# Portainer vs Unison

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Portainer | Unison |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77/100 ✓ | 65/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 44 in Container Management | #2 of 15 in File Sync |
| GitHub stars | 38 743 ✓ | 5 559 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +181 ✓ | +65 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 21 ✓ | 2 |
| Latest release | 2.45.3 · 21 Oct 2026 ✓ | v2.54.0 · 1 May 2026 |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Zlib | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | OCaml |

## Which one should you pick?

Portainer scores 77/100 against 65/100 for Unison, so it is the safer default.

Portainer ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for Unison.

If you want the quickest setup, Portainer is easier to run; Unison needs more configuration.

Portainer is growing faster right now (+181 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Portainer](https://selfhost.directory/project/portainer) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/portainer.md)
- [Unison](https://selfhost.directory/project/unison) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/unison.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/portainer-vs-unison