head to head · open source
portainer vs homelab
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars, 2,934 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. homelab has 9,709 stars, 890 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped yesterday. portainer leads on adoption by 299% (38,767 vs 9,709 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; homelab is written in Python under GPL-3.0. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, homelab 9%. portainer 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.
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Side by side
| portainer | homelab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 9.7K |
| License | Zlib | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 890 |
| 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 homelab if
- You want the homelab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and homelab fits your workflow better
About portainer
Portainer Community Edition is a free, lightweight container management UI for Docker, Swarm, Podman, Kubernetes, and ACI environments. It is provided as is, at no cost, for the convenience of homelab operators, hobbyists, students, and anyone experimenting with containers on their own hardware. Portainer Business Edition builds on the same open source base and adds the features, hardening, and commercial support that production and enterprise environments require (RBAC, GitOps, edge management, audit, SSO, and more). Find out more about Portainer Business Edition features Take3 – get 3 free nodes of Portainer…
read the full portainer overview →
About homelab
Khue's Homelab Features • Get Started • Documentation This project utilizes Infrastructure as Code and GitOps to automate provisioning, operating, and updating self hosted services in my homelab. It can be used as a highly customizable framework to build your own homelab. What is a homelab? Homelab is a laboratory at home where you can self host, experiment with new technologies, practice for certifications, and so on. For more information, please see the r/homelab introduction and the Home Operations Discord community (formerly known as k8s at home). If you encounter an issue, please create a bug report (avoid…
read the full homelab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or homelab more popular?
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars and homelab has 9,709. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and homelab free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and homelab under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and homelab?
portainer is written in TypeScript and homelab in Python. 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 homelab?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,767 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose homelab if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.