Harness vs Portainer Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
Free Plan
- Open Source
- Starter platform to manage software delivery lifecycle
- Harness Open Source
- Litmus Chaos
Essentials Plan
- Packaged modules
- Drive innovation and simplify operations with continuous software delivery
- Standard support
Enterprise Plan
- Pick any module(s) based on your needs
- Advanced features
- Unleash the power of Harness Platform
- Premium support and dedicated account manager
Starter
- Community support
- Max of 16 vCPUs per node
- The Starter plan(s) are available via online purchases only. Purchases cannot be made through Resellers.
Scale
- 9x5 next business day support
- Max of 24 vCPUs per node
- Vendor onboarding
- Purchases via Resellers
Enterprise
- Prioritized 9x5 next business day support
- Choose from 32 vCPUs - Unlimited vCPUs per node
- Production and Non-Production Node Options
- Customizable License Agreement
- Assigned Support Engineer
- Security Assessment Report
- TAA Compliance Certificate
- Managed Platform Services Option
- 24/7 Support Option
IIoT Professional
- All Business Edition features
- Onboarding assistance included
- 9×5 support
- Click-through license agreement
- Professional Services available (add-on)
- Async edge agent: offline-safe operation
- Fleet grouping and staged rollouts
IIoT Enterprise
- Everything in Professional
- Industrial App Portal ; included
- Prioritized 9×5 support
- Assigned support engineer
- Customizable license agreement
- Vendor onboarding available
- Multi-instance (prod, dev, test)
- Security assessment report
- Professional Services available (add-on)
Home & Student
- All Portainer Business Edition features
- Up to 15 nodes
- Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes support
- Full RBAC and access control
- GitOps and app templates
- Community support via GitHub Discussions
Harness vs Portainer FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Harness uses custom pricing, while Portainer goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Harness: Harness is positioning as a premium, enterprise-grade alternative to GitHub Actions and Jenkins — they're not trying to win on price, they're targeting mid-to-large engineering orgs that need a unified platform and are willing to pay for it without ever seeing a price tag. Portainer: At ~$105-$209/mo for self-serve tiers, Portainer is positioned as an accessible mid-market option in the container management space — cheaper than enterprise Kubernetes platforms but priced above pure open-source alternatives. They're clearly targeting DevOps and infrastructure teams at growth-stage companies who've outgrown DIY but aren't ready for Rancher or OpenShift pricing.
Still deciding? See the best Harness alternatives or the best Portainer alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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We'll monitor pricing changes for Harness and Portainer and let you know when something moves.