Container registry software stores, signs and serves the images that Kubernetes clusters and CI pipelines pull on every deploy.
This guide ranks twelve registries, starting with open source projects and single-product vendors, then weighs how quickly a team can push a first image, what storage, pulls and scanning add to the bill, and how images can be copied out again.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
In short
What container registry software does
A container registry stores versioned Docker and OCI images behind authentication, so build systems push them and clusters pull them, with optional scanning, replication and access control.
Every container registry tool was judged on five points in a fixed order: setup effort, cost in practice, how data is exported, how easily you can leave, and the buyer it was designed for. Smaller challengers are placed in the top three wherever the category has them; the well-known brands come after. Why those five, and why there is no score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Pricing page unreadable when checked; the documentation points to it for details
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Google Cloud teams that also keep language packages beside their images
Buyers who need confirmed pricing before they shortlist anyone
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the entry says so.
Apache-2.0 registry for Kubernetes with signing and scanning built in
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Open sourcePricing on requestElsewhere
Harbor describes itself on GitHub as an open source trusted cloud native registry that stores, signs and scans content. The feature list adds multi-tenant use, replication across many registries, an extensible API and web UI, and identity integration with role-based access control.
The licence is Apache-2.0. Because the site shows no hosted edition, every upgrade, backup and certificate renewal belongs to the buyer. That is a fair trade for control, and a poor one for a team of two.
What stands out
CNCF Graduated
Apache-2.0
Replication
Where it costs you
Installation falls to your own team, because the site describes Kubernetes and Docker installs and no managed service.
The pages carry no price or support plan, so the true cost is hardware and staff time that you must estimate yourself.
Right for
Platform teams that run Kubernetes and want scanning and signing without a vendor contract
Wrong for
Teams without anyone to patch and operate a server
Not stated by the vendorOpen source software under Apache-2.0; no vendor price list, you carry the hardware and staff cost
Self-hosted package and container server with unlimited users on every edition
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Self-hostablePublished pricingNorth America
ProGet lists Basic, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Complete as yearly per-server prices, and every edition includes unlimited users and unlimited feeds. A Free Edition can be downloaded, with limited security and compliance features, and paid features can be trialled.
Cloud Edition is managed hosting with 20TB of bandwidth and 400GB of storage, though the page does not say how it is billed. Self-hosting is the default, and a Hybrid Cloud option spans AWS, Azure and on-premises.
What stands out
Per-server pricing
Unlimited users and feeds
Hybrid Cloud option
Where it costs you
The Free Edition has limited security and compliance features, so scanning-style controls sit in paid editions.
Billing is per server, so every additional server you run is priced as another unit.
Image format support is not spelled out on the product page, so test your own images during the trial.
Right for
Organisations storing containers beside NuGet and Python packages who dislike per-user pricing
Wrong for
Teams that only need a registry for Docker images
United StatesPublished yearly price per server in three paid editions, plus a Free Edition and a managed Cloud Edition; trial of paid features
Managed private registry with three monthly tiers sized by repositories
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The Starter tier costs nothing and covers one repository and 500 MiB. Basic raises that to five repositories and 5 GiB, and Professional to unlimited repositories and 100 GiB, with storage beyond the allowance billed per GiB on both paid tiers.
No bandwidth limits are stated for any tier. The page lists built-in vulnerability scanning and Docker CLI integration. It names no regions, so check where images are held before relying on it for latency-sensitive deploys.
What stands out
Starter tier
Per-GiB overage
Kubernetes integration
Where it costs you
The Starter tier stops at one repository and 500 MiB, so any real project moves to a paid tier quickly.
Its selling point is integration with DigitalOcean Kubernetes, which gives less benefit to clusters hosted elsewhere.
Right for
Small teams on DigitalOcean Kubernetes wanting a registry with fixed monthly tiers
Wrong for
Organisations needing a registry outside one cloud provider
United StatesPublished monthly tiers: a free Starter tier, then Basic and Professional with per-GiB storage overage
Hosted image hub with per-user plans and hourly pull limits
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Docker lists Personal at no cost, then Pro, Team and Business per user per month, with discounted annual rates on Pro and Team. Personal limits logged-in users to 100 pulls per hour under reasonable use and one private repository.
Team and Business give unlimited private repositories and unlimited pulls, while the Pro entry states unlimited pulls but no repository count. The hub page also names automated builds, webhooks and repository permissions for managing users.
What stands out
Per-user plans
Pull limits
Automated builds
Where it costs you
The Personal plan allows one private repository and caps pulls hourly, which a shared CI pool can exhaust.
Pricing is per user, so cost follows team size and not the number of images stored.
Right for
Teams that share images with a community or colleagues and accept per-seat plans
Wrong for
Large teams where per-user billing outpaces image traffic
United StatesPublished per-user monthly plans (Pro, Team, Business) beside a free Personal plan; no trial listed
Open source OCI registry server with swappable storage drivers
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Open sourcePricing on requestElsewhere
The documentation calls the Registry a stateless, highly scalable server-side application that stores and distributes container images. It implements the OCI Distribution Spec 1.0.1 and ships storage drivers for the filesystem, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure and S3, plus an in-memory driver meant only for testing.
The code is Apache-2.0 and the documentation is CC-BY-4.0. The same page recommends hosted registries such as Docker Hub, Quay.io and GitHub Packages for people who would rather not run one.
What stands out
Apache-2.0
Storage drivers
OCI Distribution Spec
Where it costs you
The pages list no scanning, signing or web interface, so you must add those yourself.
No vendor support or hosting is named, and the page itself points buyers to hosted registries.
Right for
Engineers who want a minimal self-run registry on top of their own object storage
Wrong for
Teams wanting a hosted service or built-in dashboards
Not stated by the vendorOpen source under Apache-2.0; no vendor prices, you host the server yourself
Registry bundled with GitLab, offered self-managed, SaaS or Dedicated
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
The pricing page lists Free at no cost per user, Premium per user per month billed annually, and Ultimate on custom pricing. Premium and Ultimate carry a trial on GitLab.com with no length stated.
The install page names three routes: Self-Managed, GitLab.com SaaS and Dedicated, a single-tenant service run by GitLab. The page adds that purchased storage does not apply to other storage types such as the container registry, so registry capacity is governed separately.
What stands out
Bundled with GitLab
Three deployment modes
Per-user tiers
Where it costs you
Buying the registry means buying a per-user GitLab plan, which costs more than a registry alone for teams using another CI system.
Registry capacity per plan is not listed on the pricing page, which leaves storage rules unclear.
Right for
Teams that already keep code and pipelines in GitLab and want images beside them
Wrong for
Teams on another code host wanting only a registry
Not stated by the vendorPublished per-user tiers with a free plan; Ultimate priced by custom quote; trial of Premium and Ultimate
Registry at ghcr.io tied to GitHub accounts, organisations and Actions
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
Images are addressed as ghcr.io/NAMESPACE/IMAGE_NAME, where the namespace is the owning account or organisation. The registry stores Docker and OCI images, accepts Image Manifest V2 Schema 2, and can link an image to a repository.
New packages start private, and public ones can be pulled without logging in. Storage allowances rise from 500MB on Free to 2GB on Team and 50GB on Enterprise, and packages in public repositories are free.
What stands out
ghcr.io
Storage per plan
Actions publishing
Where it costs you
Credential handling outside GitHub Actions is awkward, since docker login accepts only classic tokens.
Each layer is capped at 10 GB and uploads time out after 10 minutes, which matters for very large images.
Right for
GitHub teams publishing public or private images straight from Actions workflows
Wrong for
Buyers wanting built-in vulnerability scanning on the registry page
Not stated by the vendorPublished per-user plans with a free plan and Packages storage allowances; packages in public repositories free
Artifact repository offering Docker and OCI registries, SaaS or self-managed
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
The Artifactory page names Maven, npm, PyPI, Helm, NuGet, Debian, RPM and Terraform among its formats and says it provides Docker and OCI registries. SaaS Pro and Enterprise X are priced monthly with 25 GB and 125 GB included, while self-managed Pro X and Enterprise X are priced yearly.
The SaaS service runs on AWS, Azure and GCP regions. Xray is named for blocking vulnerable packages, and governance policies and role-based access control are cited.
What stands out
Many package formats
SaaS or self-managed
Xray policy blocking
Where it costs you
Self-managed pricing starts at a yearly sum in the tens of thousands, which is steep for a team that needs only images.
The pricing page shows no trial terms, so confirm them before committing.
Right for
Organisations managing images, Maven, npm and Helm packages in one repository manager
Wrong for
Teams that want only a small, low-cost image registry
Not stated by the vendorPublished SaaS monthly and self-managed yearly prices, Enterprise + on contact; trial terms not shown
Red Hat registry sold self-managed or as the Quay.io service
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Quay is available as a self-managed product, bundled with Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus, and as Quay.io, a managed service that Red Hat runs. Installation uses the Red Hat Quay Operator. Authentication options named are LDAP, OIDC and team-based access controls.
Images are scanned for vulnerabilities after they are pushed, and geographic replication spans several regions behind one URL. The about page lists a Raleigh address without calling it headquarters, so the country is left unstated.
What stands out
Per-deployment quote
OpenShift bundle
Geo-replication
Where it costs you
No prices appear on the page and buyers are sent to sales, so budgeting starts with a conversation.
The trial link states no length, cost or terms.
Right for
OpenShift users who want a supported registry with replication across regions
Wrong for
Buyers who want a price list before talking to anyone
Not stated by the vendorQuoted per deployment for self-managed use and by private repository count on Quay.io; trial link offered
Pay-as-you-go managed registry with scanning through Amazon Inspector
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Private repository storage is priced per GB-month, with a 500 MB monthly allowance for a year for new customers, while public repositories receive 50 GB a month of always-free storage for every customer.
Image signing can be turned on in the console, sharing uses encrypted HTTPS with access controls, and lifecycle policies keep recent images and archive older ones. Vulnerability scanning runs through Amazon Inspector, and the product page calls the registry fully managed.
What stands out
Per GB-month storage
Inspector scanning
Lifecycle policies
Where it costs you
Cross-region transfer is charged at internet rates on both sides, so fleets in many regions pay for each copy.
The private allowance is 500 MB for one year and only for new customers.
Right for
Teams running containers on AWS compute that want metered storage and no servers
Wrong for
Teams spread across several clouds with heavy cross-region pulls
Not stated by the vendorPublished pay-as-you-go storage and transfer rates; 500 MB private storage free for new customers for a year
Managed OCI registry with Basic, Standard and Premium tiers
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Basic offers 10 GB and 2 webhooks, Standard 100 GB and 10 webhooks, and Premium 500 GB and 500 webhooks with geo-replication. Authentication goes through Microsoft Entra ID with role-based access control, signing uses Docker Content Trust, and scanning comes from Microsoft Defender for Containers.
ACR Tasks covers cloud builds and scheduled tasks, and private networking is supported. Because every registry feature maps to a tier, the cheapest tier that has the feature you need sets the bill.
What stands out
Three tiers
Geo-replication
ACR Tasks
Where it costs you
Geo-replication is limited to the Premium tier, which is the highest of three.
Scanning comes through Microsoft Defender for Containers rather than the registry itself, so it is a separate purchase decision.
Right for
Organisations on Azure wanting Entra ID sign-in and geo-replicated images
Wrong for
Teams wanting a single flat price without tier choices
Not stated by the vendorDaily prices in three tiers (Basic, Standard, Premium), calculated in US dollars by default; no registry-specific trial offer
Package manager covering container images and language packages
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Container Registry Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
The documentation calls Artifact Registry a universal package manager for all build artifacts and dependencies, and describes it as fast, scalable, reliable and secure. Coverage includes container images in Docker format plus Java, Node.js and Python packages.
Access is handled through a linked guide titled Configuring access control. The page makes no free tier statement and points to the pricing page, which did not load during our check, so cost, regions and scanning remain unconfirmed.
What stands out
Docker images
Language packages
Access control guide
Where it costs you
No price, allowance or egress basis could be recorded from the pricing page we fetched.
The documentation page does not name regions, hosting model or vulnerability scanning.
Right for
Google Cloud teams that also keep language packages beside their images
Wrong for
Buyers who need confirmed pricing before they shortlist anyone
Not stated by the vendorPricing page unreadable when checked; the documentation points to it for details
A container registry stores versioned Docker and OCI images behind authentication, so build systems push them and clusters pull them, with optional scanning, replication and access control. Differences that change the outcome seldom sit in the features. Here is the sequence we would follow.
01
Start with pricing transparency
Only 7 of the 12 print a price; 5 quote per organisation. Comparable without a sales call: ProGet, DigitalOcean Container Registry, Docker Hub, GitLab Container Registry, GitHub Container Registry, JFrog Artifactory, Amazon ECR.
02
Weigh the vendor's home jurisdiction
The 12 companies behind this list are established in 2 countries, by region Elsewhere 9, North America 3. Disclosure obligations attach to the company, so they travel with the vendor even when the servers stay at home.
03
Check the open source options
Source code is available for Harbor, Distribution. Running it yourself swaps the licence fee for your own upkeep.
Container registry pricing counts storage at Amazon ECR, users at Docker Hub and servers at ProGet
A registry bill can follow storage, seats or servers, and the three behave differently as a team grows. Amazon ECR charges per GB-month of private storage and bills transfer out to the internet. Docker Hub charges per user per month, so a larger team pays more even when images stay the same size. ProGet is priced per server per year with unlimited users.
DigitalOcean Container Registry uses tiers sized by repositories and gibibytes, with a per-GiB overage rate. Estimate your image count, average size, retained tags and number of engineers, then run those numbers through each unit before comparing sticker prices across vendors, because the cheapest headline often uses the unit that grows fastest for you.
Estimate total stored gigabytes including retained old tags
Count the people who will need individual accounts
Ask whether bandwidth out of the registry is billed
Pull limits and layer caps differ: Docker Hub allows 100 pulls an hour on Personal, GitHub Container Registry caps layers at 10 GB
Limits that look generous on a pricing page can stall a pipeline. The Docker Hub Personal plan allows 100 pulls per hour when logged in and one private repository, which a shared build pool can use up in a busy hour. GitHub Container Registry accepts layers up to 10 GB, times uploads out after 10 minutes, and its docker login supports classic personal access tokens only.
DigitalOcean Container Registry ends its Starter tier at a single repository and half a gibibyte. None of these ceilings shows in a small test, so measure a normal day of pushes and pulls from CI and from the cluster before you pick a plan, and leave headroom for release days.
Count pulls per hour from your busiest CI runner pool
Check the largest image layer against any per-layer cap
Confirm how automation logs in and which token types are allowed
Self-hosting Harbor or Distribution removes the licence line and adds an operations line
Running a registry yourself swaps a subscription for staff time. Harbor is Apache-2.0 and installs on Kubernetes or Docker-capable hosts, with scanning, signing and replication in the project. Distribution is Apache-2.0 too, but it is a registry server with storage drivers for the filesystem, Google Cloud Storage, Azure and S3, and the pages read name no scanning or web interface.
Neither comes with a vendor hosting it for you, and neither site shows a support plan. Budget the hours for upgrades, backups and certificate renewal, and decide who is on call when pulls fail during a deployment. For a very small team, a hosted tier may cost less than the person-time that self-hosting takes, so price both routes honestly.
Name the person responsible for upgrades and backups
Decide where image storage lives and how it is backed up
Test a restore of the registry before production traffic
Scanning, signing and replication sit in different places: Azure Container Registry ties replication to Premium, Red Hat Quay scans after push
Security and replication features are packaged differently in each product, and the differences decide the real bill. Azure Container Registry reserves geo-replication for Premium and relies on Microsoft Defender for Containers for scanning. Amazon ECR scans through Amazon Inspector and offers image signing from the console. Red Hat Quay scans images after they are pushed and replicates across regions behind a single URL.
The features page of GitHub Container Registry names no container vulnerability scanning, and JFrog Artifactory points to Xray for blocking vulnerable packages. List the controls your security team requires, then check which tier or extra service delivers each, because the cheapest listed price rarely includes them all and a missing control is costly to add after launch.
Confirm which tier includes geo-replication
Identify the scanner and who pays for it
Check how signing is enabled and enforced
What goes wrong most often when buying container registry software
Comparing a per-user plan at Docker Hub with a per-GB plan at Amazon ECR without converting both to your own team size and image volume.
Relying on a small tier such as the DigitalOcean Starter allowance and finding at the first real project that one repository and 500 MiB are already full.
Assuming scanning comes with the registry when the page names a separate service, as with Amazon Inspector or Microsoft Defender for Containers.
Starting a self-hosted Harbor or Distribution install without assigning anyone to patch it, back it up and renew its certificates.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best container registry software in 2026?
Harbor takes first place among the 12 we reviewed. Harbor is a CNCF Graduated project under the Linux Foundation structure, so no single vendor can reprice it or end it.
You install it yourself on Kubernetes or a Docker-capable host, which turns the first weeks into an operations task rather than a purchase. It brings scanning, signing, multi-tenancy and replication, but nobody hosts it for you, and the pages read name no country.
Which container registry tools publish their pricing?
7 out of 12 state a price model on their own site:
ProGet: Published yearly price per server in three paid editions, plus a Free Edition and a managed Cloud Edition; trial of paid features.
DigitalOcean Container Registry: Published monthly tiers: a free Starter tier, then Basic and Professional with per-GiB storage overage.
Docker Hub: Published per-user monthly plans (Pro, Team, Business) beside a free Personal plan; no trial listed.
GitLab Container Registry: Published per-user tiers with a free plan; Ultimate priced by custom quote; trial of Premium and Ultimate.
GitHub Container Registry: Published per-user plans with a free plan and Packages storage allowances; packages in public repositories free.
JFrog Artifactory: Published SaaS monthly and self-managed yearly prices, Enterprise + on contact; trial terms not shown.
Amazon ECR: Published pay-as-you-go storage and transfer rates; 500 MB private storage free for new customers for a year.
5 vendors do not print a price.
Is there a free container registry tool?
GitLab Container Registry, GitHub Container Registry come with a no-cost entry point, a free plan or a self-hosted edition.
Where are these container registry software vendors established?
Vendor countries on this page, Elsewhere 9, North America 3:
Harbor: Not stated by the vendor.
ProGet: United States.
DigitalOcean Container Registry: United States.
Docker Hub: United States.
Distribution: Not stated by the vendor.
GitLab Container Registry: Not stated by the vendor.
GitHub Container Registry: Not stated by the vendor.
JFrog Artifactory: Not stated by the vendor.
Red Hat Quay: Not stated by the vendor.
Amazon ECR: Not stated by the vendor.
Azure Container Registry: Not stated by the vendor.
Google Artifact Registry: Not stated by the vendor.
Which container registry tools are open source?
Harbor, Distribution.
Which container registry tools can you host yourself?
ProGet. The remaining 11 run only on the vendor's servers.
What should you use instead of Harbor?
The next in line are ProGet, aimed at Organisations storing containers beside NuGet and Python packages who dislike per-user pricing, and DigitalOcean Container Registry, aimed at small teams on DigitalOcean Kubernetes wanting a registry with fixed monthly tiers.
Who should not buy Harbor?
Teams without anyone to patch and operate a server. Installation falls to your own team, because the site describes Kubernetes and Docker installs and no managed service..
Your container registry software product is not among these 12? Tell us what it is for and who it serves, and we will consider it. The decision is editorial, and the ground rules are set out under software advice.
