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Docker Desktop vs Podman Desktop: catalog facts
Docker Desktop	Podman Desktop
Freemium Free for personal use, education, open source projects and small businesses. Larger…	Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, with no company size restriction.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Everything in one installer: engine, Compose, Kubernetes and a dashboard The reference implementation, so every tutorial assumes it	No licence fee regardless of company size Installs and updates Podman itself, so there is one thing to manage
Paid subscription required above a company size threshold Closed source, unlike the Docker engine itself	Electron, so it is heavy for a dashboard Podman's rootless model behaves differently from Docker in ways that surprise people
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.