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Free: up to 3 nodes, no credit card

Deploy Portainer in minutes.

Choose your environment below and follow the quick-start guide. Portainer is free for up to 3 nodes: forever.

Choose your environment

How are you running your infrastructure?

Docker

Single host or Docker Swarm. Get Portainer running with one command.

Kubernetes

Existing cluster. Deploy via Helm in under 5 minutes.

Edge / Air-gapped

Remote or disconnected environments. Deploy the async edge agent.

Install on Docker

These commands install Portainer CE Server on a Docker host. Portainer Business (paid) uses the same process: swap the image tag.

1
Create the Portainer volume
Terminal
docker volume create portainer_data
2
Run Portainer Server
Terminal
docker run -d \ -p 8000:8000 -p 9443:9443 \ --name portainer --restart=always \ -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \ -v portainer_data:/data \ portainer/portainer-ce:latest
3
Access the UI

Open https://localhost:9443 in your browser. Create your admin account on first login. You'll be managing containers in under 2 minutes.

Portainer Business (licensed)

Replace portainer/portainer-ce:latest with portainer/portainer-ee:latest and enter your license key on first login.

Install on Kubernetes

Deploy Portainer via Helm into your existing cluster. Works with EKS, AKS, GKE, and self-managed distributions.

1
Add the Portainer Helm repository
Terminal
helm repo add portainer https://portainer.github.io/k8s/ helm repo update
2
Install Portainer with a LoadBalancer service
Terminal
helm install --create-namespace \ -n portainer portainer portainer/portainer \ --set service.type=LoadBalancer
3
Get the external IP and access the UI
Terminal
kubectl get svc -n portainer portainer

Navigate to the EXTERNAL-IP shown on port 9443. Create your admin account on first login.

Deploy an Edge Agent

The async edge agent is designed for remote, air-gapped, and OT environments. It connects outbound-only to your Portainer Server: no inbound firewall rules required.

1
Install Portainer Server first

Deploy Portainer Server on Docker or Kubernetes using the guides above. The edge agent connects back to it.

2
Add an Edge environment in Portainer UI

In Portainer Server, go to Environments → Add Environment → Edge Agent. Portainer generates a unique deploy command for that environment.

3
Run the generated command on your edge device
Example: Docker edge agent (command generated by Portainer)
# This command is unique to each environment: generated in the Portainer UI docker run -d \ --name portainer_edge_agent --restart=always \ -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \ -v portainer_agent_data:/data \ -e EDGE=1 \ -e EDGE_ID=<your-edge-id> \ -e EDGE_KEY=<your-edge-key> \ -e EDGE_INSECURE_POLL=1 \ portainer/agent:latest

The agent connects outbound to your Portainer Server. For async (offline-capable) mode, set EDGE_ASYNC=1.

What's next?