Portainer, an open-source container management platform that provides a web-based GUI to simplify the deployment and management of containerized applications, has announced the release of version 2.33 LTS, a long-term support build. But the big news is not so much in the technical details. There is a refreshed brand identity in place.
According to the devs, the rebrand comes after nearly a decade of growth beyond Docker, where Portainer first made its name. However, with the company’s focus now centered on Kubernetes and edge deployments, CEO Neil Cresswell explained that the old branding no longer reflected what the platform had become.
Over the past few years, we’ve gone deep into Kubernetes and Edge. That’s where our users are, that’s where our product has matured, and that’s what we’re known for with the customers who have experienced the modern “us”. But the problem is, our brand didn’t reflect that. The logo still tied us to Docker. The vibe still suggested “basic GUI for beginners.” And too many people still assumed Portainer was what it used to be, not what it’s become.
So yeah, we rebranded. Not because we wanted to reinvent ourselves, but because we needed to correct the perception.
So, what does this mean? In short, Portainer appears to be gradually shifting its focus toward enterprise clients, trying to shake off its image as a “GUI for Docker” and emphasize its Kubernetes functionality, a move that opens the door for alternatives. One of the most notable is Komodo, which has been rapidly gaining traction as a reliable, professional, and feature-rich UI tool for container management.
Unlike Portainer, where certain features require a paid license, Komodo is fully open source. It also stands out with strong CI capabilities, which many consider to be ahead of what Portainer currently offers. Now, back to the topic.
On the technical side, Portainer 2.33 LTS integrates improvements from previous short-term releases. Among the most notable changes is a complete overhaul of Helm support. Users now get a dedicated details page for each Helm deployment, with revision history, upgrade and rollback controls, and configuration comparison between releases.
The new version also added support for selecting chart sources, repository-specific deployment, and OCI-format Helm charts. Behind the scenes, the platform now uses the Helm SDK directly rather than relying on the binary, cutting down on vulnerabilities and boosting performance.
Moreover, a new experimental feature, Observability, makes its way into the LTS stream. It allows notifications to be configured for environment conditions through channels such as Slack, email, or webhooks. Portainer cautions that it’s not ready for production use yet, but is looking for community feedback.
For Kubernetes clusters, administrators can now assign the newly introduced “Namespace Operator” role, which restricts operator-level permissions to designated namespaces instead of the entire cluster. Edge device management has also seen an overhaul of its update and rollback interface, providing more granular per-device reporting.
Security and usability have been refined with expanded mTLS certificate management directly from the UI, along with Kerberos support for Active Directory authentication. Docker Compose users benefit from new web editor features, including code completion and validation, which help catch errors before deployment.
Last but not least, regarding performance, more of the UI has been migrated to React, Docker snapshot retrieval has been streamlined, and load times across the application have been improved.
For more information, see the official announcement.
