head to head · open source
portainer vs headlamp
portainer has 38,524 GitHub stars, 2,906 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. headlamp has 7,301 stars, 1,112 forks, 1,422 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. portainer leads on adoption by 428% (38,524 vs 7,301 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; headlamp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, headlamp 15%. portainer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
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Side by side
| portainer | headlamp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 headlamp if
- You want the headlamp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and headlamp 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 headlamp
Headlamp is an Apache 2.0 licensed, vendor independent Kubernetes web UI written in TypeScript that runs either inside a cluster or locally as a desktop application, and it is built for platform engineers, cluster operators, and developers who need to inspect and change Kubernetes resources through a graphical interface.
read the full headlamp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or headlamp more popular?
portainer has 38,524 GitHub stars and headlamp has 7,301. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and headlamp free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and headlamp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and headlamp?
portainer is written in TypeScript and headlamp in TypeScript. 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 headlamp?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,524 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose headlamp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.