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Portainer

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Company health

Employee growth
12% decrease in the last year
Web traffic
5% decrease in the last quarter
Financing
March 2022 - $13M

Ratings

G2
4.9/5
(252)
Glassdoor
3.2/5
(4)

Portainer description

Portainer is a software platform that helps businesses manage how their applications are deployed and run. It provides a single, easy-to-use interface for managing applications across different environments, whether in the cloud, on physical servers, or at the edge. Portainer simplifies the process of deploying, monitoring, and securing these applications, offering a centralized platform for control and visibility. This can be particularly helpful for organizations with limited IT resources, allowing them to adopt modern application management practices.


Who is Portainer best for

Portainer simplifies container management across various environments, offering a user-friendly interface for deploying, monitoring, and securing applications. Its ease of use and robust features, like effective stack management and strong security, are praised by users. However, some find the limited default app templates and manual Docker Compose import cumbersome. Portainer is best suited for organizations adopting Docker or Kubernetes, seeking a centralized platform to streamline their containerized workflows.

  • Ideal for small to medium-sized businesses, especially those with growing IT and software development teams.

  • A strong fit for IT, software, and media companies leveraging containerization.


Portainer features

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
Supported

Portainer supports container deployment and management across Docker and Kubernetes.

Supported

Portainer fully integrates with Kubernetes for container orchestration, offering various deployment and management features.

Supported

Portainer supports container orchestration, including Kubernetes and Docker Swarm.

Supported

Portainer supports deploying applications to multiple environments from a single interface.

Qualities

We evaluate the sentiment that users express about non-functional aspects of the software

Value and Pricing Transparency

Neutral
-0.11

Customer Service

Strongly positive
+1

Ease of Use

Strongly positive
+0.93

Reliability and Performance

Strongly positive
+0.82

Ease of Implementation

Strongly positive
+0.86

Scalability

Rather negative
-0.6

Portainer reviews

We've summarised 215 Portainer reviews (Portainer G2 reviews) and summarised the main points below.

Pros of Portainer
  • Easy to use, intuitive interface
  • Quick and simple setup
  • Effective stack management
  • Robust user management
  • Strong security features
Cons of Portainer
  • Lackluster default app templates
  • Stacks feature does not support bind mounts, forcing the use of named volumes
  • Pesters constantly about updating with an annoying banner
  • Single point of failure: the centralized web interface can be a single point of failure
  • Manual Docker Compose import: importing existing Docker Compose files can be time-consuming due to the manual process

Portainer pricing

The commentary is based on 21 reviews from Portainer G2 reviews.

Portainer offers a generous free tier suitable for many users, with affordable business plans for larger organizations. Some users have noted the business edition pricing can be a challenge for larger deployments or those with limited budgets. However, the free tier is widely praised for its functionality and ease of use.

Users sentiment

Neutral
-0.11

See the Portainer pricing page.


Portainer alternatives

  • Logo of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    Better for users seeking a stable operating system. Broader industry applicability. Has more momentum. Higher ratings on Glassdoor. A Portainer alternative and competitor.
    Read more
  • Logo of F5 Distributed Cloud Platform
    F5 Distributed Cloud Platform
    More cloud-native focused and has stronger integrations with major cloud providers like AWS and Azure. It is growing faster and better suited for larger enterprises managing complex application deployments.
    Read more
  • Logo of Google App Engine
    Google App Engine
    Better for developers focused on application development, not container management. Offers autoscaling and seamless integration with other Google Cloud services. Higher ratings and positive pricing sentiment. Simpler documentation may be preferred by some, but it has limitations like vendor lock-in and limited language support.
    Read more
  • Logo of Google Cloud
    Google Cloud
    Better for users needing broader cloud services like data storage, analytics, AI, and machine learning. A stronger security reputation and offers a wider range of integrations for enterprise-level applications. More suitable for users comfortable with complex pricing models and occasional service disruptions. A Portainer alternative for larger organizations.
    Read more
  • Logo of Northflank
    Northflank
    Has broader infrastructure support and offers a free plan. It is growing faster than Portainer and has higher user ratings. A better Portainer alternative for teams focused on streamlining the entire application lifecycle.
    Read more
  • Logo of Prefect
    Prefect
    Better for data professionals and Python users. More focused on data pipelines and ETL processes. Has a steeper learning curve, but faster employee growth suggests more momentum. Stronger community support and positive pricing sentiment. A Portainer competitor and alternative.
    Read more

Portainer FAQ

  • What is Portainer and what does Portainer do?

    Portainer simplifies container management across various environments, including Docker and Kubernetes. It offers a user-friendly interface for deploying, monitoring, and securing applications, which is especially helpful for organizations with limited IT staff. Portainer streamlines container orchestration and multi-environment deployments.

  • How does Portainer integrate with other tools?

    Portainer integrates with Docker and Kubernetes, providing a unified interface for container management and orchestration across multiple environments. This integration simplifies deploying, monitoring, and securing applications whether on-premise, in the cloud, or at the edge.

  • What the main competitors of Portainer?

    Alternatives to Portainer include Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, Rancher, and OpenShift. These platforms offer similar container management and orchestration capabilities, catering to various deployment needs and technical expertise.

  • Is Portainer legit?

    Yes, Portainer is a legitimate and safe platform for container management. It offers an intuitive interface praised for ease of use and robust features, simplifying application deployment and management across various environments. However, some users mention limitations with default app templates and the stacks feature.

  • How much does Portainer cost?

    Portainer offers a Business edition with pricing available upon request. There's also a free Community Edition, ideal for individual users and small teams exploring container management. Contact Portainer for Business edition pricing details.

  • Is Portainer customer service good?

    Portainer's customer service receives positive feedback. Users highlight the helpfulness and responsiveness of the support team, particularly appreciating their assistance with technical issues and quick responses to feature requests. The active community and readily available online resources contribute to a positive support experience.


Reviewed by

MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.