Docker Swarm Visualizer vs Portainer: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Docker Swarm Visualizer and Portainer

1. User Interface: Docker Swarm Visualizer provides a visual representation of Docker Swarm clusters, allowing users to easily visualize the status and distribution of services across nodes. On the other hand, Portainer offers a comprehensive web-based interface that not only allows users to manage Docker Swarm clusters but also provides support for managing individual Docker hosts, containers, volumes, and networks. Portainer's interface provides more extensive management capabilities compared to Docker Swarm Visualizer's visualization-only approach.

2. Ease of Use: Docker Swarm Visualizer focuses primarily on providing a visually appealing interface to monitor Docker Swarm clusters. It requires minimal configuration and setup, making it easy to deploy and use. In contrast, Portainer offers a more feature-rich and powerful platform for managing Docker environments, which requires more setup and configuration. However, this additional complexity enables Portainer to offer a broader range of functionalities.

3. Cluster Management: Docker Swarm Visualizer offers basic information about the nodes and services in the Docker Swarm cluster, allowing users to monitor the state of the cluster. However, it does not provide advanced management functionalities such as scaling services, creating stacks, or managing secrets. Portainer, on the other hand, provides extensive cluster management capabilities, allowing users to perform tasks such as scaling services, managing service networks, deploying stacks, and creating secrets, giving users more control and flexibility in managing their Docker environment.

4. Authentication and Access Control: Docker Swarm Visualizer does not offer built-in authentication or access control mechanisms. It solely focuses on providing the visualization aspect of Docker Swarm. In contrast, Portainer offers robust authentication and access control mechanisms, allowing administrators to define user roles and permissions, ensuring secure access to container management functionalities. This makes Portainer a better choice for environments where security is a top priority.

5. Extensibility: Docker Swarm Visualizer is a standalone tool that provides visual representation of Docker Swarm clusters, and it does not offer extensibility options or plugin support. On the other hand, Portainer provides a plugin framework that allows users to extend its functionality through third-party plugins. This extensibility enables users to customize and enhance Portainer's features based on their specific requirements.

6. Community Ecosystem: Docker Swarm Visualizer is a lightweight tool, which has a smaller community ecosystem compared to Portainer. Portainer, being a more comprehensive and widely used Docker management tool, has a larger user community that actively contributes to its development and provides support. This larger community ecosystem contributes to the availability of resources, plugins, and overall community support for Portainer users.

In Summary, Docker Swarm Visualizer provides a visually appealing way to monitor Docker Swarm clusters, while Portainer offers a comprehensive web-based interface with advanced management capabilities for Docker environments, including cluster management, authentication, and extensibility options.