Jaeger vs Portainer CE
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Jaeger
End-to-end distributed tracing for microservices
VS
Portainer CE
Lightweight management UI for Docker and Kubernetes
| Feature | Jaeger | Portainer CE |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Zlib |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,082 | ★ 38,184 |
| First released | 2017 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Datadog APM, New Relic | Rancher, Docker Desktop |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Jaeger or Portainer CE better?
Portainer CE is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Jaeger if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Jaeger and Portainer CE free and open-source?
Yes. Jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Portainer CE under Zlib. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Jaeger and Portainer CE with Docker?
Jaeger: yes. Portainer CE: yes.