Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Docker vs Portainer 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

Docker
Ranking in Container Management
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (5th)
Portainer
Ranking in Container Management
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Docker is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portainer is 3.6%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Renat Babin - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy with an impressive networking feature
The volumes for persistent storage could be more user friendly right out of the box. I would like an option to just use it as local storage or some kind of NSF or CIF. Or to mount the volume straight to a Google Drive or through a particular cloud storage. It's not that these things are impossible, but you have to do some extra work or configurations.
EB
A GUI solution that helps to administer a docker using a browser
The first time using Portainer involves a learning curve. It takes longer as you're unfamiliar with the processes and might be lazy to consult the manual. Initially, you may rely on intuition within the GUI. However, after repeating the same tasks three or four times, the process becomes much quicker.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Docker is perfect for what I do...The solution is scalable."
"I have seen end-to-end performance with Docker. It's a great tool, and it's the most popular container service in the market."
"The most valuable feature is that it is cost-saving."
"Docker is easy to understand and follow. It provides good scalability to the application."
"The most valuable feature of Docker is automation. When I deploy the solution I am confident it will work anywhere. It is reliable and easy to use."
"The solution's most valuable feature is having containers independent of the operating system or environment."
"The solution is easy to install."
"In our line of work, we've been involved in various sectors, such as industrial products, transportation, client engineering, telecom, and medical. For instance, we're currently developing an IT platform. One key use case we're tackling is device management."
"Portainer comes with the ability to take the information of docker definition. Using it, I can visually observe how the container has been created. It allows me to create networks. I can also visually generate volumes and working stacks."
 

Cons

"We have found that it is not easy to install it into a Windows system."
"Docker volumes. When I integrated volumes, I faced challenges. I have not essentially used add volumes to the existing instances."
"Docker could improve by having more advanced features."
"The documentation could be improved."
"There is always room for improvement. I often refer to forums such as StackOverflow to learn from other developers' experiences and the challenges they have faced while using Docker."
"Docker can improve the integration with Microsoft Windows. It does not support native installations."
"The solution is not easy to manage and it is one of the reasons why people introduce orchestration tools to manage it."
"We would like to see improvement in adding the node into the Docker Swarm cluster, as at present it is a little tricky and requires a lot of manual steps."
"Portainer needs to be more intuitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's free."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
"Docker's price is good."
"For commercial use, it's about $30 per month. The license itself isn't expensive, but if there are many users, the price becomes high."
"It's an open-source solution, so it doesn't cost anything"
"The solution is an open-source technology and not a commercial product. However, you will have to pay sometimes. The tool's pricing depends on the vendor."
"Its convenience edition is free of cost."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Container Management solutions are best for your needs.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Insurance Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Docker?
We are using Docker to host applications.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker?
Our customers buy the software and the prices are available on Docker Hub. The subscription is typically yearly, and customers will need to buy the subscription directly. They can purchase it thems...
What needs improvement with Docker?
Docker is a time-tested, proven solution with industry-wide applications. There can be challenges with port mapping, however, that's not related to Docker itself.
What do you like most about Portainer?
Portainer comes with the ability to take the information of docker definition. Using it, I can visually observe how the container has been created. It allows me to create networks. I can also visua...
What needs improvement with Portainer?
Portainer needs to be more intuitive.
What is your primary use case for Portainer?
The tool is a GUI that helps to administer a docker using a browser.
 

Comparisons

 

Learn More

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware and others in Container Management. Updated: December 2024.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.