Harbor vs JFrog Container Registry

Harbor is an open-source registry for managing artifacts across cloud-native platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker. It offers a web UI and extensible API, and can be installed on Kubernetes or a system with Docker support. Security features include policies, role-based access control, vulnerability scanning, and image signing and validation. Image scanning uses Trivy when enabled during installation, and Harbor can connect to additional scanners. It replicates images and charts to or from other registries in pull or push mode; listed adapters include Docker Hub, Amazon ECR, Google Container Registry, Azure Container Registry, and GitLab Registry. Authentication options are database, LDAP/Active Directory, and OIDC, though choosing database authentication and adding local users prevents a later switch to another mode. Project storage quotas are unlimited by default but can be set globally or per project. Robot account secrets are not stored by Harbor, so they must be saved when created; robot accounts cannot log into the user interface. Harbor is a CNCF Graduated project. HTTPS is recommended for production use.

JFrog Container Registry (JCR) is a free, self-managed edition of JFrog Artifactory for container and Helm workflows. It provides local, remote and virtual repositories for Docker, OCI, Helm, Helm OCI and Generic packages. Remote repositories can proxy and cache external registries such as Docker Hub; virtual repositories make several local and remote repositories available through one URL. JCR includes role-based access control, fine-grained permissions for private registries, metadata search, searchable properties and Artifactory Query Language. It supports Helm repositories for Kubernetes deployments and the Docker, Helm and OCI clients used with Artifactory. Self-managed installation options include Linux and Windows archives, RPM, Debian, Docker, Docker Compose and Helm. The free edition does not include JFrog Xray, high availability, build promotion, user plugins, replication or federated repositories. The Pro plan is $50 a month plus tax, with actual monthly price scaling with consumption; it is available only through June 4th 2027. Enterprise X starts at $950 a month, while Enterprise + has custom pricing.