bitnami.com Review, Pricing & Features

Bitnami offers pre-packaged open-source app containers and Helm charts. See what changed under Broadcom, what is still free, and Secure Images pricing.

Category
Productivity
Pricing
freemium
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 19, 2026
Founded
2011
Headquarters
Originally Seville, Spain (as Bitrock); now operated as part of Broadcom and VMware, with Broadcom headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States
Open Source

What Is Bitnami

Bitnami is a catalog of pre-packaged, ready-to-run open-source application stacks, distributed as container images and Helm charts, historically covering hundreds of popular open-source applications such as databases, content management systems, and developer tools. It traces its roots to 2011, sponsored by a Seville, Spain-based company called Bitrock, and was acquired by VMware in 2019.

VMware itself was subsequently acquired by Broadcom in November 2023, which brought Bitnami fully into the Broadcom portfolio. Bitnami is no longer an independent company; it now operates as a product and service line inside Broadcom's much larger enterprise software business.

For most of its existence, Bitnami was known as a source of free, easily deployable, versioned container images and one-click cloud marketplace listings. That reputation changed substantially in 2025, when Broadcom restructured the free catalog and introduced a paid subscription for most production-grade images, a shift developers should understand before relying on Bitnami images in new projects.

Key Features

Bitnami's catalog covers pre-packaged application containers for a wide range of open-source software, alongside packaged Helm charts for deploying multi-component application stacks on Kubernetes. Historically it also offered one-click deployable listings on cloud marketplaces such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Under the current Broadcom-era structure, the catalog is split into three repositories: a limited free docker.io/bitnami repository with hardened, latest-tag-only images meant for development and non-production use; a docker.io/bitnamilegacy repository that archives historical image versions without further updates; and a docker.io/bitnamisecure repository tied to the paid offering.

Paying subscribers to Bitnami Secure Images (also called Bitnami Premium) get unlimited container pulls, access to versioned and long-term-support image tags, continuous vulnerability scanning and patching, software bills of materials, VEX documentation, and enterprise support, positioning the paid tier as a supply-chain-security product rather than just a convenience catalog.

Pricing

Bitnami's free tier today is intentionally narrow: it provides a limited set of hardened container images, reportedly around 44, available only with the latest tag and explicitly positioned for development and non-production use rather than production deployments.

Production-grade, versioned, and hardened images require a paid Bitnami Secure Images or Bitnami Premium subscription. Broadcom has not published a single official public price list, but third-party reporting cites enterprise subscription costs in the range of roughly 50,000 to 72,000 dollars per year, with at least one AWS Marketplace listing priced around 6,000 dollars per month on a 12-month contract.

Existing Bitnami Helm charts remain available as OCI artifacts at docker.io/bitnamicharts at no direct cost to pull, but they no longer receive updates, so teams relying on them for production Kubernetes deployments may need to override the bundled image references with currently maintained, valid images.

Key Features

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Long-established, well-known catalog covering hundreds of popular open-source applications
  • Paid Secure Images tier offers genuinely hardened, minimal-CVE images with software bills of materials and enterprise support for compliance-sensitive organizations
  • A limited free tier still exists for development and non-production experimentation
  • Helm charts remain accessible as OCI artifacts, easing migration for existing Kubernetes users
  • Backed by Broadcom's larger infrastructure and security resources

Cons

  • Since 2025, most production-grade, versioned container images are no longer free and require a paid Bitnami Secure Images or Bitnami Premium subscription
  • Reported paid subscription pricing runs into the tens of thousands of dollars per year, out of reach for many small teams and individual developers
  • The free tier is restricted to latest-tag-only images explicitly intended for non-production use, so pinned versions are not free
  • Historical, previously public image versions were moved to a legacy repository that no longer receives updates
  • The abrupt 2025 policy change disrupted many existing production deployments and Helm chart-based Kubernetes clusters that assumed free, versioned image access

Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bitnami still free?

Only partially. A limited free tier remains for development and non-production use, restricted to latest-tag images. Most production-grade, versioned, or hardened images now require a paid Bitnami Secure Images subscription.

When did Bitnami stop being fully free?

Broadcom announced the change in mid-2025, with the shift taking effect around August 28, 2025 and the old public catalog being largely removed around September 29, 2025.

Who owns Bitnami now?

Bitnami is owned by Broadcom, having come under Broadcom's ownership through its 2023 acquisition of VMware, which itself had acquired Bitnami in 2019.

How much does a Bitnami Secure Images subscription cost?

Broadcom does not always publish exact figures, but third-party reporting cites enterprise subscription costs in the tens of thousands of dollars per year, with some marketplace listings around six thousand dollars per month on a twelve-month contract.

What happened to older Bitnami image versions?

They were moved to a legacy repository, docker.io/bitnamilegacy, that is archived and no longer receives security updates.

Are Bitnami Helm charts still usable?

The packaged Helm charts remain published as OCI artifacts, but they no longer receive updates, so deployments may need overriding with valid current images.

When was Bitnami founded?

Bitnami traces back to 2011, sponsored by a company called Bitrock founded in Seville, Spain.

Is Bitnami still useful for individual developers?

It can still be useful for development and testing through the limited free latest-tag catalog, but production use now generally requires a paid subscription.

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