Overview

Portainer

Stacks506

Followers842

Votes146

Harbor

Stacks182

Followers185

Votes11

GitHub Stars26.8K

Forks5.0K

Harbor vs Portainer: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Harbor and Portainer

Harbor and Portainer are two popular platforms used for container management and orchestration. While they serve similar purposes, there are some key differences between them that set them apart.

Architecture and Deployment: Harbor is an on-premise container registry that can run on a virtual machine or in a container. It provides a secure and scalable platform for storing and distributing container images. On the other hand, Portainer is a lightweight management GUI that runs as a container on a Docker host. It allows users to easily manage and deploy containers, simplifying the management of Docker environments.
Feature Set: Harbor primarily focuses on container image management, providing features like access control, vulnerability scanning, replication, and artifact signing. It offers a comprehensive registry solution with enterprise-grade security and governance features. Portainer, on the other hand, offers a user-friendly interface for managing containers, volumes, networks, and swarm clusters. It provides an intuitive dashboard and supports multiple Docker environments, making it easy to manage and monitor containers without the need for complex commands.
Scalability and Performance: Harbor is known for its scalability and high-performance capabilities. It can handle large-scale container deployments and offers features like replication and distributed storage to ensure high availability and performance. Portainer, while not designed specifically for large-scale deployments, is lightweight and easy to deploy. It is suitable for small to medium-sized environments and offers a simplified management experience.
Supported Container Technologies: Harbor is designed to work with multiple container technologies, including Docker, Kubernetes, and Open Container Initiative (OCI) standards. It provides support for Kubernetes Helm charts and allows users to store and manage artifacts other than container images. Portainer, on the other hand, is primarily focused on Docker and Docker Swarm. It provides a simplified interface to manage Docker containers and services.
Community and Support: Harbor has a strong community and is backed by VMware, which provides regular updates, bug fixes, and support. It is widely adopted in enterprise environments and has a large user base. Portainer also has an active community but is primarily supported through community-driven efforts. It provides documentation, forums, and community support, but the level of support might vary compared to Harbor.
Ease of Use: While both Harbor and Portainer aim to provide user-friendly experiences, they have different levels of complexity. Harbor is more suitable for users with advanced knowledge of container management and orchestration. It offers advanced features and customization options, making it suitable for enterprise-grade environments. Portainer, on the other hand, has a simple and intuitive interface that allows even beginners to manage containers with ease. It provides a visual representation of containers and services, simplifying the management process.

In Summary, Harbor is an on-premise container registry with enterprise-grade features and scalability, while Portainer is a lightweight management GUI focused on simplified container management for Docker environments.

🔥 Trending in Container Registry on StackShare

Docker

Container Registry

Enterprise Container Platform for High-Velocity Innovation.

Try it View Docs Alternatives

Try

473

144k

Detailed Comparison

Portainer	Harbor
It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.	Harbor is an open source cloud native registry that stores, signs, and scans container images for vulnerabilities. Harbor solves common challenges by delivering trust, compliance, performance, and interoperability. It fills a gap for organ
Docker management; Docker UI; Docker cluster management; Swarm visualizer; Authentication; User Access Control; Docker container management; Docker service management; Docker overview; Docker console; Docker swarm status; Docker image management; Docker network management; Docker dashboard; Remote HTTP API; Automation	Multi-tenant content signing and validation;Image replication between instances;Extensible API and graphical UI;Security and vulnerability analysis;Identity integration and role-based access control;Internationalization
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 26.8K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 5.0K
Stacks 506	Stacks 182
Followers 842	Followers 185
Votes 146	Votes 11
Pros & Cons
Pros 36 Simple 27 Great UI 19 Friendly 12 Easy to setup, gives a practical interface for Docker 11 Because it just works, super simple yet powerful	Pros 4 Good on-premises container registry 1 Nice UI 1 Container Replication 1 Supports LDAP/Active Directory 1 Supports OIDC
Integrations
Docker Swarm Docker Secrets Auth0 Kubernetes Docker	Docker Kubernetes Helm

What are some alternatives to Portainer, Harbor?

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

Docker Compose

With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.

Docker Swarm

Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Codefresh

Automate and parallelize testing. Codefresh allows teams to spin up on-demand compositions to run unit and integration tests as part of the continuous integration process. Jenkins integration allows more complex pipelines.

CAST.AI

It is an AI-driven cloud optimization platform for Kubernetes. Instantly cut your cloud bill, prevent downtime, and 10X the power of DevOps.

k3s

Certified Kubernetes distribution designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances. Supports something as small as a Raspberry Pi or as large as an AWS a1.4xlarge 32GiB server.

Flocker

Flocker is a data volume manager and multi-host Docker cluster management tool. With it you can control your data using the same tools you use for your stateless applications. This means that you can run your databases, queues and key-value stores in Docker and move them around as easily as the rest of your app.