Kubernetes vs Portainer comparison

Kubernetes and Portainer are both solutions in the Container Management category. Kubernetes is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2, while Portainer is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. Kubernetes holds a 6.3% mindshare in CM, compared to Portainer’s 5.7% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Kubernetes users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Portainer users who would recommend it.

Kubernetes

Read 78 Kubernetes reviews

2,744 Views
2,717 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Portainer

Read 1 Portainer review

1,137 Views
1,137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Kubernetes

Portainer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Kubernetes and Portainer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware and others in Container Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Container Management Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Container Management

July 2025

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Helped 865,164 peers since 2012

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

Kubernetes

Ranking in Container Management

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Portainer

Ranking in Container Management

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 6.3%, down from 7.8% 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

Venu Boddu

AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited

Manage infrastructure automation and smooth application deployment with robust auto-scaling capabilities

Kubernetes is highly valuable for its node-based setup, which allows for the running of multiple pods. This feature is essential for infrastructure automation and application deployment. Kubernetes also offers rollback control and auto-scaling capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining an application's availability even if nodes or pods go down. Additionally, Kubernetes supports load balancing to distribute traffic efficiently across multiple pods.

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Elio-Bonazzi

Developer with 1-10 employees

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are features that come out of the box with Kubernetes, with respect to scaling, reliability, etc. It's the leading container management platform. There are other competing ones, but this is the leading one. It has multiple instances of the application running. If one of them goes down, the other one automatically spins up."

"Kubernetes offers a lot of great features such as scalability and great portability of applications."

"The most valuable feature of Kubernetes is its support for load balancing."

"It's scalable."

"The easy management of containers is one of the main features I have found useful."

"The best feature is autoscaling. It's effortless to use for scaling deployment parts, CI/CD, etc."

"The most valuable feature is the support for Docker containers."

"With the use of our blueprint, my experience with the initial setup has been a ten out of ten where one is difficult and ten is easy."

More Kubernetes pros

"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

"It would be very interesting if they could introduce a template engine to set dynamic values in the deployment time. It would be ideal if it could be native in Kubernetes as it would be much easier."

"The solution can be quite complex for many users."

"The tool needs to improve its UI. The tool is very complex and basic."

"Kubernetes could improve security. The security is really hard to deploy with proxies and other elements. Additionally, We have had some issues downloading repos and libraries."

"Having a thread dump and memory dump, and seeing how many objects were created would be useful."

"The virtual machines should be GUI-based"

"The front end is very rudimentary."

"There are features in Google Cloud or AWS that aren't in Azure. They need to implement a couple more tools in Azure."

More Kubernetes cons

"Portainer needs to be more intuitive."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution requires a license to use it."

"Kubernetes is open source. But we have to manage Kubernetes as a team, and the overhead is a bit high. Compared with the platforms like Cloud Foundry, which has a much less operational overhead. Kubernetes, I have to manage the code, and I have to hire the developers. If someone has a product, a developer should know exactly what he's writing or high availability, and all those things may differ the costs."

"It's an affordable solution"

"If you're using a public cloud, the cost depends on the number of nodes you are planning to deploy Kubernetes on."

"There is a license to use Kubernetes."

"The price of Kubernetes could be lower. However, it is less expensive than VMware Tanzu. Additionally, technical support is expensive. The overall cost of the solution is approximately $1,000 annually."

"There are no licensing fees."

"The management layer is free, which is perfect. You don't need to pay money for the management layer, but in AWS develop service, you need to pay. I think it is €75 per month for the management layer. It is free here, so you can have as many Kubernetes clusters as you need. You are paying just for the workload, that is, for the machine, CPU, memory, and everything."

More Kubernetes pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kubernetes?

There are many good features. I feel that the scale-out features, like replica sets, are very good. The number of running containers can be autoscaled.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?

Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kubernetes?

Although we face issues when migrating to new versions of Kubernetes, such as misunderstandings on using new features or integration with proxy services, these issues can be addressed with proper p...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Portainer?

Portainer needs to be more intuitive.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Portainer?

The tool is a GUI that helps to administer a docker using a browser.

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Kubernetes

Compared 33% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE vs Kubernetes

Compared 12% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Kubernetes

Compared 7% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) vs Kubernetes

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Kubernetes

Compared 4% of the time

More Kubernetes Competitors

Komodor vs Portainer

Compared 58% of the time

Docker vs Portainer

Compared 9% of the time

HashiCorp Nomad vs Portainer

Compared 8% of the time

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Portainer

Compared 4% of the time

Rancher Labs vs Portainer

Compared 4% of the time

More Portainer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes

August 2025

Download Kubernetes product report

Buyer's Guide

Container Management

July 2025

Download Portainer product report

Also Known As

No data available

Overview

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
It groups containers that make up an application into logical units for easy management and discovery. Kubernetes builds upon 15 years of experience of running production workloads at Google, combined with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community.

Kubernetes

Portainer offers a robust platform for managing Docker environments, streamlining containerized application deployments and simplifying complex processes. It provides scalability and efficiency for IT operations.

Portainer facilitates comprehensive management of containerized environments, increasing operational efficiency. Known for its intuitive interface and broad functionality, Portainer minimizes time spent on mundane management tasks. Users benefit from resource optimization and improved visibility in container orchestration. As organizations continue to embrace cloud-native technologies, Portainer becomes a reliable choice for those looking to harness the full potential of Docker while maintaining easy control and oversight of container workloads.

What key features does Portainer offer?

Container Management: Simplifies handling of Docker containers with an easy-to-use interface.
Application Templates: Provides pre-defined templates for faster deployment of applications.
Role-Based Access Control: Ensures secure access through detailed permission settings.
Support for Multi-Cluster: Allows managing multiple clusters from a single point.
Monitoring and Logging: Offers detailed insights and logging for efficient resource monitoring.

Which benefits should be expected from Portainer?

Time Savings: Reduces time spent on manual configurations with its streamlined processes.
Cost Efficiency: Maximizes resource utilization, potentially lowering operational costs.
Enhanced Security: Provides secure management of access and deployments.
Scalability: Supports growth with features that accommodate expanding infrastructures.

In industries like healthcare and finance, Portainer is deployed to manage sensitive data workflows, ensuring compliance and security. It's used in manufacturing for optimizing IoT integrations and in the tech industry to manage microservices efficiently, aligning with modern agile development practices.

Portainer

Sample Customers

China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware and others in Container Management. Updated: July 2025.

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