Item: Portainer
Rating: 10
Author: Benjamin Turner

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Portainer makes it easy to quickly spin up docker containers and stacks without having to use the command line which may be daunting for newer users, while also providing easy access to very useful features such as various SSO methods, permission management, and much more. It makes the job of handling a large number of docker containers considerably easier and has even enabled some of our less technically inclined staff to make the leap into spinning up a docker container on their own when they wouldn't otherwise have been able to without additional training. Some people are just scared of the terminal, and this not only replaces the need for that almost entirely, but it also makes everything easier, gives you important information at a glance, etc. I honestly could not be happier with Portainer, though I'm sure future updates will prove me wrong.

Pros and Cons

Single Sign On
Permissions Management
Ease of Use
Showing Important Information at a glance
May allow less technically inclined users to spin up their own docker containers

Some functionality is limited behind Portainer Business Edition
Personal License is limited to only 5 Nodes, personally, I think 10 would be nice so long as it's non-commercial (home lab type of thing)

Most Important Features

Ease of Use
Single Sign On
Important detailed overview of statistics at a glance

Return on Investment

Allows non-technical users to spin up docker containers on their own without requiring a technician to do it for them, speeding up the workflow considerably

Alternatives Considered

Docker

I haven't used any competitors to Portainer, as there really aren't any out there that remotely match even the free features provided by the Community Edition of Portainer. You could, I suppose compare it to just using Docker CLI, but that seems completely unfair, as Portainer blows that out of the water completely.

Key Insights

Do you think Portainer delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Portainer's feature set?

Yes

Did Portainer live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Portainer go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Portainer again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Proxmox VE

Likelihood to Recommend

It's fantastic for a business or home user that wants an easy to use, potentially secure (provided you put the work in to make it secure, it is secure) platform that will let you do most everything you can do with Docker, but easier. It can allow less technical people to spin up and use their own docker images without the need to use the "scary scary terminal", but there are some tasks that will necessarily require you to go in and tweak stuff, particularly when building stacks, sometimes it just makes more sense to use the terminal to get everything up and running and Portainer will automatically recognize that as long as it is on one of the nodes.

Portainer is fantastic

Overall Satisfaction with Portainer