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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
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (1st), Software Supply Chain Security (6th)
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 July 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Docker is 2.6%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portainer is 5.7%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Gur Sannikov - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers reliability and helps to save on costs
In terms of the impact of container orchestration, I would say that though my company does not currently use a lot of containers, we plan to move to containers. I recommend others to just use the internet than ChatGPT since mostly all issues are already known and very easy to deal with so it is better to use the knowledge from the industry. In terms of the use of Docker for AI projects or workflows, I would say that my company deploys AI applications on Docker, like any other application and pipeline. The tools or practices that have proven to be the most beneficial for our company's AI initiatives are agnostic to Docker. There is nothing special in Docker, and our company just uses it to deploy applications. The value derived from the use of the product revolves around the scalability and the reliability it offers. The product helps with the cost-savings part since it saves time and money linked with the amount of engineers required to spend time on operations. I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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

"It is a quite mature technology."
"Docker creates lightweight applications that are easy to manage and scale."
"The solution helps save costs."
"Docker's containerization property is its main selling point."
"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."
"There are ways of using Docker where you have absolutely no dependencies on the environment that you work in. This allows us to deploy Docker anywhere anytime and this has been most valuable."
"The most valuable feature is the simple containerization."
"Feature-wise, Docker is very user-friendly...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."
"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 are facing multiple issues with the solution's stability."
"The solution’s documentation could improve a bit."
"Docker volumes. When I integrated volumes, I faced challenges. I have not essentially used add volumes to the existing instances."
"There may not be much room for improvement with Docker as it has greatly evolved. However, one area that could be improved upon is the documentation on their website which was once easy to follow but has become quite terrible with numerous versions being released. As an example, the installation process for Docker now requires more than just a one-line command, causing inconvenience. Additionally, based on my experience as a college instructor, teaching students to install Docker was a difficult task due to the lack of straightforward and easy-to-follow documentation. Docker should focus on improving their documentation to make it more user-friendly for all."
"The solution is not easy to manage and it is one of the reasons why people introduce orchestration tools to manage it."
"Owing to a few shortcomings in its stability, I would say that its stability can 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."
"The product does not have an extensive documentation. The tool does not have good scenarios. We have to go through the GitHub repository and investigate similar scenarios. Also, if you are copying multiple things, then you can jeopardize the copy number. The copying aspect also lacks a UI part. We also need to limit the memory."
"Portainer needs to be more intuitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."
"We use the open-source version."
"We are using the open-source version of the solution."
"Docker is a free open-source solution. However, there is the Docker Enterprise which is a paid solution."
"Docker is a free-to-use solution. However, Docker Enterprise is not free."
"I use the solution's open-source version."
"It's free."
"Docker is a free open-source solution."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
6%
 

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?
Regarding the cost, Mirantis Container Cloud is cheaper than other solutions like Red Hat. The license costs around 10,000 Indian rupees per year.
What needs improvement with Docker?
Mirantis Container Cloud should have AI integration tools, which are not available right now. These tools should assist in app scalability and deployment error handling.
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

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware and others in Container Management. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.