Quay review
A flexible registry for teams that need hosted convenience or self-hosted control.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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 the open-source distribution, while Quay.io is Red Hat’s hosted service. The product fits open-source teams that want to keep a path to self-hosting while supporting Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, and OpenShift workflows.
Its strongest differentiator is the depth of registry controls beyond image storage. Quay supports automated vulnerability scanning through Clair, repository access controls, team permissions, robot accounts, immutable tag policies, tag expiration, and automatic pruning. It also supports Dockerfile-based image builds and build triggers, OCI media types, OCI 1.1 referrers, logging, auditing, and API access. These capabilities suit teams that need governance around image lifecycle and automated access, rather than a registry used only for pushing and pulling images.
Distribution and ecosystem fit are also central. Repository mirroring and multi-region geo-replication support geographically distributed delivery, while integrations with LDAP, OIDC, Prometheus, Grafana, ORAS, Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Clair connect Quay to common container environments. The hosted service has free and paid tiers, and the self-hosted option gives organizations another deployment route. Choose Quay when scanning, policy controls, OCI support, and replication matter; a simpler registry may be a better fit for teams that need only basic image storage and distribution.
Quay pros and cons
- 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
Quay fact sheet, pricing and score →
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