery process is critical to prevent manual work.  But DevOps does not explicitly define how to succeed with DevOps; it only describes the behaviour of such an operational model, which might explain the variety of different DevOps implementations. ## **SRE in a nutshell** As modern infrastructures and service-oriented application landscapes grow more complex, proven principles from software engineering are applied to handle the operational complexity. This includes building foundational platforms as layers of abstraction, but also incentivising standardised and well-architected applications by offering operational support for them. To be able to build well-architected applications and reliable platforms, SRE needs to be prescriptive. In other words, SRE prescribes how to succeed in the various DevOps areas. Here's a side-by-side comparison. (If you are reading this on a mobile device, you can download a PDF for easier reading [here](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/Blog%20graphics/sre_vs_devops_table.pdf).) ![sre_vs_devops_table](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/sre_vs_devops_table.png?width=700&name=sre_vs_devops_table.png) --- Want to learn more? Click below to request a free copy of our e-book on SRE. And go [here](https://www.container-solutions.com/services/cre) learn about Container Solutions' version of SRE, our Customer Reliability Engineering service.  You can find all of our information about SRE and CRE in one place. Click [here](https://www.container-solutions.com/learn-with-cs/sre). [![SRE_ebook_CTA.jpg](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2252258/836bd940-dd79-486f-8733-fd1e88062569.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2252258/836bd940-dd79-486f-8733-fd1e88062569) [### What Does SRE Have to Do With Cloud Native? ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-does-sre-have-to-do-with-cloud-native) [![prev-arrow](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3842749/Wow%202019/Images/left-arrow.png) Previous article](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-does-sre-have-to-do-with-cloud-native) [ Next article ![next-arrow](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3842749/Wow%202019/Images/right-arrow.png) ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/a-comprehensive-list-of-sre-resources) [ ### Incident Management: 9 Great Resources to Tackle Unexpected ... ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/a-comprehensive-list-of-sre-resources) Comments Leave your Comment ![cs-logo-white](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cs-logo-white.png?width=150&height=61&name=cs-logo-white.png "cs-logo-white") #### **Talk to sales** [info@container-solutions.com](mailto:info@container-Solutions.com) #### Stay In Touch - [**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/container-solutions/) - [**](https://twitter.com/containersoluti) © 2024 Container Solutions