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Head-to-head · Portainer Hosting

TryDirect Portainer CE vs Cuemby Cloud Portainer

Updated Sep 2026
Both researched from official sources
6 checks side by side

Higher score TryDirect Portainer CE #2 in Portainer Hosting 8.4/10 Free plan · paid from $9/mo Free plan✓ 1 of 4 features Visit TryDirect

Cuemby Cloud Portainer #6 in Portainer Hosting 7.1/10 Paid Free trial✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Cuemby

TryDirect Portainer CE leads on 1 check, Cuemby Cloud Portainer on 4, and 1 is even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

Highest scoreTryDirect Portainer CE · 8.4/10
Free planonly TryDirect Portainer CE
Free trialonly Cuemby Cloud Portainer
Most featuresCuemby Cloud Portainer · 4 of 4

TryDirect Portainer CE scores higher on our rubric for portainer hosting: 8.4 against 7.1 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #6.

TryDirect Portainer CE offers free plan; Cuemby Cloud Portainer doesn't publish it. Cuemby Cloud Portainer offers managed updates; TryDirect Portainer CE doesn't publish it. Cuemby Cloud Portainer offers backups; TryDirect Portainer CE doesn't publish it. Cuemby Cloud Portainer offers custom domain + ssl; TryDirect Portainer CE doesn't publish it. Cuemby Cloud Portainer offers free trial; TryDirect Portainer CE doesn't publish it.

TryDirect Portainer CE is the better fit for free-start Portainer deployments across major clouds. Cuemby Cloud Portainer is the better fit for kubernetes-focused Portainer environments.

TryDirect Portainer CE fits best
Free-start Portainer deployments across major clouds
Cuemby Cloud Portainer fits best
Kubernetes-focused Portainer environments

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click some links. It never changes our verdict. How we rank.

Side by side

Show only differences

Feature	TryDirect Portainer CE 8.4/10 Visit ↗	Cuemby Cloud Portainer 7.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.4	7.1
Ranking	#2 in Portainer Hosting	#6 in Portainer Hosting
Best for	Free-start Portainer deployments across major clouds	Kubernetes-focused Portainer environments
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$9/mo	Not published
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not published
Free trial	Not published	✓ (best)
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Web, Linux	Web, Linux
Support	Email, Community	Email, Live chat, Phone, Community, Docs · 24/7
Compliance	GDPR, PCI DSS, 2FA	GDPR
Integrations	100+ integrations	2 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features TryDirect Portainer CE 1/4 · Cuemby Cloud Portainer 4/4
One-click deploy	✓	✓
Managed updates	Not published	✓ (best)
Backups	Not published	✓ (best)
Custom domain + SSL	Not published	✓ (best)
Specs
Server locations	Not published	3
Our review
Pros	Automatic VPS creation and Portainer CE installation Docker, Kubernetes and Docker Compose support Deployments across AWS, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode	Local k3s and additional Kubernetes environments connect through Portainer. Persistent storage, snapshots and backups support ongoing cluster management. HTTPS access, managed updates and 24/7 support simplify operations.
Cons	Portainer CE deployment costs $50 one-time Cloud-provider server charges are billed separately Free plan includes community support rather than email support	Hourly resource billing makes fixed monthly budgeting less direct. Cloud deployment may not fit teams requiring on-premises hosting. Portainer-focused scope is less suited to teams seeking a broader platform.
Our verdict	TryDirect Portainer CE is a deployment template that creates a preconfigured VPS and installs Portainer Community Edition. It is aimed at DevOps engineers, system administrators and software developers who want a web interface for managing… Read the review →	Cuemby Cloud Portainer is a hosted Portainer deployment for teams managing container environments through a web interface. Cuemby provisions Portainer on a cloud VM running Ubuntu, connects a local k3s environment by default and lets… Read the review →

T TryDirect Portainer CEPortainer Hosting 8.4Free plan · paid from $9/mo
C Cuemby Cloud PortainerPortainer Hosting 7.1Paid

Compare the top tools in

Strengths and trade-offs

TryDirect Portainer CE — where it wins
- Automatic VPS creation and Portainer CE installation
- Docker, Kubernetes and Docker Compose support
- Deployments across AWS, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode
Where it doesn't
- Portainer CE deployment costs $50 one-time
- Cloud-provider server charges are billed separately
- Free plan includes community support rather than email support
Cuemby Cloud Portainer — where it wins
- Local k3s and additional Kubernetes environments connect through Portainer.
- Persistent storage, snapshots and backups support ongoing cluster management.
- HTTPS access, managed updates and 24/7 support simplify operations.
Where it doesn't
- Hourly resource billing makes fixed monthly budgeting less direct.
- Cloud deployment may not fit teams requiring on-premises hosting.
- Portainer-focused scope is less suited to teams seeking a broader platform.

TryDirect Portainer CE8.4/10 · Free plan · paid from $9/mo
A free-start route to Portainer across major clouds, with paid deployment and support tiers.
Visit TryDirect Full verdict →
Cuemby Cloud Portainer7.1/10 · Paid
A hosted Portainer environment with local k3s, Kubernetes connections, backups and 24/7 support.
Visit Cuemby Full verdict →

More comparisons

All portainer hosting comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Sep 2026

Last updated 28 Sep 2026 · How we research and update