Comparison

Portainer vs Rancher

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.

Portainer full profile →Rancher full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

Portainer56

Rancher45

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Portainer	Rancher
Vioscale score	56 / 100low · 32%	45 / 100medium · 51%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	-
Modelpricing.model	freemium	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	high	unknown
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	18	-
Security
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	6.7
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Francher%2Francher%2Fpkg%2Fapis&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	96
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	25,872
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US, EU · HQ NZ	Available worldwide · Popular in US · HQ DE

Score

Vioscale score

Portainer56 / 100low · 32%

Rancher45 / 100medium · 51%

Pricing

Free tier

Portainer✓

Rancher–

Model

Portainerfreemium

Ranchercommercial

Price level

Portainerhigh

Rancherunknown

Transparent

Portainer✓

Rancher✗

Integrations

Count

Portainer18

Rancher–

Security

Gdpr

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

Scorecard

Portainer–

Rancher6.7

Vulnerabilities

Portainer–

RancherCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Francher%2Francher%2Fpkg%2Fapis&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Portainer–

Rancher✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Portainer–

Rancher96

Github stars

Portainer–

Rancher25,872

Activity

Commits last 30d

Portainer–

Rancher100

Release

History

Portainer–

Rancher20 items

License

Spdx

Portainer–

RancherApache-2.0

Language

Primary

Portainer–

RancherGo

Market

Availability

PortainerAvailable worldwide · Popular in US, EU · HQ NZ

RancherAvailable worldwide · Popular in US · HQ DE

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Container Orchestration Tools
Capability	Portainer	Rancher
Core
Orchestration scope	Kubernetes	Kubernetes
Deployment
Hosting	Self-hosted only	Cloud + self-hosted
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

PortainerKubernetes

RancherKubernetes

Deployment

Hosting

PortainerSelf-hosted only

RancherCloud + self-hosted

Standards

OCI / CRI compliant

Portainer-

Rancher-

CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant

Portainer-

Rancher-

Security

Rootless operation

Portainer-

Rancher-

Architecture

Daemonless architecture

Portainer-

Rancher-

Platform

Windows containers

Portainer✓

Rancher-

ARM architecture support

Portainer-

Rancher-

Workloads

GPU scheduling

Portainer-

Rancher-

Stateful workloads

Portainer-

Rancher-

Networking

Built-in networking / CNI

Portainer-

Rancher-

Ops

Vendor-managed control plane

Portainer-

Rancher-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

Portainer-

Rancher-

GUI dashboard

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

What each one is

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

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

Rancher

A management platform that helps teams deploy and operate Kubernetes instances across diverse infrastructure—from on-premises data centers to public clouds and edge environments. It centralizes administrative controls and operational tools.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

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 ↗

Rancher

Quote-based

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

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

Platforms

Web

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

CLI

Portainer✗

Rancher✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

Self-hosted

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

On-premise

Portainer✓

Rancher✓

Hybrid

Portainer✓

Rancher✗

Air-gapped

Portainer✓

Rancher✗

Integrations

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

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

Rancher

Not documented yet.

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