this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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Just got an email thanking me for being a 5-node/free user, but Portainer isn't free and I need to stop being a cheap-ass and pay them because blah blah economic times enshittification blah blah blah.

I've moved off them a while ago, but figured I'd see if they emailed EVERYONE about this?

A good time to ditch them if you haven't, I suppose.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I used portainer only as fancy docker dashboard and to start stop services. It was buggy and even with the git implementation really frustrating to use. Also that they do not store the compose files is simply not ok.

Dockge fully replaced portainer for my needs.

[–] koinu 11 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I love Dockge. Have also replaced Portainer with it.

But I hate that I can't just restart a single container easily with it. It's a small enough issue since most of the time I need to restart the entire compose file because of dependencies, but still.

[–] theRealBassist 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can go to the terminal tab and just run the cli command.

Not perfect, but something to avoid needing to ssh in at least.

[–] koinu 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah that's usually what I do on a computer. But I didn't have easy access to a computer, so I manage my server from my phone. So ssh is usually easier lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, Dockge is very, very new. I imagine features like that will turn up soon enough.

[–] koinu 3 points 4 months ago

Oh most def.

I guess I'm complaining that it isn't already there, but honestly I love Dockge. Won't be going back to Portainer. Pretty much since the beginning I've been using compose files, and it always bugged me how Portainer handled them.

Dockge is what I've always wanted, tbh. Just some QoL stuff here and there, but I'm very happy with it :)

[–] koinu 2 points 4 months ago

Agreed. Really annoying.

[–] shyguyblue 7 points 4 months ago

The complete and utter lack of a mobile friendly interface is beyond frustrating. No android, i don't want you to snap zoom to the search bar every fucking time i go to my stacks page!?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Dockge looks interesting, I gotta check that out

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Just for you to known, they store the compose file. It's in their compose folder on the data volume.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Oh yeah, sorry i know. Was too lazy to type it out. They number the created compose files in numbered directories instead of naming it after the stack.

The problem is, that they do not support at all the direct modification of those files and the abstraction of numbering them instead of giving them real names is annoying when you want to start them via cli.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Technically true, but if you actually try to interact with those compose files directly then shit gets really fucky.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Portainer does store compose files though? I've manually used docker compose commands from the folders Portainer saves them in. They're labeled with numbers instead of project names which makes it difficult to know which one you're looking for, but I use rga so that wasn't as much of an issue for me as it would have been otherwise. It was tedious, but the compose files very much exist on your hard drive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Yes i am aware,i commented on another post. The problem is that interacting with those directly messes things up. I want a panel that allows me to use cli and gui at the same time without breaking things.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I've never really seen why portainer is used beyond a shiny UI. Docker compose file is enough for me

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

Terminals are powerful and flexible, but still slower than a dedicated UI to see states at a glance, issue routine commands, or do text editing.

Terminal absolutists are as insufferable as GUI purists. There is a place and time for both.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I open up two terminal windows. The first runs watch docker ps and the second is where I make changes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Beautifully said. I can't say I've come across too many GUI purists, but I've definitely been shamed by terminal absolutists who are fine with turning a 1 second process into a 10 second one. There's a time and place for both.

See also: bass players who use a pick.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Being a terminal purist is wonderful for those of us who live our lives deep in the caverns of Linux, but in actual production use you very often find situations where less technical users have to interact with the systems that we build.

For my work, I need a way for low level tech support and technicians to go in and restart a container from time to time, and these people curl up in a ball and scream if you show them a command prompt. Having a UI removes a lot of friction.

[–] mipadaitu 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I use portainer, but I don't think I ever gave them my information. How would they even have my email?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you register for a free 5-node license, you have to enter your contact data.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are you using portainer-ee? Never had to do that using portainer-ce

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago
[–] ikidd 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Why would you bother? Portainer isn't anything very useful for Docker. Set up your compose files and go to bed.

Lazydocker if you need an SSH TUI.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

portainer sucks anyways. shells dont work really. dockGE is free. https://github.com/louislam/dockge

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I am very happy with dockge!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yes, I got it too. $ 149/yr for a "home and student" noncommercial license? No thanks.

But for businesses, the pricing seems fair.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I didn't even bother to look since, well, I just moved to compose files sitting in a folder instead but uh, $150? Seriously?

That'd be the most expensive bit of all of my stacks, including hosting and power costs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

At least for my personal use, I'm not willing to spend money on portainer. The free edition is fine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I‘m fine with paying because I‘m starting a business. But I‘m not fine with tracking the payments so I will donate a set percentage of my profits (once I have them) to an open source group, no idea which one yet. The rest is not my problem.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I didn't get the email and have the 5 node free business plan, but cant see the home/student price on the site. I guess it time to look at switching to dockge or something

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As long as Portainer CE will be free, I'll stick with it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Same here, it's totally sufficient and never saw the reason to "upgrade" to the free business nodes

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So dumb. How many hobbyists will pay that? A tiny fraction. Then in 4-5 years these guys will be sitting around wondering why their new business customer numbers fell off a cliff.

Don’t bite the hand that proselytizes for you at the office.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

That's the business ed not the community. There's no limit in aware of in the community ed

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I dont ever recall giving portainer my real email.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

They reduced the free option from 5 nodes to 3 a while back. Looks like only the people who had the 5 node license received that email.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Does anyone know if dockge allows you to directly connect to a git repo to pull compose files?

This is what I like most about portainer. I work in the compose files from an IDE and the check them into my self hosted git repo.

Then on portainer, the stack is connected to the repo so only press a button to pull the latest compose and there is a check box to decide if I want the docker image to update or not.

Works really well and makes it very easy to roll back if needed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

No, but it is designed that way that you can simply point dockge to the local cloned repo. Then you simply have to git pull and your done.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Wait.

Does Portainer ask your email? I haven't used it in years. I though it was just a container that you run, with mounted docker socket, and that's it.

Is it now doing some "telemetry" and sending user data, like email, to their servers? If so, I'm glad I'm not using that anymore.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Got one aswell, i have used their free 5 node business option but since switched over to dockge and I'm happy

Ofc portainer does so much more but I just don't need it anymore

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I recently switched to Dockge and it suites my needs. I like some aspects of Dockge better, but I like the network and image management features of portainer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, network and image management is what I miss most

[–] Nutteman 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been screwing around with yacht.sh as an open source alternative. It's aight.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

seems to have issues with chrome on a macBook; more reason to move to firefox?

[–] Nutteman 1 points 4 months ago

Pretty much, yeah.

[–] pax0707 2 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

This is why I never got into portainer

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