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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 (3rd)
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 October 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Docker is 4.5%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portainer is 5.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Docker4.5%
Portainer5.4%
Other90.1%
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sunny Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers application conversion to Docker image and a mature environment
The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive. Adopting Docker is a bit difficult because it requires a lot of expertise and background, including an understanding of networking and security concepts. Many professionals are facing issues with the different architectures that interact with each other in Docker. Whenever in our company, we are working with the production environment, professionals are hesitant to adopt Docker due to the extensive learning curve, and most of the team members in our company are more accustomed to an environment like VMware instead of Docker. Docker runs on scripts, so if AI can automate most of the scripting process in Docker, it would be a great advantage in the future version of Docker. As of now, we can create scripts utilizing most of the functions within Docker, but that initial planning phase wherein to understand exactly how you will plan for the resources, how you will convert applications into a Docker-based image, and similar tasks needs to be simplified so that more professionals can adopt Docker.
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

"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."
"Docker is easy to understand and follow. It provides good scalability to the application."
"The initial setup was easy, and you are only required to run commands."
"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 most valuable feature of Docker is that it provides a containerized environment. The isolation between the environments is beneficial. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"The scalability of Docker is good."
"We are able to stop our containers or stop the service with a single command."
"Containerization is the most valuable feature. I can communicate to the Docker containers using other containers."
"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

"One item that could be improved is the overall stability of Docker."
"Deployment could be quicker."
"I have encountered network issues while connecting with microservices. I want to optimize the application layers over the bucket. It should also have better documentation."
"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."
"The command line interface could be more intuitive. I constantly struggle with it."
"The learning curve with Docker is huge and extensive"
"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

"Docker is cost-effective and open-source."
"We use the open-source version."
"Docker is a free-to-use solution. However, Docker Enterprise is not free."
"The pricing of the solution is fairly cheap."
"Docker is a free open-source solution. However, there is the Docker Enterprise which is a paid solution."
"Docker is a free tool."
"Docker has made some changes and there is an enterprise version that is affordable."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise34
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), Broadcom and others in Container Management. Updated: October 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.