Okteto vs Porter (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Okteto grades higher than Porter: 2.0 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Okteto grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Porter grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Okteto if
- Fits if your team already runs Kubernetes and wants per-developer environments
- Makes sense if you have 5 or fewer developers and can self-host
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't run Kubernetes, since every tier is self-hosted
- Tight if you need SSO or RBAC, which start at Scale with no published price
- Watch out: OpenID Connect and the SLA need Enterprise
- Watch out: Starter has no cost controls or environment templates
Pick Porter if
- Fits if you want Heroku-style deploys on your own cloud account
- Works for startups moving off Heroku
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you add it up: the fee comes on top of your cloud provider's bill
- Skip it if you want a free tier, as none is listed
- Tight if you need SSO, advanced roles or volume discounts, which need Enterprise and a sales call
- Watch out: billing is on requested resources, not cloud instance capacity
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAOktetoFair | 1.6GPAPorterWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is free for up to 5 users but self-hosted, so it needs your own cluster, which counts as C. Scale and Enterprise prices aren't published. | D$6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU a month, so 1 vCPU with 2 GB is $25 before the cloud bill, above the ordinary range. |
| Free plan and trial | BStarter is free for up to 5 users with unlimited environments and no card. It is self-hosted with community forum support. | FNo free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from the start. |
| Features | CDevelopment, preview and agent environments, Divert and Kubernetes manifests. Starter has no SSO, RBAC, templates or cost controls, and SAML is listed as coming soon. | CGitHub deploys, autoscaling, monitoring, logs, alerts and a Heroku migration path. It relies on a cloud account you supply. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It needs a Kubernetes cluster and manifests, so it is self-hosted and command-line driven. | CYou connect a cloud account and configure apps, with no store rating. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA program for computers only: Mac, Linux and Windows. It connects to Kubernetes, GitHub, Google Workspace and OpenID Connect. | BWeb dashboard with a few integrations, built on GitHub. |
| Best for | dev and preview environments on Kubernetes | Heroku-style deploys on your own cloud |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Okteto and Porter. How we grade
Where they differ
- Okteto is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Okteto also covers AI agents.
- Porter also covers workflow automation and job scheduling.
At a glance
| Okteto | Porter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Metered: $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU, per month, plus your cloud bill |
| Free plan | Starter is free for up to 5 users with unlimited environments, no credit card needed, self-hosted, with community forum support. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Okteto | Porter |
| Price read from | okteto.com | porter.run |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Okteto
- Scale and Enterprise prices are not published; you contact the vendor.
- Starter has no SSO, RBAC, environment templates or cost controls; those need Scale.
- OpenID Connect and the SLA need Enterprise, and SAML 2.0 is listed as coming soon.
- All tiers are self-hosted; Enterprise adds a bring-your-own-cloud option.
Porter
- Porter's metered fee does not include the underlying AWS, Azure or Google Cloud cost, which is billed separately by the provider.
- Rates are $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU a month, billed on requested resources rather than cloud instance capacity.
- Volume discounts, SSO and advanced roles are Enterprise features that require talking to sales.
- The pricing FAQ mentions startup deals through some accelerators and investors, and a 50% discount for non-profits.
Key features
Okteto
- Development environments
- Self-service environments on Kubernetes with local-to-cloud code synchronization and remote debugging.
- Preview environments
- Shareable environments created with each pull request, and test environments that run tests directly inside them.
- Agent environments
- Coding agents run in their own isolated environments, with integration for coding agents on every tier.
- Divert
- Share one environment and deploy only the services you change, per the vendor's feature list.
- Cost controls
- Garbage collection and a resource manager on Scale and Enterprise; pricing is per user, never per environment.
- Access and audit
- Role-based access control, namespace and environment sharing, and audit logs of every action.
Porter
- Your own cloud account
- Applications run in your AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account, and the servers keep running if you stop paying Porter, according to the pricing FAQ.
- Deploy from GitHub
- Unlimited applications can be deployed from GitHub with preview environments, jobs and cron jobs.
- Autoscaling
- Applications autoscale, including custom autoscaling rules.
- Monitoring, logging and alerts
- Monitoring, logging and alerting are part of the Standard offering, along with certificate management.
- Heroku migration path
- The site has a dedicated guide for moving apps off Heroku.
- Enterprise controls
- Advanced role-based access control, SAML-based SSO and on-premise installation are offered on the Enterprise tier.
Plans
Okteto
Starter$0
Up to 5 users, unlimited environments, self-hosted, community forum support.
ScaleCustom
Unlimited users, RBAC, SSO with GitHub and Google, SOC 2 Type 2, ticketing support. Priced per user; contact for pricing.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds OpenID Connect, an SLA, dedicated Slack support, and self-hosted or bring-your-own-cloud deployment. Contact sales.
Porter
StandardCustom
Pay as you go for requested app resources: $6 per GB RAM and $13 per vCPU per month ($0.009 and $0.019 per hour). Unlimited apps, preview environments, autoscaling and cron jobs.
EnterpriseCustom
Volume discounts above 40 vCPU or 80 GB RAM, premium support, advanced RBAC, SAML SSO, custom alerts and on-prem installation. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Okteto
No public discounts listed.
Porter
- Nonprofit
50% discount for non-profits
The pricing FAQ states Porter offers non-profits a 50% discount.
- Startups
Startup deal through accelerators and investors
The pricing FAQ says funded startups often have access to a deal through investors such as Y Combinator and a16z speedrun, and others can apply for the startup deal.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Okteto or Porter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Okteto publishes no starting price, and Porter starts at Metered: $6 per GB of RAM and $13 per vCPU, per month, plus your cloud bill.
Which has a free plan, Okteto or Porter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Okteto has a free plan. Porter does not.
Which platforms do Okteto and Porter run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Okteto lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only Porter lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.