Portainer vs Dockge: Which Docker UI Do You Actually Need in 2026?

You run Docker containers at home or on a small server. You want a web UI instead of typing docker compose all day. Two names keep coming up: Portainer (the veteran, ~38,700 GitHub stars, around since 2016) and Dockge (the lightweight newcomer, ~24,700 stars, from the developer of Uptime Kuma).

Most comparisons you'll find were written in 2024 and are already outdated. This one is based on current October 2026 repository data and hands-on use of both tools on a real homelab.

TL;DR — 30-second answer

One thing has changed since most articles were written: Dockge has not shipped a tagged release since March 2025 (v1.5.0), while its repo still sees occasional commits. We cover what that means for you in the 2026 activity section — including the new alternatives worth watching (Arcane, Komodo).

Quick comparison table

Round 1: The Compose workflow — two philosophies

This is the deepest difference between the two tools, and it decides everything.

Dockge: "the file is the truth"

Dockge's README says it outright: "Dockge won't kidnap your compose files." Every stack you create lives in a normal folder (/opt/stacks/myapp/compose.yaml) on your drive. Edit it over SSH with vim, run docker compose up -d manually, refresh Dockge — everything stays in sync. Uninstall Dockge tomorrow and your stacks keep running untouched.

For homelabbers who already think in Compose files, this feels like home. Each stack folder typically also holds its .env and bind-mounted data, so everything about one service lives in one place.

Portainer: "the UI is the truth"

Portainer lets you create and manage stacks from its web interface, storing definitions in its internal database. It can also pull stacks from Git — useful for teams. The trade-off: a stack created through the UI lives in Portainer's data structure (folders with numeric names), and while you can export YAML, the environment variables, users, and permissions stay inside.

The practical consequence: if you ever migrate away from Portainer, you'll spend an afternoon re-creating stacks. If you migrate away from Dockge, you change nothing — docker compose is the interface.

Who wins: Dockge for solo Compose users; Portainer for teams that want UI-driven or Git-driven deployment with governance.

Round 2: Feature depth — breadth vs focus

Portainer is a platform: Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes, and Podman (BE) under one control plane, with RBAC, registry management, templates, edge agents for IoT fleets, and GitOps. If your estate is mixed or growing toward Kubernetes, nothing else on this list covers that span.

Dockge is a Compose panel: create stacks, edit YAML in the browser, view logs, open a terminal, start/stop, manage multiple agents. That's the whole scope — deliberately. It does nothing for Swarm or Kubernetes and doesn't try.

The feature you'll feel most in daily use: Portainer's UI can be slow to load stack lists and logs (a common complaint in community threads), while Dockge's responses are near-instant because it's just reading files and the Docker socket.

Who wins: Portainer on breadth, Dockge on speed and simplicity. Different games.

Round 3: 2026 project activity — the question everyone asks

Here's what the data says as of late October 2026:

• Portainer: actively developed, releases continuously (2.45.x line; Portainer 3.0 with a Kubernetes-first focus announced September 2026; 2.45 LTS supported to May 2027). The company behind it is funded, with customers like NASA and Volkswagen on its enterprise roster.
• Dockge: last tagged release v1.5.0, March 2025 — roughly 18 months without a version bump. The repo is not dead: commits still land occasionally (an XSS fix and feature work appeared in April 2026), and issues get triaged. But if you want a steady stream of releases, this is not it.

Does release-stall mean don't use it? Not necessarily. Dockge is a small, stable tool doing a small job — "little and well," as one 2026 review put it. A Compose file manager doesn't need weekly patches the way an internet-facing web app might. But it's a real signal, and it's why the community has started shopping around:

• Arcane — a Go-based Docker UI, BSD-3-Clause, kept a fast release pace through 2026 (19 tagged releases in 90 days at one point). Keeps Compose projects as files on disk, like Dockge. Supports OIDC, passkeys, remote agents.
• Komodo — Rust-based, GitOps-centric (resources declared in TOML in a Git repo), strong multi-host story.

Who wins: Portainer, clearly, if project velocity matters to you. Dockge remains usable, but "will it get updates" is now a fair question to ask.

Round 4: Resource usage and homelab fit

No independent benchmark crowns a winner here, so treat RAM/CPU claims you read online with suspicion. What's true by design:

• Dockge is one container with SQLite — about as light as a Docker UI can be. Comfortable on a Raspberry Pi or an ARM NAS.
• Portainer runs a server container (plus optional agents per host). Still modest by server standards, but heavier than Dockge, and its UI latency on low-power hardware is a recurring complaint.

On a 4GB mini PC running a dozen stacks, both fit. On a 1GB Pi serving as your only Docker host, Dockge leaves more headroom.

So which one should YOU install?

Choose Dockge when…

• It's you, one or two machines, and Compose stacks
• You want to keep using the CLI alongside the UI without fights
• You value the ability to walk away from the tool at zero cost
• Your hardware is modest

Choose Portainer when…

• Kubernetes or Swarm is in the picture (or coming)
• More than one person administers the environment
• You deploy from Git and want that managed for you
• You're running many hosts and want one pane of glass

The honest third option

If you're starting fresh in late 2026 and the Dockge release-stall worries you, give Arcane a look — it inherits Dockge's file-based model with an active release line. The Docker UI space is having a small renaissance right now, which is good news for everyone.

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