Portainer is free.
Verified Oct 2026 from the official pricing page.
Is Portainer worth the price?
Portainer Community Edition is free for non-commercial use and handles Docker/Swarm/Kubernetes well.
Business Edition starts at $99/month (Starter, up to 15 nodes) and scales to $199/month (Scale, up to 35 nodes). Enterprise is custom-priced with unlimited nodes.
Reasonable pricing for the simplicity it adds to container management.
Pricing Plans
30-day Free TrialCommunity
Free
Free
- Docker/K8s mgmt
- 1 environment
- Community support
Business
Free
$5/node/mo
- Unlimited envs
- RBAC
- Registry mgmt
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Revenue caps
Starter limited to orgs under $50M revenue, Scale under $100M
Annual billing saves 16% ($995/year vs $99/month)
Our Recommendation
startup
Community Edition is fine for non-commercial or early-stage use. Starter at $995/year covers up to 15 nodes, which is plenty for most startups.
enterprise
Enterprise plan removes all node and vCPU limits with custom pricing. Compare with Rancher (free OSS) if you need Kubernetes-native management at scale.
How Portainer compares
6 of 6 direct competitors offer a free plan.
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Portainer | Free | Yes |
| Kubernetes | $0.10/month, billing unit not specified | Yes |
| Docker Swarm | Free | Yes |
| Rancher | Free | Yes |
| OpenShift | Free | Yes |
| MicroK8s | Free | Yes |
| K3s | Free | Yes |
Portainer Pricing FAQ
How much does Portainer cost?
Portainer is free to use. No subscription or one-time fee is required for the core product.
Does Portainer have a free plan?
Yes. Portainer offers a free plan called "Community". It includes: Docker/K8s mgmt, 1 environment, Community support.
Does Portainer offer a free trial?
Yes. Portainer offers a free trial lasting 30 days.
What are alternatives to Portainer?
Alternatives to Portainer include Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, Rancher, OpenShift. Docker Swarm, MicroK8s, K3s are fully free. Kubernetes starts at $0.10/month, billing unit not specified.
Portainer alternatives
Direct competitors. Starting prices match the table above.
Sources
- Official Portainer pricing: portainer.io/pricing (verified Oct 2026)
- Cite this data: Toolradar, Portainer pricing verified Oct 2026, toolradar.com/tools/portainer/pricing
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