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.

Harness pricing Portainer pricing
Starts at Custom $1045/mo
Number of plans 3 3
Free plan —
Free trial —
Pricing model hybrid hybrid

Price is one row. To weigh the features too, use our feature comparison template →

Free Plan

$0/mo
  • Harness Open Source included
  • Litmus Chaos included
  • Community support

Essentials Plan

Custom
  • All-in-one DevOps bundle
  • CI, CD, IaC, and security in one plan
  • Standard support included

Enterprise Plan

Popular
Custom
  • Choose any modules: mix and match
  • Enterprise-grade features in every module
  • Premier support + dedicated account manager

Starter

$1045/mo
  • 5, 10, or 15 nodes
  • Community support
  • Up to 16 vCPUs per node
  • Online purchase only, not via resellers

Scale

Popular
$2095/mo
  • 5 to 25 nodes
  • 9x5 next business day support
  • Up to 24 vCPUs per node
  • Vendor onboarding
  • Available through resellers

Enterprise

Custom
  • 32 to unlimited vCPUs per node
  • Prioritized 9x5 support, 24/7 option
  • Production and non-production nodes
  • Customizable license agreement
  • Assigned support engineer
  • Security assessment report
  • TAA compliance certificate
  • Managed platform services option

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?
Harness has a free plan. Portainer doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
How do they charge?
Both use a hybrid model, so the comparison is straightforward — it comes down to features and limits at each price point.
Which one is a better deal?
Depends on what you need. Harness: Hiding all pricing past the free tier signals a premium, enterprise-first play rather than a self-serve competitor to tools like CircleCI or GitHub Actions. They're clearly chasing larger DevOps buying committees who expect custom contracts anyway, not price-sensitive small teams comparing sticker prices. Portainer: At four-figures-a-month before you even hit Enterprise, Portainer is priced for infrastructure teams at mid-size to large companies, not solo devs or small startups — this isn't competing with free/cheap container UIs, it's going after teams who'll pay for a polished management layer across many nodes. The 15-node, 45-day extended trial for Enterprise signals they're chasing larger deployments where the sales cycle is longer and the node count matters more than feature checklists.

Still deciding? See the best Harness alternatives or the best Portainer alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.

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