Dokku vs Portainer
Dokku, Portainer compared on license, free-edition limits, deployment and project health. Change a project below to compare something else.
| Dokku | Portainer | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | DevOps & Hosting | DevOps & Hosting |
| License | MIT LicenseOpen source (OSI) | zlib LicenseOpen source (OSI) |
| Free edition | Some features paywalled | Some features paywalled |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Self-hosting setup | Single container | Single container |
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | Paid |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | Paid |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | Paid |
| Multi-user / teams | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Backups and restore | Free | Not confirmed |
| API access | Paid | Not confirmed |
| Support SLA | Paid | Paid |
| GitHub stars | 32k | 39k |
| Last release | Sep 27, 2026 | Oct 8, 2026 |
| Alternative to | Heroku | Rancher |
In short
- Dokku is licensed MIT License (open source (osi)). Free edition: some features paywalled.
- Portainer is licensed zlib License (open source (osi)). Free edition: some features paywalled.
Each project page lists the official sources behind these answers. Where the official pages do not say, the table shows “Not confirmed”.