head to head · open source
portainer vs OpenStack
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars, 2,934 forks, 757 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenStack has 6,072 stars, 1,625 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. portainer leads on adoption by 538% (38,767 vs 6,072 stars). portainer is written in TypeScript under Zlib; OpenStack is written in Python under Apache-2.0. portainer has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, OpenStack 27%. OpenStack 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 | OpenStack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 OpenStack if
- You want the OpenStack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenStack 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 OpenStack
OpenStack ========= OpenStack is a collection of interoperable components that can be deployed to provide computing, networking and storage resources. Those infrastructure resources can then be accessed by end users through programmable APIs. This repository just represents OpenStack as a collection of git submodules. You can find the repositories for individual components at: You can learn more about the various components in OpenStack at: To learn more about how to contribute to OpenStack, please head to our Contributor portal: To learn more about how OpenStack is governed, you can visit: Why this repository ?…
read the full OpenStack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is portainer or OpenStack more popular?
portainer has 38,767 GitHub stars and OpenStack has 6,072. portainer has the larger community by that measure.
Are portainer and OpenStack free?
Both are open source. portainer is licensed under Zlib and OpenStack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between portainer and OpenStack?
portainer is written in TypeScript and OpenStack 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 OpenStack?
Choose portainer if you want the larger community (38,767 stars) or its Zlib licence terms. Choose OpenStack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.