For years the answer to “what should I use to manage Docker in my homelab” was just “Portainer.” That changed once Portainer moved a set of previously-free, team-oriented features behind its paid Business Edition — and a wave of self-hosters went looking for alternatives. The two names that keep coming up are Komodo and Dockge. Here’s how all three actually compare in 2026 on the things that matter: licensing, what you get free, and which fits which homelab — verified against each project’s own docs and repositories.

The three at a glance

PortainerKomodoDockge
LicenseCE open-source; BE paidGPL-3.0 (fully open)MIT (fully open)
ScopeDocker, Swarm, Kubernetes, Podman, edgeDocker + stacks, multi-host, GitOpsCompose only
Multi-hostYes (governance in BE)Yes, uncappedYes (v1.4+)
RBAC / SSOBusiness Edition onlyIncludedNone (by design)
ArchitectureServer + agentsCore + Periphery + databaseSingle Node service
GitHub stars—~11.4k~23.5k
Best forBreadth / K8s / teamsMulti-host fleetsSingle/dual-host Compose

Portainer: still capable, now partly paywalled

Portainer is the broadest of the three — it manages Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes, Podman, and edge devices — and its Community Edition is genuinely free and open-source. 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.
  • SSO/OIDC with provider templates (Microsoft, Google, GitHub; Azure AD, Okta, Ping) and automatic group-to-team mapping is BE-only. In CE, “Custom” is the only OAuth option and automatic group membership can’t be configured.
  • Audit logging, advanced GitOps, registry management, and S3 backups are BE features too.

The licensing math: BE is free for up to 3 nodes, renewed yearly at no cost, with the full feature set (one license per company domain). Beyond that, Starter is $99/month ($995/year) and Scale is $199/month ($1,995/year); there’s a non-commercial Home & Student plan at $149/year. For a small homelab the 3-node free BE tier is actually generous — the catch is the per-company-domain limit and that the moment you outgrow 3 nodes commercially, you’re into real money.

A recurring CE complaint worth knowing: Compose stacks created in Portainer’s editor become tied to Portainer, and editing the underlying YAML outside the UI is awkward. That single behavior is why many people prefer the other two.

Komodo: open-source, uncapped, more to run

Komodo is the project most directly positioned against Portainer’s licensing. It’s GPL-3.0, written mostly in Rust, and its docs are blunt about it: “There is no limit to the number of servers you can connect… There is no limit to what API you can use for automation… No ‘business edition’ here.”

Architecturally it’s a Core + Periphery model: Komodo Core is the central service (and talks to a database — MongoDB recommended, with FerretDB/Postgres as an alternative), and a lightweight, stateless Periphery agent runs on every managed host, IP-whitelisted, reporting container status, logs, and system usage back to Core. You deploy it with Docker Compose. The payoff is real multi-host fleet management with Git-backed (GitOps) deployments, all free. The cost is operational: you’re now running a Rust service plus a database plus an agent per server — more moving parts than a single container. At ~11.4k GitHub stars it’s younger than Portainer but has strong momentum.

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.

What it deliberately lacks: RBAC, OIDC, vulnerability scanning, and a REST API. That’s the point — it’s a clean UI over Compose, not a platform. At ~23.5k stars it’s the most popular of the three by a wide margin, reflecting how many self-hosters just want exactly this.

Which should you run?

  • One or two hosts, you like Compose, you want it to stay portable → Dockge. Lightest, simplest, your files stay yours.
  • A fleet of hosts, you want GitOps and uncapped management, and Portainer’s licensing annoyed you → Komodo. Free and uncapped; accept running a database and per-host agents.
  • You genuinely need Kubernetes/Swarm/Podman breadth, or BE team features, and fit the 3-node free tier (or can pay) → Portainer.

Community sentiment in 2026 trends Komodo > Dockge > Portainer for self-hosters, but that ranking is use-case-dependent, not absolute. If you’re just standing up your first stacks, the Docker Compose starter stack guide pairs well with Dockge; if you’re managing Docker across multiple Proxmox nodes, Komodo’s fleet model is the natural fit.

The honest verdict

There’s no single winner — there’s a right tool per situation. Dockge is the easy recommendation for most single-host homelabs: light, open, and it respects your files. Komodo is the answer when you’ve outgrown one host and don’t want a license meter on your own infrastructure. Portainer remains the most capable platform and is fine if the free 3-node BE tier covers you or you need Kubernetes — just go in knowing which features are CE and which require paying.

One thing I won’t fake: resource footprint. There’s no reliable, current head-to-head RAM/CPU benchmark across all three, and it varies by version and how many stacks and agents you run. Dockge is lightest by design; Komodo has the largest baseline (Core + database + agents); Portainer is in between. If footprint decides it for you, run each for a day and watch docker stats on your own hardware — that’s the only number that’s actually yours.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is Portainer still free in 2026?
Partly. Portainer Community Edition (CE) is free and open-source, but several team-oriented features are now Business Edition (BE) only: role-based access control (RBAC), SSO/OIDC with provider templates and automatic group mapping, audit logging, and advanced GitOps. BE is free for up to 3 nodes (renewed yearly at no cost) with the full feature set, then paid — Starter is $99/month and Scale $199/month. CE alone has single-tier user management, only a ‘Custom’ OAuth option, and no RBAC.
What is Komodo and why are people switching to it from Portainer?
Komodo is a fully open-source (GPL-3.0), Rust-built Docker/stack manager using a Core (central server + database) and Periphery (a lightweight agent on each managed host) architecture. People switch because it has no ‘business edition,’ no server cap, and no API cap — its docs say so explicitly — so the team features Portainer paywalls (multi-host fleet management, full automation) are simply included. The trade is more moving parts: you run the Rust Core plus a database (MongoDB, or FerretDB/Postgres) plus a Periphery agent per server.
What is Dockge and who is it for?
Dockge is a lightweight, MIT-licensed Docker Compose manager by Louis Lam, the creator of Uptime Kuma. It’s deliberately Compose-only: it keeps your compose.yaml editable on disk (it ‘won’t kidnap your compose files’), with a web editor, a terminal, and multi-agent support since v1.4. It intentionally has no RBAC, no OIDC, no vulnerability scanning, and no REST API. It’s for single- or dual-host self-hosters who want a clean UI over plain Compose without buying into a bigger platform.
Komodo vs Portainer vs Dockge — which should I use?
Use Dockge if you run one or two hosts and just want a tidy UI over Compose files you still control. Use Komodo if you manage a fleet of hosts, want Git-backed deployments, and were frustrated by Portainer’s licensing — it’s free and uncapped, at the cost of running a database and agents. Use Portainer if you genuinely need its breadth (Kubernetes, Swarm, Podman, edge) or its BE team features and fit within the 3-node free tier or can pay. Community sentiment in 2026 trends Komodo > Dockge > Portainer for self-hosters, but it’s genuinely use-case dependent.
Does Komodo or Dockge support multiple Docker hosts?
Both do. Komodo is built around multi-host from the ground up — its Periphery agent runs on each server and reports to the central Core, with no limit on how many servers you connect. Dockge added multi-agent support in v1.4, letting one Dockge instance manage Compose stacks across several hosts. Portainer also manages multiple environments, but in CE without RBAC, and its richer multi-environment governance (teams, role mapping) is a Business Edition feature.
Which Docker manager uses the least resources?
There’s no reliable, current side-by-side RAM/CPU benchmark across all three — footprint depends heavily on version, host, and how many stacks/agents you run, so measure it on your own box with docker stats. Directionally: Dockge is the lightest by design (a single Node service, often cited around 50–60 MB idle, though some report more). Komodo is ‘more software to run’ — a Rust Core plus a database plus a Periphery agent per host — so it has the largest baseline. Portainer sits in between.