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