Portainer

Portainer is a lightweight, open-source management user interface for container environments, designed to simplify the administration of Docker hosts and clusters, and to extend support to Kubernetes. It provides a centralized web console that enables users to view and manage containers, images, networks, and volumes, and to deploy applications.

Key features include endpoint management, authentication and access control, user and team management, and role-based permissions. Portainer offers templates for one-click deployment of applications, as well as stack deployment using Docker Compose or Kubernetes manifests. It provides search and filtering of resources, container logs, events, and basic monitoring, and integrates with registries and external authentication providers.

Portainer typically runs as a containerized application. It uses a Portainer Server component and, for remote endpoints, a Portainer Agent installed on the managed Docker hosts or Kubernetes nodes. The agent communicates with the server to enable centralized management while keeping the endpoints accessible only through the agent’s channel, often over TLS.

Portainer is available in a Community Edition, which is open source, and in paid Business/Enterprise editions that add features such as advanced access controls, auditing, and commercial support. It is maintained by Portainer.io with community contributions and has become a widely used management UI for Docker and Kubernetes in development, testing, and production environments.