kMetal vs Portainer
| kMetal | Portainer | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | No | Yes |
| Paid from | — | $12.92/mo |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Web, Linux | api, Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Control plane management | vendor-managed | both |
| Supported environments | Bare-metal infrastructure; Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is officially supported for the under cluster; KVM/KubeVirt virtualization | EKS, AKS, GKE, bare metal, on-premises, Docker, Docker Swarm, Podman, Azure ACI |
| Cluster provisioning | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-cluster management | Yes | Yes |
| Policy enforcement | Yes | Yes |
| Upgrade management | Yes | Yes |
Both are listed in Best Kubernetes Management Platforms. On Samsung Mobile US Press, Portainer scores higher on our published basis.