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Amazon ECR vs Harbor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon ECR
Ranking in Container Registry
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Harbor
Ranking in Container Registry
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Container Registry category, the mindshare of Amazon ECR is 16.9%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Harbor is 27.8%, up from 27.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Registry
 

Featured Reviews

Rikin Parekh - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps to store Docker containers and images but deployment can be complex
If there were a way to use containers as tasks directly, that would simplify things. Currently, when we use EC2 instances, scaling horizontally means increasing the instance count by five times, which might not be cost-effective. Maybe using containers directly for tasks could be a better option. Setting up this product initially does take quite a bit of time, and maintaining it also requires effort. Doing it via command line would be challenging, so I find it easier to manage through the interface.
reviewer2584182 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhance security with automated vulnerability detection and private registry support
We use Harbor for Docker containers to build from our GitLab CI/CD pipeline. This pipeline then automatically pushes to our Harbor instance. We are still working on storing Helm charts in the Harbor instance as well Harbor has improved our organization's security and stability in our container…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"In the case of Amazon ECR, there are various valuable features we can see. Currently, there are image-scanning capabilities that we use."
"What I like most about Amazon ECR is that it's swift."
"ECR provides robust security features, including image scanning and vulnerability assessment, supported by AWS identity and access management for fine-grained access control."
"There are no issues. The service is remarkably stable."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon ECR is its ease of use and the centralized management console."
"The integration with AWS services is very easy, and the deployment and initial setup are pretty straightforward."
"The Docker compatibility that ECR offers is probably the most beneficial aspect of the solution."
"The most valuable aspect of ECR is its user-friendliness."
"The most valuable feature of Harbor is its security scanning capability."
"Right now this is the leading product in this category."
 

Cons

"If there were a way to use containers as tasks directly, that would simplify things. Currently, when we use EC2 instances, scaling horizontally means increasing the instance count by five times, which might not be cost-effective. Maybe using containers directly for tasks could be a better option."
"There were a few issues related to the roles, policies, and retrieval of data when trying to fetch images for deployment on Amazon ECS. This can involve permissions and configuration complexities."
"Amazon ECR should improve the integration with Amazon CloudWatch. For example, allowing us to monitor the queues better. Additionally, some of the features could be made more accessible."
"Improving the documentation for easy understanding will help bring in more clients to use Amazon ECR."
"There could be improvements to the interface of AWS concerning ECR."
"Amazon ECR needs to improve its downtime."
"The documentation could be improved."
"It would be great if they could also provide a reference to fix the errors or vulnerabilities in the images rather than just notifying us about them."
"There is a need for more support for public repositories, like the Google Cloud GTR, which is not as integrated as desired."
"The product should integrate better with other storage options."
"The GUI needs to improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The main difference between Amazon ECR and other solutions, like Google Kubernetes Engine, is that I haven't personally used GKE. However, I know that GKE costs around $60 per month, which is quite cost-effective."
"Amazon ECR does not have a high cost."
"The product is expensive."
"My company currently has Amazon ECR under the pay-as-you-go model. The tool is more affordable than Azure Container Registry, and it's worth the money."
"The solution's prices are high in India as compared to the US."
"The solution's price is reasonable compared to its competitors"
"The cost of the product is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon ECR?
One feature of Amazon ECR that I find particularly useful is its web interface, which makes management easy. The ability to manage and support token image updates is crucial for us. Moreover, utili...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon ECR?
In the ECR setup, we use a container registry per region. All accounts are within a shared account, which we call a shared account. We share the container registry across various accounts within ou...
What needs improvement with Amazon ECR?
I suggest making it more aligned with the Docker registry version two API specification. If they achieve this, it would be excellent. Eli is an example of such an implementation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Harbor?
Harbor is open source and part of the graduated Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) landscape, making it a cost-effective solution.
What needs improvement with Harbor?
There is a need for more support for public repositories, like the Google Cloud GTR, which is not as integrated as desired. Additionally, more example implementations for installation using Ansible...
What is your primary use case for Harbor?
We use Harbor for Docker containers to build from our GitLab CI/CD pipeline. This pipeline then automatically pushes to our Harbor instance. We are still working on storing Helm charts in the Harbo...
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Container Registry
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
AXA, Talking Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon ECR vs. Harbor and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
847,959 professionals have used our research since 2012.