PortainervsPulumi
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Portainer | Pulumi | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77/100 | 78/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 44 in Container Management | #1 of 3 in Infrastructure |
| GitHub stars | 38 736 | 25 825 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +187 | +26 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 21 | 5 |
| Latest release | 2.45.3 · 21 Oct 2026 | v3.272.0 · 22 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Zlib | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Pulumi scores 78/100 against 77/100 for Portainer, so it is the safer default.
Portainer ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 5 for Pulumi.
If you want the quickest setup, Portainer is easier to run; Pulumi needs more configuration.
Portainer is growing faster right now (+187 stars in 30 days).
Portainer details →Pulumi details →
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