Price checkPer mo
Home & Student$149/yrStarter$1045/yrScale$2095/yr
See all 5 plans

All Portainer Plans & Pricing

Some prices not re-verified — only plans marked “checked” were confirmed on the vendor’s pricing page

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
Home & Student not re-verified Annual billing only Not specified
Starter checked Oct 30, 2026 Annual billing only Not specified
Scale checked Oct 30, 2026 Annual billing only Not specified
Enterprise checked Oct 30, 2026 Contact Sales Contact Sales Not specified
Professional IIoT not re-verified Contact Sales Contact Sales Not specified
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Home & Student

Starter

Scale

Enterprise

Professional IIoT

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At a glance

List price by tier (annualized, per license)

Per-license list price across Portainer's plans, annualized. Custom-priced tiers show a hatched bar.

Home & Student$149/yr
Starter$1.0K/yr
Scale$2.1K/yr
EnterpriseCustom
Professional IIoTCustom
Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

Portainer costs $12.42 to $174.58 per mo as of October 2026, with 5 plans available. Plans: Home & Student at $149/year, Starter at $1K/year, and Scale at $2.1K/year. Custom pricing is available on request. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available

Portainer offers 5 pricing tiers: Home & Student, Starter, Scale, Enterprise, Professional IIoT. Paid plans include Home & Student at $149/year, Starter at $1K/year, Scale at $2.1K/year.

Compared to other container platforms & kubernetes software, Portainer is positioned at the mid-market price point.

  • 16 documented hidden costs beyond list price
  • G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5 from 296 reviews (as of Jul 2026)
Last verified: | Sources: 1 pricing pages and reviews

How much does Portainer cost?

Portainer has 3 paid plans costing $149–$2,095/yr. Enterprise pricing is quote-based. Plans include Home & Student at $149/year, Starter at $1045/year, Scale at $2095/year, Enterprise (custom pricing), Professional IIoT (custom pricing).

Portainer Pricing Overview

Portainer has 5 pricing plans ranging from $12.42 to $174.58/mo. The Home & Student plan costs $149/year. The Starter plan costs $1,045/year. The Scale plan costs $2,095/year. The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote. The Professional IIoT plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote.

There are at least 16 documented hidden costs beyond Portainer's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in June 14, 2026 from 1 independent source.

See Portainer Plans

Portainer offers several pricing tiers to meet different needs. The Starter plan is available at $99 per month. Other plans like Scale, Enterprise, Professional IIoT, and Enterprise IIoT have custom pricing.

How Portainer Pricing Compares

Compare Portainer pricing against top alternatives in Container Platforms & Kubernetes.

Canonical Kubernetes (Charmed) $25-$9470 per machine per year View pricing → DigitalOcean Kubernetes $3.39-$163/month/node View pricing → VMware Tanzu Custom pricing View pricing →

Compare Portainer vs Alternatives

Before committing to Portainer, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSCanonical Kubernetes (Charmed)
From $25 per machine per year

Compare pricing
VSDigitalOcean Kubernetes
From $3.39/month/node

Compare pricing
VSVMware Tanzu
Custom

Compare pricing

All Portainer alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for Portainer

Review scores
TrustRadius 9out of 10 (462)
G2 4.8out of 5 (296)
Third-party review aggregates, as of Jul 2026
Top pricing complaints
Usability Issues with the Web Interface and TroubleshootingTechnical IssuesLimited Advanced Features in the Free VersionDifficult Navigation

How Portainer Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
Portainer $12.42/mo $174.58/mo
Canonical Kubernetes (Charmed) $25 per machine per year $3400 per machine per year
DigitalOcean Kubernetes $3.39/month/node $163/month/node
VMware Tanzu Custom Custom
D2iQ (formerly Mesosphere) Custom Custom
Azure AKS Free $438/device/month

Browse all Container Platforms & Kubernetes pricing →

16 Portainer Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, Portainer has at least 16 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 16 hidden costs
  • Kubernetes Labor Costs $90,000
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary Increased SLA Complexity: Raising uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can further compound labor costs, with each additional "nine" of availability potentially adding 20-30% to labor expenses.
  • Increased SLA Complexity 20-30%
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary Increased SLA Complexity: Raising uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can further compound labor costs, with each additional "nine" of availability potentially adding 20-30% to labor expenses.
  • DevOps Training and Hiring $123,204
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary The average salary for a DevOps professional is reported to be $123,204.
  • Custom Tool-Building
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary Costs can also be incurred for building custom tools, even with open-source software, due to developer compensation, APIs, or other software.
  • Professional Services
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary These would be additional implementation costs, though specific dollar figures are not publicly disclosed.
  • Implementation & Ongoing Labor
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary The broader context of Kubernetes adoption indicates that the majority of its Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) stems from labor for design, build, maintenance, and support, rather than just tooling or infrastructure
  • Labor Costs for Kubernetes Adoption
    critical 1 source
    Grounded summary For instance, building a secure, observable, and manageable Kubernetes platform can incur a first-year labor cost of nearly $100,000, with annual operational overhead exceeding $35,000, even at a small scale.
  • Training
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary This can involve investing in specialized courses or allocating significant "on-the-clock" time for teams to familiarize themselves with new methodologies and tools.
  • Tool-building and Integration
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary This includes compensating development teams and potentially costs for APIs or other software used in custom tool development.
  • Infrastructure Costs for Managed Services $0.15/GB/month
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary For example, disk storage can range from 10 GB to 10 TB at a cost of $0.15/GB/month
  • Security Features Behind Paywall $95 per year
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary OAuth support was noted to cost $95 per year, which some buyers considered an unexpected cost for essential security functionalities
  • Annual Operational Labor Costs (Small Environment) $35,000
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary At an enterprise scale, annual operational costs can routinely surpass $1 million, excluding infrastructure spend.
  • Lack of Docker Volume Backup
    high 1 source
    Grounded summary Lack of Docker Volume Backup: One user noted that Portainer Business Edition makes configuration backups straightforward but "doesn't provide any way to back up Docker volumes," which could necessitate additional investment in a separate backup so...
  • Complexity and Feature Gaps
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary Complexity and Feature Gaps: Some users have criticized Portainer for certain features being behind a license, or for the Community Edition having limited features compared to the Business Edition, which could lead to unexpected needs for upgrades...
  • Usability and Technical Issues
    medium 1 source
    Grounded summary Others have mentioned "usability issues" and "technical issues" with the web interface, service restarts, and file path handling, which can translate to increased time and effort for troubleshooting and management.
  • Feature Upgrade
    low 1 source
    Grounded summary Some users also criticize the lack of advanced features in the free Community Edition, which might necessitate an upgrade to a paid plan to access desired functionalities, thus incurring a cost.
Tip

Ask your Portainer sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 3 independent sources
industry TrustRadius Enterprise reviews G2 B2B reviews
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 19 source citations total.

Portainer Contract Terms

Portainer contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require at least 60 days prior to the end of the subscription term for Home & Student subscriptions. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Cancellation Notice at least 60 days prior to the end of the subscription term for Home & Student subscriptions
Minimum Commitment annual commitment for most paid plans, including Home & Student, Starter, and Scale
Based on 1 verified source

How to Negotiate Portainer Pricing

Portainer contracts are negotiable. These 2 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 2 tactics
Leveraging Free Tiers and Trials high success

Utilizing the free 3-node Business Edition or extended trials can help evaluate the product thoroughly before committing to a paid plan, providing leverage in negotiations.

https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGwpToBoB8MSaIF8NRp-7aM2hZRClD0xQTcM7c7YK6Lu03X2bHlx-urolcVC3o-Wf05HkQ9gAfobaLFJcaX0GGvnZq2gcGSos_q-wxeUGB0oKBhKohSRXDVKg==
Focusing on Value and ROI medium success

Buyers can emphasize the cost savings and increased productivity Portainer offers to justify the investment, particularly for managing multiple Docker environments and simplifying container management.

https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEm1KnqgYmgRIGtMUclp0qT7_K4N8a0Evk1Tg-1Lbv7QUPdA48ztx9djZXADPRai2NoT2iHtzeqd3qUhxD8snmzvHDmvKqmDyxxbrl1PA6RGqDLThCea64KRgXgltTN4bPJTyfbm5t1iDnmVm7FSeZ7
High success Medium Low / difficult

Full negotiation guide →

Portainer Pricing FAQ

01 What is the cheapest paid plan?

The Starter plan is available at $99 per month.

02 What plans offer custom pricing?

The Scale, Enterprise, Professional IIoT, and Enterprise IIoT plans offer custom pricing.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.