# Colima vs Portainer

| Attribute | Colima | Portainer |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 47.6 (55% (medium)) | 54.7 (21% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 6 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 4 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 31,196 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Colima provides a lightweight way to run container runtimes locally on macOS and Linux machines, enabling Docker, Kubernetes, Containerd, and Incus workloads with low overhead. It supports multiple isolated instances, customizable resource allocation, and GPU acceleration for machine learning workloads on Apple Silicon. It is indexed under Container Orchestration Tools.","source":"https://colima.run/","question":"What is Colima?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Colima is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://colima.run/","question":"Is Colima free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Colima supports macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://colima.run/","question":"What platforms does Colima support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Colima can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://colima.run/","question":"Can Colima be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for Colima, including Docker, Kubernetes, k3s, Containerd, nerdctl, Incus, Ollama and HuggingFace. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://colima.run/","question":"What does Colima integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Colima is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima","question":"Is Colima open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A unified control plane enabling IT teams to consistently govern, deploy, and manage Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes environments at scale while reducing dependency on deep container orchestration expertise. It is indexed under Container Orchestration Tools.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"What is Portainer?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Portainer offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Starter, Scale, Enterprise and Industrial & IoT. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"Is Portainer free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Portainer. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"What platforms does Portainer support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Portainer can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"Can Portainer be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 24 integrations for Portainer, including Active Directory, LDAP, OAuth, Helm, Git repositories, Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE), Docker and Swarm, plus 16 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"What does Portainer integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Portainer. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Portainer not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"What security certifications does Portainer have?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Portainer is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.portainer.io/business-enterprise-it-pricing","question":"Where is Portainer available?","confidence":0.5}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source tool that provides a unified environment for executing containerized applications using Docker, Containerd, Kubernetes, or Incus runtimes. It includes GPU acceleration and AI model inference support on Apple Silicon devices. | Portainer provides centralized governance of Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Podman across multiple clusters and environments. It includes role-based access control, GitOps deployment workflows, centralized authentication, and audit logging from a single management console. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","arm_support":true,"oci_compliant":true,"orchestration":"single_host","gpu_scheduling":true,"k8s_conformant":true,"stateful_workloads":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","arm_support":true,"gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","stateful_workloads":true,"windows_containers":true,"managed_control_plane":true}` |
| integrations.count | 7 | 8 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"k3s"},{"name":"Containerd"},{"name":"nerdctl"},{"name":"Incus"},{"name":"Ollama"},{"name":"HuggingFace"},{"name":"Docker AI Registry"}]` | `[{"name":"Active Directory"},{"name":"LDAP"},{"name":"OAuth"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"Git repositories"},{"name":"Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE)"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Swarm"},{"name":"Podman"},{"name":"Talos"},{"name":"Omni"},{"name":"S3-compatible storage"},{"name":"OPC connectivity"},{"name":"MQTT"},{"name":"Argo"},{"name":"Flux"},{"name":"Docker Hub"},{"name":"Matomo Analytics"},{"name":"Kubernetes","native":true,"category":"orchestrator"},{"name":"Docker Swarm","native":true,"category":"orchestrator"},{"name":"Git","native":false,"category":"version control","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"OPA Gatekeeper","native":false,"category":"policy enforcement"},{"name":"Slack","native":false,"category":"chat","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Matomo","native":false,"category":"analytics"},{"name":"OIDC","category":"identity","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"SSO","category":"identity","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"AWS EKS","category":"cloud"},{"name":"Azure AKS","category":"cloud"},{"name":"Google GKE","category":"cloud"},{"name":"Syslog","native":true,"category":"logging","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | MIT | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"NZ","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://colima.run/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T23:02:15.232Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$1,045/year","features":["Community support","Online purchase only"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1045,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For small teams getting started with container management","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"vCPU":"16 per node","nodes":"5, 10, or 15"}},{"free":false,"name":"Scale","summary":"$2,095/year","features":["9x5 next business day support","Vendor onboarding","Available through resellers"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":2095,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For growing teams that demand higher performance and team support","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"vCPU":"24 per node","nodes":"5 to 25"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["9x5 support with 24/7 option","Assigned support engineer","Security assessment report","TAA compliance certificate","Production and non-production nodes","Customizable license agreement","Managed platform services option"],"description":"For business-critical deployments requiring priority support and compliance coverage","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"vCPU":"32 to unlimited","nodes":"32 to unlimited"}}],"summary":"From $1,045/year. Free tier: 3 nodes.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.portainer.io/business-iiot-pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T11:14:17.236Z","freeTrialDays":45,"startingPrice":{"amount":1045,"period":"year","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | high |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":1045,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 10 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.10.3","date":"2026-06-04T17:14:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.10.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.10.2","date":"2026-06-03T13:35:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.10.1","date":"2026-02-22T07:55:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.10.0","date":"2026-02-10T20:11:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.9.1","date":"2025-09-25T11:07:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.9.0","date":"2025-09-24T09:50:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.8.4","date":"2025-08-06T16:08:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.8.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.8.3","date":"2025-08-05T13:21:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.8.2","date":"2025-07-31T22:53:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.8.1","date":"2024-12-16T10:30:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.8.0","date":"2024-11-08T03:40:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.6","date":"2024-10-30T10:33:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.5","date":"2024-08-26T16:40:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.4","date":"2024-08-25T10:31:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.3","date":"2024-08-13T11:10:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.2","date":"2024-08-13T08:22:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.1","date":"2024-08-10T07:57:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.7.0","date":"2024-07-30T09:01:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.6.10","date":"2024-07-20T20:05:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/releases/tag/v0.6.9","date":"2024-05-18T05:52:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.9"}]` | - |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"TAA Compliance","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.8 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fabiosoft%2Fcolima&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | Colima | Portainer |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | None / single-host | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Self-hosted only |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OCI / CRI compliant | ✓ | - |
| CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant | ✓ | - |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Rootless operation | - | - |
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Daemonless architecture | - | - |
| **Platform** |  |  |
| Windows containers | - | ✓ |
| ARM architecture support | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Workloads** |  |  |
| GPU scheduling | ✓ | - |
| Stateful workloads | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Networking** |  |  |
| Built-in networking / CNI | - | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Vendor-managed control plane | - | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | - |
| **UX** |  |  |
| GUI dashboard | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:03:48.001Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*