<p>I need to deploy NGINX to a Kubernetes cluster, for which I can either use a Helm chart or a Docker image. But I am not clear of the benefits of using a Helm chart. I guess my question is not specific to NGINX but in general.</p>

<p>A helm chart and a container image aren't equivalent things to compare in Kubernetes</p>

<p>A container image is the basic building block of what kubernetes runs. An image will always be required to run an application on kubernetes, no matter how it is deployed.</p>

<p>Helm is a packaging and deployment tool. It makes management of deployments to kubernetes easier. This deployment would normally include a container image. It is possible to write a helm chart that just manages other kubernetes resources but fairly rare. </p>

<p>Other tools in the same arena as helm are <a href="https://kustomize.io/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">kustomize</a>, <a href="https://kompose.io/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">kompose</a>, or using <code>kubectl</code> to apply or create resources. These are all clients of the kubernetes API.</p>
