Comparison

kind vs Portainer

No leader: the top candidate Portainer has only 0.32 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

kind full profile →Portainer full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

kind54

Portainer56

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	kind	Portainer
Vioscale score	54 / 100low · 42%	56 / 100low · 32%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	high
Transparentpricing.transparent	-	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	-	18
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	6.6	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=sigs.k8s.io%2Fkind&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	2,126	-
Github starsadoption.github_stars	15,448	-
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	16	-
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	85	-
Historyrelease.history	20 items	-
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	-
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide	Available worldwide · Popular in US, EU · HQ NZ

Score

Vioscale score

kind54 / 100low · 42%

Portainer56 / 100low · 32%

Pricing

Free tier

kind✓

Portainer✓

Model

kindcommercial

Portainerfreemium

Price level

kindfree

Portainerhigh

Transparent

kind–

Portainer✓

Integrations

Count

kind–

Portainer18

Security

Disclosure policy

kind✓

Portainer–

Gdpr

kind–

Portainer✓

Scorecard

kind6.6

Portainer–

Vulnerabilities

kindCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=sigs.k8s.io%2Fkind&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Portainer–

Adoption

Dependent repos

kind2,126

Portainer–

Github stars

kind15,448

Portainer–

Activity

Commits last 30d

kind16

Portainer–

Release

Cadence days

kind85

Portainer–

History

kind20 items

Portainer–

License

Spdx

kindApache-2.0

Portainer–

Language

Primary

kindGo

Portainer–

Market

Availability

kindAvailable worldwide

PortainerAvailable worldwide · Popular in US, EU · HQ NZ

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for container orchestration tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Container Orchestration Tools
Capability	kind	Portainer
Core
Orchestration scope	Kubernetes	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	✗	✓

Core

Orchestration scope

kindKubernetes

PortainerKubernetes

Deployment

Hosting

kindSelf-hosted only

PortainerSelf-hosted only

Standards

OCI / CRI compliant

kind-

Portainer-

CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant

kind✓

Portainer-

Security

Rootless operation

kind✓

Portainer-

Architecture

Daemonless architecture

kind-

Portainer-

Platform

Windows containers

kind-

Portainer✓

ARM architecture support

kind✓

Portainer-

Workloads

GPU scheduling

kind-

Portainer-

Stateful workloads

kind-

Portainer-

Networking

Built-in networking / CNI

kind-

Portainer-

Ops

Vendor-managed control plane

kind-

Portainer-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

kind-

Portainer-

GUI dashboard

kind✗

Portainer✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

kind

kind enables developers to set up isolated Kubernetes clusters locally using Docker for testing, development, and CI/CD purposes. Originally built for testing Kubernetes itself, it provides CNCF-conformant Kubernetes clusters on a single machine.

Independently observed

Portainer

A container orchestration management platform that provides centralized governance, deployment automation, and operational control across multi-cluster Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and edge environments. It enables IT and operations teams to manage containerized applications at scale with simplified workflows, role-based access control, and GitOps integration.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

kind

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Portainer

from $105/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $105/month. Business Edition free for 3 nodes. Annual commitment required.

Starter$105/month or $1045/year, annual commitment. Limited to organizations ≤$50M revenue.
- Community support
- Max 16 vCPUs per node
- Online purchase only
Scale$209/month or $2095/year, annual commitment. Limited to organizations ≤$100M revenue.
- 9x5 next business day support
- Vendor onboarding
- Reseller purchases
- Max 24 vCPUs per node
EnterpriseContact sales
- Prioritized 9x5 support
- Production/Non-production node options
- Customizable license agreement
- Assigned support engineer
- Security assessment report
- +3 more

as of 2026-08-13verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	kind	Portainer
WebPlatforms	✗	✓
macOSPlatforms	✓	✗
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✗
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✗
CLIPlatforms	✓	✗
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✗	✓
HybridDeployment	✗	✓
Air-gappedDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

kind✗

Portainer✓

macOS

kind✓

Portainer✗

Windows

kind✓

Portainer✗

Linux

kind✓

Portainer✗

CLI

kind✓

Portainer✗

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

kind✗

Portainer✓

Self-hosted

kind✓

Portainer✓

On-premise

kind✗

Portainer✓

Hybrid

kind✗

Portainer✓

Air-gapped

kind✗

Portainer✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

kind

Not documented yet.

Portainer

18 total

Active Directory
LDAP
OAuth
Helm
Git repositories
Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE)
Docker
Swarm
Podman
Talos
Omni
S3-compatible storage
OPC connectivity
MQTT
Argo
Flux
Docker Hub
Matomo Analytics

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.