Our take
Pick Podman Desktop if developers who will stay on the Apache-2.0 desktop at $0 while they open a first EXITED Containers table — not OrbStack Pro first unless they need a paid Mac VM, and not Docker Pro first unless they need Docker Desktop’s commercial SKU. Pick Portainer if operators who will stay on Community at $0 (up to 3 nodes) while they add a first standalone-local environment, then Business Starter at
Best for
Podman Desktop A local container list you run at a public $
Portainer Environments you start at a public $
Free plan
Podman Desktop $0 · apache-2.0. Containers / Pods / Kubernetes / Extensions on the cover rail. No card
Portainer $0 · home / hobby: up to 3 nodes. OSS at github.com/portainer/portainer
Lowest paid
Podman Desktop Not published by the vendor
Portainer Business Starter $1/yr
Next step up
Podman Desktop
Portainer Business Scale $2/yr
Coding agent
Podman Desktop
Portainer Home environments
Runs where
Podman Desktop Hosted
Portainer
Watch out
Podman Desktop You still run an engine
Portainer Community caps at 3 nodes
Last checked
Podman Desktop 2026-10-23 · podman-desktop.io
Portainer 2026-10-23 · portainer.io/pricing
developers who will stay on the Apache-2.0 desktop at $0 while they open a first EXITED Containers table — not OrbStack Pro first unless they need a paid Mac VM, and not Docker Pro first unless they need Docker Desktop’s commercial SKU.
Read the Podman Desktop pageoperators who will stay on Community at $0 (up to 3 nodes) while they add a first standalone-local environment, then Business Starter at $1,045/year when they need more nodes / RBAC — not Enterprise first unless they need a custom contract.
Read the Portainer page
