# MicroK8s vs Portainer

| Attribute | MicroK8s | Portainer |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 46.3 (77% (high)) | 53.4 (32% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 9,357 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"air_gapped":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A self-contained Kubernetes distribution providing high availability and minimal operational overhead. Designed for rapid deployment across development machines, datacenters, and edge infrastructure with integrated monitoring, networking, and container services. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","gpu_scheduling":true,"k8s_conformant":true,"managed_control_plane":false,"built_in_networking_cni":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","windows_containers":true}` |
| integrations.count | 9 | 18 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Knative"},{"name":"Fluentd"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Metrics"},{"name":"Ingress"},{"name":"DNS"},{"name":"Dashboard"},{"name":"Clustering"}]` | `[{"name":"Active Directory"},{"name":"LDAP"},{"name":"OAuth"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"Git repositories"},{"name":"Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE)"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Swarm"},{"name":"Podman"},{"name":"Talos"},{"name":"Omni"},{"name":"S3-compatible storage"},{"name":"OPC connectivity"},{"name":"MQTT"},{"name":"Argo"},{"name":"Flux"},{"name":"Docker Hub"},{"name":"Matomo Analytics"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"NZ","primaryMarkets":["US","EU"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source with optional Ubuntu Pro support","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://microk8s.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:45:24.919Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$105/month or $1045/year, annual commitment. Limited to organizations ≤$50M revenue.","features":["Community support","Max 16 vCPUs per node","Online purchase only"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":105,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","amount":1045,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Small teams getting started with container management","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"max_vCPUs_per_node":"16"}},{"free":false,"name":"Scale","summary":"$209/month or $2095/year, annual commitment. Limited to organizations ≤$100M revenue.","features":["9x5 next business day support","Vendor onboarding","Reseller purchases","Max 24 vCPUs per node"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":209,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","amount":2095,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Growing teams requiring higher performance and team support","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"max_vCPUs_per_node":"24"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing via contact sales","features":["Prioritized 9x5 support","Production/Non-production node options","Customizable license agreement","Assigned support engineer","Security assessment report","TAA compliance certificate","Managed platform services option","24/7 support option"],"description":"Business-critical deployments with priority support and compliance coverage","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"max_vCPUs_per_node":"32 to unlimited"}}],"summary":"From $105/month. Business Edition free for 3 nodes. Annual commitment required.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.portainer.io/business-iiot-pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:39:31.629Z","startingPrice":{"amount":105,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | high |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 108 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.36","date":"2026-05-25T06:56:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.35","date":"2025-12-19T10:01:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.34","date":"2025-09-01T15:15:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.33","date":"2025-04-25T05:37:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.32","date":"2024-12-12T18:22:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.32"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.31","date":"2024-08-14T12:08:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.30","date":"2024-04-19T07:55:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.29","date":"2023-12-14T09:54:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.4","date":"2023-10-23T14:28:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.28","date":"2023-08-16T11:16:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.3","date":"2023-06-22T18:03:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.27","date":"2023-04-12T09:19:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.2","date":"2023-03-21T18:04:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.1","date":"2023-01-20T08:29:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.26","date":"2022-12-12T10:43:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.25","date":"2022-08-25T10:55:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.24","date":"2022-05-04T13:50:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.23","date":"2021-12-08T15:15:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.1","date":"2021-11-02T13:44:20Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.0","date":"2021-09-22T19:57:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.0"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.9 | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 4.4 | - |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | MicroK8s | Portainer |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | Kubernetes | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | 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 | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:39:11.737Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*