head to head · open source
portainer vs Dokku
portainer has 38,526 GitHub stars, 2,907 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Dokku has 32,147 stars, 2,075 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped today. portainer leads on adoption by 20% (38,526 vs 32,147 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; Dokku is written in Go under MIT. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Dokku 6%. Dokku was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, kubernetes), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| portainer | Dokku | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 32K |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick portainer if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dokku if
- You want the Dokku feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Dokku fits your workflow better
About portainer
Portainer Community Edition is a free, lightweight container management UI for Docker, Swarm, Podman, Kubernetes, and ACI environments, distributed under the zlib licence and aimed at homelab operators, hobbyists, students, and anyone experimenting with containers on their own hardware.
read the full portainer overview →
About Dokku
Dokku is a self hosted Platform as a Service (PaaS) that runs on a single server using Docker containers. It enables developers to deploy applications using familiar workflows like git push , mimicking the simplicity of Heroku while running entirely under the user’s control. Dokku lives in the DevOps and infrastructure automation ecosystem, targeting teams that want PaaS convenience without relying on cloud vendor lock in.
read the full Dokku overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Cloud Infrastructure Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Cloud Infrastructure Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or Dokku more popular?
portainer has 38,526 GitHub stars and Dokku has 32,147. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and Dokku free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and Dokku under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and Dokku?
portainer is written in TypeScript and Dokku in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, portainer or Dokku?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,526 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose Dokku if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.