head to head · open source
portainer vs OpenMeter
portainer has 38,524 GitHub stars, 2,906 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenMeter has 2,287 stars, 215 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped yesterday. portainer leads on adoption by 1,584% (38,524 vs 2,287 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; OpenMeter is written in Go under Apache-2.0. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, OpenMeter 9%. OpenMeter was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | OpenMeter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 215 |
| 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 OpenMeter if
- You want the OpenMeter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and OpenMeter 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 OpenMeter
OpenMeter is open source monetization infrastructure built for AI, API, and usage based products. It lives in the Go cloud infrastructure ecosystem and uses an Apache 2.0 license. The project turns high volume events into real time usage, supports access enforcement, and handles usage based billing from pricing and subscriptions through credits and invoices.
read the full OpenMeter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or OpenMeter more popular?
portainer has 38,524 GitHub stars and OpenMeter has 2,287. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and OpenMeter free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and OpenMeter under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and OpenMeter?
portainer is written in TypeScript and OpenMeter 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 OpenMeter?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,524 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose OpenMeter if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.