Harbor vs Quay

Harbor9.4Visit Quay9.3Visit

Higher score Harbor #1 in Container Registries 9.4/10 Open source ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Harbor

vs

Quay #2 in Container Registries 9.3/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Quay

• Harbor fits best

  Teams wanting a capable open-source registry

• Quay fits best

  Open-source teams needing hosted or self-hosted options

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Side by side

Feature	Harbor 9.4/10 Visit ↗	Quay 9.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	9.3
Ranking	#1 in Container Registries	#2 in Container Registries
Best for	Teams wanting a capable open-source registry	Open-source teams needing hosted or self-hosted options
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Open source	Free plan · 30-day trial
Free plan	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	30 days
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Linux	Web
Support	Community, Docs	Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs
Integrations	9 integrations	5 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Harbor 4/4 · Quay 4/4
Image scanning	✓	✓
OCI artifacts	✓	✓
Immutable tags	✓	✓
Retention policies	✓	✓
Specs
Replication scope	Not checked yet	Multi-region
Included storage	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Maximum image size	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports OCI images, indexes, and other OCI artifacts Combines scanning, signing, immutability, retention, and RBAC Replicates with Harbor and other major registries	Automated vulnerability scanning with Clair OCI 1.1 referrers, immutable tags, and retention policies Mirroring and geo-replication for distributed repositories
Cons	Requires self-hosted deployment and ongoing administration No AI features for AI-assisted registry workflows Web and API access still depend on your hosting environment	Project Quay and hosted Quay.io require a deployment choice Advanced controls may exceed basic image-storage needs Self-hosted deployment adds operational responsibility
Our verdict	Harbor is a self-hosted, open-source container registry for organizations managing container images and cloud-native artifacts. It fits teams that want control over deployment and registry policies without a proprietary license. Projects… Read the review →	Quay is a container registry for developers and organizations that build, store, organize, scan, and distribute container images and other OCI artifacts. It supports web and API access, as well as self-hosted deployment. Project Quay is… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Harbor — where it wins

  • Supports OCI images, indexes, and other OCI artifacts
  • Combines scanning, signing, immutability, retention, and RBAC
  • Replicates with Harbor and other major registries

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires self-hosted deployment and ongoing administration
  • No AI features for AI-assisted registry workflows
  • Web and API access still depend on your hosting environment

• Quay — where it wins

  • Automated vulnerability scanning with Clair
  • OCI 1.1 referrers, immutable tags, and retention policies
  • Mirroring and geo-replication for distributed repositories

  Where it doesn't

  • Project Quay and hosted Quay.io require a deployment choice
  • Advanced controls may exceed basic image-storage needs
  • Self-hosted deployment adds operational responsibility

• Harbor9.4/10 · Open source

  A self-hosted Harbor registry with strong policy, scanning, signing, and replication controls.

  Visit HarborFull verdict →
• Quay9.3/10 · Free plan · 30-day trial

  A flexible registry for teams that need hosted convenience or self-hosted control.

  Visit QuayFull verdict →