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Feature Comparison

Business Edition is free for 3 nodes.
Here's everything you get.

Both editions start at zero cost. Business Edition includes everything - RBAC, GitOps, fleet governance, audit logs, and full industrial edge capability. Community Edition is the deliberate choice if you specifically need an open source build.

Start with Business Edition  free
Free for 3 nodes
Full features, no time limit,
no credit card
RBAC from day one
Defines who can do what
across every environment
Fleet governance
Set a policy once, enforce it
everywhere
Industrial edge
Air-gap capable, offline-
first, 1,000+ node fleets
IDENTITY, ACCESS & COMPLIANCE
Business Edition
Community Edition
Create users and teams
- Using guided forms
- From YAML files
- From a Git repository
- From a Helm chart (Kubernetes)
- Relative path support for Git stacks (Docker / Swarm / Podman only)
Use Portainer app templates
- Create your own templates
- Use pre-made templates
IDENTITY, ACCESS & COMPLIANCE
Business Edition
Community Edition
Create users and teams
Role-based access control (RBAC)
LDAP / OAuth authentication
Active Directory + auto user sync
Pre-configured SSO provider templates
Authentication & activity logs
Syslog export for centralised logging
FLEET & PLATFORM CONTROL
Business Edition
Community Edition
Fleet Governance Policies
Automatic policy drift remediation
Deploy policies to environments via Portainer
Manage multiple environments from one UI
Container image registry management
New image availability indicators
AUTOMATED, AUDITABLE DEPLOYMENTS
Business Edition
Community Edition
Deploy from Git repository
GitOps automatic updates + webhooks
Change windows (ITSM-aligned deployment gates)
Stored and shared Git credentials
Enforce code-based deployment only
Deploy from Helm chart (Kubernetes)
KUBERNETES MANAGEMENT
Business Edition
Community Edition
Manage volumes, networking, workloads
Provision Talos Kubernetes clusters via Omni integration
Import environments via kubeconfig
Resource quotas and quota enforcement
Pod security constraints
Rolling restarts
Secure and monitor access to your environments
Community Edition
Business Edition
User management
- Create users
- Create teams
- Specify roles for each user or group with Role-Based Access Control
Use an external authentication provider
- LDAP
- Preconfigured OpenLDAP template
- OAuth
- Preconfigured OAuth provider templates
- Active Directory
- AD user auto sync
- Hide internal authentication prompt
Secure your environments
- Restrict access to the default namespace (Kubernetes)
- Enforce admin-only secret viewing (Kubernetes)
- Set Pod Security constraints (Kubernetes)
- Hide anonymous Docker Hub
Security logging
- Notification log
- Authentication logs
- Activity logs
- Export Auth and Activity logs
Portainer backup
- Download Portainer backups
- Back up Portainer to S3-compatible storage
- Schedule automatic Portainer backups
Industrial Edge & IIOT

Container management for environments that never sleep.

Air-gap capable. Offline-first. No Docker or Kubernetes expertise required. Portainer manages containerized applications across factory floors, energy grids, and remote sites — safely, reliably, and at scale.

Industrial IoT
Factories, energy, logistics, aerospace. OT teams managing ISV-supplied software at scale.
Enterprise IoT
Retail, telecom edge, smart cities.
Centralised fleet management across thousands of distributed nodes.
Remote & disconnected
Ships, oil fields, mining sites. Async agents that operate offline and sync when connectivity returns.

The right agent for every network constraint

Three agent types connect to the same central control plane — choose based on your network topology and security posture.

Lan agent
Trusted networks
Bi-directional
Lowest latency
Data centre
remote agent
Untrusted networks
Outbound-only
No inbound ports
mTLS identity
async edge agent
Disconnected & OT
Pull-based
Offline-safe
Air-gapped
Business Edition
Community Edition
Provision and manage edge environments
Deploy Edge Stacks to multiple devices
Edge Jobs — run scripts across edge devices
Bulk device onboarding and Waiting Room
mTLS for Edge Stacks
GitOps for Edge Stacks
Staggered rollouts, pre-pull staging, and rollback
Async mode for offline and low-bandwidth devices
Dynamic edge groups (auto-group by tags)
Fleet Governance Policies for edge environments
Remote Edge Agent upgrades via Portainer
Edge Administrator RBAC role
Business Edition only — Industrial App Portal
A purpose-built interface for OT operators
IT governs the fleet through Portainer’s control plane. The people on the plant floor get a completely different experience - one that abstracts Kubernetes entirely and speaks their operational language.
Infrastructure is hidden - operators interact only with the applications they know
Every action governed by IT-set access controls and policies
Works with OPC connectivity, MQTT, and the Portainer industrial partner ecosystem
Talk to the industrial team
Explore Industrial & IoT

Frequently asked questions

Which edition should I install?

For almost all users, Business Edition is the right choice. It is free for up to 3 nodes with no time limit and includes the full feature set — RBAC, GitOps, fleet governance, audit logs, SSO, and more. Choose Community Edition only if you specifically need a fully open-source build with no license key and no dependency on Portainer's licensing infrastructure.

Can I upgrade from Community to Business Edition?

Yes. Upgrading is a single deployment swap — redeploy using the Business Edition image and your existing database and settings carry over automatically. No data migration required.

What counts as a node?

A node is any server — physical, VM, Raspberry Pi, industrial computer, or embedded device — capable of running containers that is managed by Portainer. A single licence covers Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes environments.

Most users start here

Business Edition — free for 3 nodes

Full feature set. No time limit. No credit card.

Get started free
Larger deployments

Talk to Our Team

4+ nodes, managed services, or enterprise requirements.

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Already on Community Edition? Upgrading to Business Edition is a single deployment swap — your data migrates automatically.