# Distribution vs Harbor

| Attribute | Distribution | Harbor |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 59.4 (67% (medium)) | 63.4 (77% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 8 | 62 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 2,403 | 31 |
| adoption.github_stars | 10,582 | 29,236 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Open-source registry implementing OCI Distribution Spec version 1.0.1 that enables you to store and distribute container images with full control over your distribution pipeline. | Harbor is an open source registry that secures artifacts with policies and role-based access control, ensures images are scanned and free from vulnerabilities, and signs images as trusted. |
| features.capabilities | `{"web_ui":false,"hosting":"self","sbom_support":false,"image_signing":true,"oci_compliant":true,"private_repos":true,"artifact_types":"images","cloud_iam_native":false,"high_availability":true,"vulnerability_scanning":false}` | `{"web_ui":true,"hosting":"self","image_signing":true,"private_repos":true,"vulnerability_scanning":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 4 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Trivy"},{"name":"Cosign"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Valkey"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source under Apache license","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T20:46:36.181Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://goharbor.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T13:43:51.878Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 55 | 2 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.1","date":"2026-05-01T15:51:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.0","date":"2026-04-06T17:09:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2025-04-03T06:25:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.4","date":"2025-03-22T14:59:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.3","date":"2025-02-11T16:21:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.2","date":"2024-12-18T15:23:19Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.1","date":"2024-11-07T21:04:41Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta.1","date":"2024-07-10T13:22:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-alpha.1","date":"2023-12-19T16:03:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.3","date":"2023-10-02T18:23:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2","date":"2023-05-11T10:47:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.2","date":"2023-05-09T23:32:56Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.1","date":"2023-05-09T22:42:12Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.1","date":"2022-03-08T18:19:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2022-02-07T15:53:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0-beta.1","date":"2022-01-21T16:49:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.1","date":"2019-01-17T23:22:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2018-12-04T00:20:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0-rc.0","date":"2018-09-28T23:23:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.7.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.6.2","date":"2017-07-20T21:20:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.2","date":"2026-07-02T10:04:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.2-rc3","date":"2026-07-02T03:31:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.2-rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.2-rc2","date":"2026-06-27T08:03:52Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.2-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.2-rc1","date":"2026-06-17T07:35:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.2-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.4","date":"2026-05-11T04:08:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.4-rc1","date":"2026-05-10T03:47:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.4-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.1","date":"2026-05-06T08:48:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.1-rc2","date":"2026-05-06T08:24:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.1-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.1-rc1","date":"2026-04-29T08:21:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.1-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.0","date":"2026-03-20T04:36:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.0-rc4","date":"2026-03-19T08:37:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-rc4"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.0-rc3","date":"2026-03-17T06:27:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.0-rc2","date":"2026-03-10T07:39:26Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.3","date":"2026-03-10T02:52:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.3-rc1","date":"2026-03-08T14:12:16Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.3-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.13.5","date":"2026-03-10T04:59:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.13.5-rc1","date":"2026-03-09T03:11:42Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.13.5-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.15.0-rc1","date":"2026-02-14T07:00:47Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.2","date":"2026-01-15T07:49:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/tag/v2.14.2-rc2","date":"2026-01-12T17:15:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.2-rc2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.9 | 8.1 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":4,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fdistribution%2Fdistribution%2Fv3&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgoharbor%2Fharbor%2Fsrc&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Container Registries)

| Capability | Distribution | Harbor |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Self-hosted only |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OCI Distribution Spec compliant | ✓ | - |
| **Scope** |  |  |
| Artifact types | Container images only | - |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Built-in vulnerability scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image signing (Cosign/Notation) | ✓ | ✓ |
| SBOM generation / storage | ✗ | - |
| **Access** |  |  |
| Fine-grained RBAC / robot accounts | - | - |
| Private repositories | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Geo-replication / mirroring | - | - |
| Pull-through cache / proxy | - | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| Native cloud IAM integration | ✗ | - |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Pull-rate limits | - | - |
| **UX** |  |  |
| Web UI / console | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| High-availability deployment | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:53:58.425Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*