Distribution vs Harbor
No clear leader: Harbor (65.8) and Distribution (63.5) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for container registries. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Distribution
A cloud-based container image registry where developers can publish, discover, and collaborate on containerized applications. Includes user management, access controls, automated builds, and webhooks for integration into development workflows.
Harbor
A self-hosted Docker Distribution extension that provides centralized storage for container images and Helm charts with integrated security features including image signing, vulnerability scanning, user authentication, access control, and cross-registry replication.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
Distribution
- GitHub
- Webhooks
- Warp terminal
Harbor
- Trivy
- Cosign
- Redis
- Valkey
- LDAP
- Active Directory
- Docker
- Helm
Distribution or Harbor: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.