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Head-to-head · Container Registries

Quay vs Zot Registry

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 5 checks side by side
Higher score Quay #2 in Container Registries 9.3/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Quay
Zot Registry #4 in Container Registries 9.1/10 Open source ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Zot Registry

Quay leads on 0 checks, Zot Registry on 0, and 5 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 5 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreQuay · 9.3/10
  • Free planonly Quay
  • Free trialonly Quay

Quay scores higher on our rubric for container registries: 9.3 against 9.1 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #4.

Quay is the better fit for open-source teams needing hosted or self-hosted options. Zot Registry is the better fit for self-hosted teams needing scalable OCI features.

  • Quay fits best

    Open-source teams needing hosted or self-hosted options

  • Zot Registry fits best

    Self-hosted teams needing scalable OCI features

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Quay 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Zot Registry 9.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 9.1
Ranking #2 in Container Registries #4 in Container Registries
Best for Open-source teams needing hosted or self-hosted options Self-hosted teams needing scalable OCI features
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price Free plan · 30-day trial Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial 30 days —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web Web, Linux
Support Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs Docs
Integrations 5 integrations 6 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Quay 4/4 · Zot Registry 4/4
Image scanning ✓ ✓
OCI artifacts ✓ ✓
Immutable tags ✓ ✓
Retention policies ✓ ✓
Specs
Replication scope Multi-region Not checked yet
Included storage Not checked yet Not checked yet
Maximum image size Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Automated vulnerability scanning with Clair
  • OCI 1.1 referrers, immutable tags, and retention policies
  • Mirroring and geo-replication for distributed repositories
  • Supports OCI images, artifacts, Helm charts, and standard registry clients
  • Adds Trivy scanning, retention policies, and immutable tag protection
  • Offers mirroring, multiple storage backends, clustering, and garbage collection
Cons
  • Project Quay and hosted Quay.io require a deployment choice
  • Advanced controls may exceed basic image-storage needs
  • Self-hosted deployment adds operational responsibility
  • Requires teams to operate it as self-hosted software
  • Clustering uses stateless replicas with shared remote storage
  • Vulnerability scanning is focused on stored images through Trivy
Our verdict

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 →

Zot Registry is an open-source, vendor-neutral registry for storing and distributing container images and other OCI artifacts. It implements the OCI Distribution Specification and runs as self-hosted software on Linux or macOS. Its…

Read the review →
  1. QuayContainer Registries 9.3Free plan · 30-day trial
  2. Zot RegistryContainer Registries 9.1Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • 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

  • Zot Registry — where it wins

    • Supports OCI images, artifacts, Helm charts, and standard registry clients
    • Adds Trivy scanning, retention policies, and immutable tag protection
    • Offers mirroring, multiple storage backends, clustering, and garbage collection

    Where it doesn't

    • Requires teams to operate it as self-hosted software
    • Clustering uses stateless replicas with shared remote storage
    • Vulnerability scanning is focused on stored images through Trivy

More comparisons

All container registries comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update