head to head · open source
kubernetes vs portainer
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars, 44,561 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped yesterday. portainer has 38,524 stars, 2,906 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kubernetes leads on adoption by 232% (127,813 vs 38,524 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, portainer 8%. kubernetes 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
| kubernetes | portainer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 39K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Zlib |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 128K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick portainer if
- You want the portainer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and portainer fits your workflow better
About kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed system for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts, hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and aimed at teams who deploy, maintain and scale container packaged and microservices oriented workloads in production.
read the full kubernetes overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or portainer more popular?
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars and portainer has 38,524. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and portainer free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and portainer under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and portainer?
kubernetes is written in Go and portainer 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, kubernetes or portainer?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,813 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose portainer if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.