Komodo vs Portainer vs Dockge: Best Docker Manager (2026)

Portainer changed this comparison on September 11, 2026: version 3.0 goes Kubernetes-first, and Community Edition stays on the 2.x line, where 2.45 LTS is supported until May 2027. As of September 24, I would pick Komodo (v2.3.3) for a fleet of Docker hosts that wants Git-backed deploys or Swarm, with no server cap; Portainer for Kubernetes, Podman or Business Edition team controls, or plain CE 2.45 if it already does the job; and Dockge (1.5.0) for one or two Compose hosts only if you already run it and accept a tool with no release since March 2025. For a new single-host install that wants Dockge’s files-on-disk model, I would start with Arcane (v2.13.1).

Correction, September 8: CE supports custom OAuth and limited LDAP. The table and summaries separate authentication from BE roles, provider templates and group mapping.

The three at a glance

If you run Portainer CE today

Read September 24, 2026 from the GitHub releases API, each project’s documentation and Portainer’s lifecycle and pricing pages; a dash means none of them states it. Arcane and Dockhand release almost weekly, so recheck the first two rows before you move.

Portainer: still capable, now partly paywalled

Portainer is the broadest of the three. Besides Docker and Swarm it manages Kubernetes, Podman environments and edge devices, and its Community Edition is free and open source (Zlib). The friction is what moved to Business Edition (BE):

• RBAC is BE-only. BE has a full seven-role hierarchy (Administrator, Environment Administrator, Operator, Namespace Operator, Helpdesk, Standard User, Read-Only); CE has only basic single-tier user management.
• Authentication: CE supports custom OAuth and limited LDAP. BE adds identity-provider templates, Active Directory integration and automatic group-to-team mapping. The paid distinction is those directory and configuration features, not every form of SSO. See Portainer’s edition comparison.
• Audit logging, advanced GitOps, registry management, and S3 backups are BE features too.

The licensing math, from Portainer’s pricing FAQ on September 24, 2026: BE is free for your first three nodes, one licence per organization (Portainer’s three-node page). Beyond that, Starter is from $105/month ($1,045/year) and Scale from $209/month ($2,095/year). The non-commercial Home & Student plan is $155/year for up to 15 nodes.

For a homelab, three free nodes is generous. The catch is one licence per organization, and past three nodes a business pays from $1,045 a year.

Compose stacks created in Portainer’s web editor live inside Portainer’s portainer_data volume rather than as files you manage, and editing them outside the UI is awkward.

What 3.0 changes. On September 11, 2026 Portainer’s CEO announced that 2.45 LTS is the last 2.x release and that 3.x is a Kubernetes-first codebase. Inside 3.x, Docker environments stay, as do Swarm and Podman, and keep working, but they will not receive new capabilities as the Kubernetes side grows. CE does not move to 3.x. It stays on 2.x for as long as 2.45 LTS is supported, which the lifecycle page puts at May 2027, and the post promises the 2.45 LTS line, CE and BE alike, security fixes, bug fixes and back-ports of every 3.x capability that has a Docker API to match (without promising feature parity), and 3.x stays free on the three-node BE licence. The lifecycle page plans 3.0 as an STS release in October 2026 and the first 3.x LTS, 3.3, for December 2026.

If you stay on Portainer, patch first. 2.45.0 and 2.39.7 (both August 27) fixed a critical Docker proxy authorization bypass that let non-admin users reach the Docker API directly. The current patches are 2.45.1 LTS (September 17) and 2.39.8 LTS (September 16). 2.39 LTS support ends in November 2026, and the short-term line ended with 2.44, whose support ran out in August.

Komodo: open-source, uncapped, more to run

Komodo is GPL-3.0, written mostly in Rust, and its README is blunt about the two limits Portainer sells: “There is no limit to the number of servers you can connect, and there will never be. There is no limit to what API you can use for automation, and there never will be.” I found one edition and no paid tier.

Architecturally it’s a Core + Periphery model. Komodo Core is the central service and talks to a database: MongoDB, or FerretDB on Postgres for systems that cannot run current MongoDB versions. A Periphery agent runs on every managed host and reports container status and logs plus system usage back to Core. Since v2.0.0 (March 24, 2026) Periphery can open the connection to Core itself, and the two authenticate with auto-generated key pairs. You deploy it with Docker Compose.

Komodo v2.0.0 also added Docker Swarm management, down to services and secrets. Swarm no longer needs Portainer. The same release added passkey or TOTP two-factor login and let one account link several login providers (local, OIDC, GitHub).

The payoff is fleet management, all free. A stack’s compose file can be written in the UI, point at files already on the host, or come from a Git repo that Komodo clones to the host. The cost is operational: a Rust service plus a database plus an agent per server, more moving parts than a single container. Komodo shipped v2.3.3 on September 1, 2026, its fourth release in the 90 days to September 24.

Komodo’s own variables and secrets live in its database and go into a stack’s environment with double brackets ([[KEY]]). That environment is written to a .env file and passed to Compose with --env-file, so ordinary ${VAR} references in your compose files still resolve.

Dockge: the lightweight Compose manager

Dockge comes from Louis Lam, the creator of Uptime Kuma, who built it after being frustrated with Portainer’s stack management (spinning loaders, unclear errors). It’s MIT-licensed and deliberately narrow: it manages Docker Compose and nothing fancier.

The defining feature is that it keeps your compose.yaml editable on disk — it “won’t kidnap your compose files,” so they stay usable with normal docker compose commands outside the UI. You get a reactive web editor, an interactive terminal, a docker run → Compose converter, and multi-agent support since v1.4. The Dockge setup guide covers the install and the stacks-path mistake.

What it deliberately lacks: RBAC, OIDC, vulnerability scanning, and a REST API. That’s the point.

The caveat in 2026 is maintenance. Dockge has not cut a tagged release since 1.5.0 on March 30, 2025. Commits kept landing on the default branch until April 2026, the last on April 19 titled “fixed missed v-html xss warning vulnerability”, and none of that work has shipped as a release. On September 21, 2026 a user opened issue #1002, “Status of this project?”, citing security issues with no response; it had no reply when I checked on September 24.

It still works, and it is simple. MIT means nobody can pull it out from under you. If you already run it on one or two hosts, nothing here forces a move. New installs should start on Arcane. It keeps Compose projects as files on disk and still ships releases.

Portainer vs Dockge vs Komodo: head-to-head

Portainer vs Dockge

Portainer is a full platform (Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes, Podman, edge) with a heavier UI; Dockge is a focused Compose-only manager with a lighter one. The deciding factor is usually file ownership: Portainer’s editor tends to tie a stack to Portainer, while Dockge leaves your compose.yaml on disk and editable with plain docker compose.

If you run one or two hosts and live in Compose, Dockge wins on simplicity, provided you accept no release since March 2025; if you need Kubernetes or Business Edition team features, Portainer wins on breadth.

Portainer vs Komodo

Both manage multiple hosts. Since Komodo v2.0.0, both manage Swarm. Portainer CE includes custom OAuth and limited LDAP; BE adds granular RBAC, provider templates, group mapping and audit logging, with the three-node free license described above. Komodo is GPL-3.0 with no business edition, server cap or API cap. The 3.0 announcement tips it further for Docker users: CE stays on 2.45 LTS until May 2027 with fixes and back-ports of the 3.x features that have a Docker API, while Docker and Swarm environments inside 3.x get no new capabilities. I would choose Komodo for a Docker fleet with GitOps, accepting its database and per-host agents. Choose Portainer for Kubernetes, Podman or BE team controls; a custom OAuth login alone does not require BE.

Komodo vs Dockge

Both are fully free. Their scope is very different. Dockge is a single Node service for Compose on one or two hosts; Komodo is a Rust Core plus a database plus a per-host Periphery agent, built for a fleet with Git-backed deployments. Pick Dockge for a tidy single-host UI you already run, and Komodo when you’ve outgrown one host and want real multi-server automation.

Which should you run?

• One or two hosts, you like Compose, you want it to stay portable → Dockge if it is already running; Arcane for a new install. Both keep your compose files on disk; only Arcane still ships releases.
• A fleet of hosts, you want GitOps, Swarm and uncapped management → Komodo. Free and uncapped; accept running a database and per-host agents.
• You need Kubernetes or Podman, or BE team features, and fit the 3-node free tier (or can pay), or CE 2.45 already does the job → Portainer. Revisit before 2.45 LTS support ends in May 2027.

If you manage Docker across several Proxmox nodes, Komodo’s fleet model is the natural fit.

Moving off Portainer without breaking anything

Portainer never owned your containers. It only ever held its own view of the Docker engine, so migrating is additive. You install the new tool alongside Portainer and move stacks over one at a time.

The cleanest path, whichever tool you land on, is to get your compose files into Git first (or at least onto disk in a tidy folder tree). Web-editor stacks are not files you manage. The bigiron migration guide pulls each one’s compose text from Portainer’s API (/api/stacks/<id>/file). Once your stacks are plain compose.yaml files you control, both alternatives adopt them directly and Portainer’s lock-in stops mattering.

• To Dockge is almost trivial: point Dockge at the directory holding your compose files and it picks them up as stacks.
• To Komodo takes more setup (stand up Core, a database, and a Periphery agent per host), but then you add each stack pointing at its compose file, ideally from your Git repo, and redeploy. Komodo matches a running project by its compose project name, so set project_name when it differs from the stack name. Move one stack at a time. Confirm it is healthy before the next. Leave Portainer running until the last stack is across, then remove it.

The one gotcha: secrets you injected through Portainer’s UI don’t come along. Portainer stores stack environment overrides in its own database, so those values live nowhere in your compose files. Before you decommission Portainer, export or re-note every override and re-add it as a Komodo secret (referenced as [[KEY]]) or in the stack’s environment. Miss one and a stack redeploys with a blank password.

Other Portainer alternatives: Arcane, Dockhand, Coolify, and Yacht

• Arcane — a Docker UI written in Go that runs as one container, BSD-3-Clause, with OIDC, passkeys, remote agents and Swarm stacks. It keeps Compose projects as files in its data directory and shipped v2.13.1 on September 22, 2026, its 19th release in 90 days. If you like Dockge but want a maintained release line and container-level management, start here.
• Dockhand — a Docker manager under BSL 1.1 (free for personal and internal business use; it converts to Apache 2.0 on January 1, 2029) with Grype and Trivy vulnerability scans per image, OIDC SSO and a Hawser agent for remote hosts. RBAC is an Enterprise feature. v1.0.49 shipped September 23, 2026.
• Coolify — worth calling out because it’s a different category. Coolify is a self-hosted PaaS (a Heroku/Vercel-style, Git-driven deploy platform with 280+ one-click services), not a container-management UI. If your goal is “push to Git and get a running app with SSL and a domain,” reach for Coolify; if it’s “see and control the containers I already run,” that’s Portainer/Dockge/Komodo territory. That category gap is the answer to Portainer vs Coolify.
• Yacht — a lightweight, template-driven Docker UI. Its README opens with “This applicaton has not been updated in a while”, so it carries Dockge’s caveat and more: I would not start a new install on it. Portainer vs Yacht comes down to “simple templates” vs “full platform.”

The verdict

Komodo is the answer when you’ve outgrown one host and don’t want a license meter on your own infrastructure, and it now covers Swarm. Portainer remains the most capable platform: CE 2.45 LTS is a supported place to stay until May 2027, and the free three-node BE licence covers 3.x if you want it. Dockge is fine where it already runs. A new single-host install should start on Arcane, which keeps the same file model and still ships releases.

Resource use depends on the version, the stacks and the agents. The architecture diagram shows the services you need to run, but it does not establish a RAM or CPU ranking. If footprint decides the choice, compare docker stats under your own workload. The Docker RAM planner can help budget the host before installation.

Sources

• Portainer 3.0 announcement (Neil Cresswell, September 11, 2026): Portainer 3.0 is coming
• Portainer release lifecycle (2.45 LTS to May 2027, 2.39 LTS to November 2026, planned 3.x releases): Portainer release lifecycle · releases (2.45.1 and 2.39.8; the 2.45.0 and 2.39.7 authorization-bypass fix): Portainer releases
• Portainer Business Edition pricing, read September 24, 2026: Portainer Business Edition pricing · Portainer pricing
• Portainer 3-nodes-free Business Edition license: Portainer three-node license
• Portainer CE vs BE comparison (RBAC, custom OAuth, provider templates and group mapping): Portainer edition comparison · agents: Portainer Docker environments · stacks: Portainer add a stack
• Komodo releases (v2.3.3, September 1, 2026; v2.0.0, March 24, 2026, Swarm, outbound Periphery, 2FA): Komodo releases · Komodo repository (GPL-3.0)
• Komodo docs: Komodo setup (MongoDB or FerretDB) · Komodo Docker Compose stacks · Komodo Swarm
• Dockge: Dockge repository (MIT) · Dockge releases (1.5.0, March 30, 2025) · Dockge commit history · issue #1002, “Status of this project?”
• Arcane: Arcane releases (v2.13.1, September 22, 2026; the v2.10.0 notes show OIDC, passkeys and Swarm stacks from Git) · Arcane remote environments · Arcane projects
• Dockhand: Dockhand repository (BSL 1.1, OIDC, RBAC Enterprise) · Dockhand releases (v1.0.49, September 23, 2026)
• Moving stacks out of Portainer: bigiron, Escaping Portainer
• Coolify (self-hosted PaaS): Coolify project
• Release counts are tagged GitHub releases published June 26 to September 24, 2026, read through the GitHub API on September 24.