vioscaleAI
Comparison

kind vs Portainer

No leader: the top candidate Portainer has only 0.21 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 →
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kind52
Portainer55
Score
vioscaleAI score
kind52 / 100medium · 54%
Portainer55 / 100low · 21%
Pricing
Free tier
kind✓
Portainer✓
Model
kindopen_source
Portainerfreemium
Price level
kindfree
Portainerhigh
Starting price
kind–
Portainer$1,045
Transparent
kind–
Portainer✓
Integrations
Count
kind4
Portainer8
Security
Certifications
kind–
PortainerTAA Compliance
Disclosure policy
kind✓
Portainer✓
Gdpr
kind–
Portainer✓
Scorecard
kind6.6
Portainer–
Vulnerabilities
Adoption
Dependent repos
kind2,126
Portainer–
Github stars
kind15,550
Portainer–
Activity
Commits last 30d
kind24
Portainer–
Release
Cadence days
kind85
Portainer–
History
kind20 items
Portainer–
License
Spdx
kindApache-2.0
Portainer–
Language
Primary
kindGo
Portainer–
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
kind5 items
Portainer7 items

Capabilities

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

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-
UX
GUI dashboard
kind✗
Portainer✓

What each one is

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

kind

nerdctl is a command-line tool for managing containers on containerd. It enables Docker Compose workflows, rootless container execution, image encryption, lazy-pulling, and multi-platform builds.

Independently observed

Portainer

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.

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 source
as of verify ↗

Portainer

from $1045/yrSubscriptionFree tier45-day trial

From $1,045/year. Free tier: 3 nodes.

  • Starter$1,045/year
    • Community support
    • Online purchase only
  • Scale$2,095/year
    • 9x5 next business day support
    • Vendor onboarding
    • Available through resellers
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • 9x5 support with 24/7 option
    • Assigned support engineer
    • Security assessment report
    • TAA compliance certificate
    • Production and non-production nodes
    • +2 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
kind✗
Portainer✓
macOS
kind✓
Portainer✗
Windows
kind✓
Portainer✗
Linux
kind✓
Portainer✗
CLI
kind✓
Portainer✗
Deployment
Self-hosted
kind✓
Portainer✓
On-premise
kind✗
Portainer✓
Hybrid
kind✗
Portainer✓

Integrations

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

In common (1)
  • Kubernetes

kind

4 total - 3 not shared
  • Docker Compose
  • IPFS
  • CNI
Independently observed

Portainer

30 total - 29 not shared
  • 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
  • Docker Swarm
  • Git
  • OPA Gatekeeper
  • Slack
  • Matomo
  • OIDC
  • +5 more
Independently observed
Still deciding?

kind or Portainer: 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.