Rancher Desktop Alternatives

Rancher Desktop is described as 'Open-source desktop application for Mac, Windows and Linux. It provides Kubernetes and container management. You can choose the version of Kubernetes you want to run. You can build, push, pull, and run container images' and is an app in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Rancher Desktop for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, Web-based and Self-Hosted apps. The best Rancher Desktop alternative is Portainer. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Kubernetes or Cloudron. Other great apps like Rancher Desktop are Coolify, Seabird, Podman Desktop and OpenShift.

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Rancher Desktop alternatives are mainly Web Hosting Services but may also be Virtualization Tools or Cloud Computing Services. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Rancher Desktop.

Rancher Desktop

Free • Open Source

Rancher Desktop is an open-source desktop application for Mac, Windows and Linux. It provides Kubernetes and container management. You can choose the version of Kubernetes you want to run. You can build, push, pull, and run...

More about Rancher Desktop

Rancher Desktop alternatives page was last updated Feb 1, 2024

Portainer
Portainer Community Edition is a lightweight service delivery platform for containerized applications that can be used to manage Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes environments. It is designed to be as simple to deploy as it is to use.
18 Portainer alternatives
License model
- Free Personal • Open Source
Application type
- Virtualization Tool
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
+6
Portainer Features
1. Docker UI management
2. Container monitoring
3. Kubernetes
4. Support for Docker
5. Docker Container
6. Dark Mode
7. Container Virtualization
8. Decentralized
9. Lightweight
10. Portable
Show all NaN Portainer features ▾
Portainer VS Rancher Desktop
Is Portainer a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- Portainer is the most popular Windows & Linux alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Portainer is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Portainer is Free Personal and Open SourceRancher Desktop is Free and Open Source
- Portainer is Decentralized and LightweightRancher Desktop is not according to our users

Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers.
50 Kubernetes alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Virtualization Tool
Platforms
- Online
Kubernetes Features
Container Orchestration
VPS
Hypervisor
Show all NaN Kubernetes features ▾
+3
Kubernetes VS Rancher Desktop
Is Kubernetes a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- Kubernetes is the most popular Web-based alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Kubernetes is Free and Open SourceRancher Desktop is also Free and Open Source

Cloudron
Cloudron is a complete solution for managing apps & users on your own server. Easily deploy production ready apps from the app library and keep them automatically up-to-date. It even comes with a built-in email server and web clients!.
56 Cloudron alternatives
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
- Server Management Tool
- Web Hosting Service
Platforms
- Linux
- Online
- Self-Hosted
+2
Top Cloudron Features
1. Auto Update
2. Mail Server
3. Server Management
4. Simple installation
5. Two-factor Authentication
6. Automatic Backup
7. Ad-free
8. No Coding Required
9. Privacy focused
10. Multiple Account support
11. Container Virtualization
12. No Tracking
Show all NaN Cloudron features ▾
Cloudron VS Rancher Desktop
Is Cloudron a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- Cloudron is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Cloudron is Freemium and ProprietaryRancher Desktop is Free and Open Source
- Cloudron is Privacy focusedRancher Desktop is not according to our users

Coolify
An open-source, hassle-free, self-hostable Heroku & Netlify alternative.
48 Coolify alternatives
License model
- Paid • Open Source
Application type
- Web Hosting Service
Platforms
- Self-Hosted
+3
Coolify Features
1. Privacy focused
2. Decentralized
3. Ad-free
4. Git Support
5. No Coding Required
Show all NaN Coolify features ▾
Coolify VS Rancher Desktop
Is Coolify a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- Coolify is the most popular commercial alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Coolify is Paid and Open SourceRancher Desktop is Free and Open Source
- Coolify is Privacy focused and DecentralizedRancher Desktop is not according to our users

Seabird
Seabird is a native cross-platform Kubernetes desktop client that makes it super easy to explore your cluster's resources. We aim to visualize all common resource types in a simple, bloat-free user interface.
8 Seabird alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Linux
- Mac
- Windows
- Flathub
Seabird Features
Ad-free
Dark Mode
Kubernetes
Show all NaN Seabird features ▾
Seabird VS Rancher Desktop
Is Seabird a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- Seabird is the most popular Mac alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- Seabird is Free and Open SourceRancher Desktop is also Free and Open Source

Podman Desktop
This tool allows to browse, manage lifecycle of containers, inspect containers, images from different container engines. It includes a tray icon support. It can connect to multiple engines at the same time and provides an unified interface.
4 Podman Desktop alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Podman Desktop Features
Container Virtualization
Container monitoring
Cross-Platform
Support for Docker
Show all NaN Podman Desktop features ▾
Podman Desktop VS Rancher Desktop
Is Podman Desktop a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?

OpenShift
Red Hat OpenShift is a trusted, comprehensive, and consistent platform to develop, modernize, and deploy applications at scale, including today’s AI-enabled apps. Deliver better experiences faster with a complete set of services for bringing apps to market on your choice of infrastructure.
60 OpenShift alternatives
License model
- Freemium • Open Source
Application type
- Cloud Computing Service
Platforms
- Online
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Self-Hosted
- Amazon Web Services
- Microsoft Azure
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Top OpenShift Features
1. Ad-free
2. No Tracking
3. Orchestration
4. Software Deployment
5. Secure containerization
6. Container Orchestration
7. Platform as a service
8. Autoscaling
9. Container monitoring
10. Auto Scaling
11. Kubernetes
Show all NaN OpenShift features ▾
OpenShift VS Rancher Desktop
Is OpenShift a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?
- OpenShift is the most popular SaaS alternative to Rancher Desktop.
- OpenShift is Freemium and Open SourceRancher Desktop is Free and Open Source

Rancher
Rancher is an open source container management platform built for organizations that deploy containers in production. Rancher makes it easy to run Kubernetes everywhere, meet IT requirements, and empower DevOps teams.
37 Rancher alternatives
License model
- Free Personal • Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
Rancher Features
Support for Docker
Cloud Monitoring
Show all NaN Rancher features ▾
Rancher VS Rancher Desktop
Is Rancher a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?

Lazydocker
Minor rant incoming: Something's not working? Maybe a service is down. docker-compose ps. Yep, it's that microservice that's still buggy. No issue, I'll just restart it: docker-compose restart. Okay now let's try again. Oh wait the issue is still there. Hmm.
17 Lazydocker alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Docker
Lazydocker Features
Graphical User Interface
Support for Docker
Show all NaN Lazydocker features ▾
Lazydocker VS Rancher Desktop
Is Lazydocker a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?

Dokku
Docker powered mini-Heroku in around 100 lines of Bash.
33 Dokku alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Online
- Self-Hosted
Dokku Features
Support for Docker
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Dokku VS Rancher Desktop
Is Dokku a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?

Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm is native clustering for Docker. It allows you create and access to a pool of Docker hosts using the full suite of Docker tools. Because Docker Swarm serves the standard Docker API, any tool that already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to...
17 Docker Swarm alternatives
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application types
- Virtualization Tool
- Operating System
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
- Docker
Docker Swarm Features
Support for Docker
VPS
Hypervisor
Show all NaN Docker Swarm features ▾
Docker Swarm VS Rancher Desktop
Is Docker Swarm a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?

Cycle.io
Cycle is the leading LowOps platform built to simplify containers, standardize infrastructure, and automate DevOps. Deploy to your own infrastructure whether it's in the cloud, on-prem, or a mixture of both. The power of Kubernetes, without Kubernetes.
43 Cycle.io alternatives
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application type
- Cloud Hosting Service
Platforms
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Cycle.io Features
Container Orchestration
Multi-cloud management
Cloud based
Show all NaN Cycle.io features ▾
Cycle.io VS Rancher Desktop
Is Cycle.io a good alternative to Rancher Desktop?