Harbor is a CNCF-graduated open source container registry with scanning and signing. Read our 2026 review of features, deployment, pros, cons and alternatives.
Harbor is an open source, cloud-native container registry that stores, scans and signs container images and OCI artifacts, giving organizations a private, security-focused alternative to public registries like Docker Hub.
Originally built inside VMware's China R&D organization in 2014 and open sourced in 2016, Harbor joined the CNCF in 2018 and became a CNCF Graduated project in June 2020, the first open source container registry to reach that status.
Harbor integrates vulnerability scanners like Trivy or Clair to analyze stored images, and supports content trust and image signing through tools like Notary and Cosign so consumers can verify image provenance before deployment.
Its multi-tenant project model provides granular role-based access control integrated with LDAP, Active Directory and OIDC, alongside cross-registry replication, a built-in Helm chart repository, and retention and garbage collection policies.
Harbor is entirely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid tier or usage limit imposed by the project itself.
Organizations self-host Harbor on their own Kubernetes clusters or infrastructure and pay only their own compute and storage costs; some vendors offer managed or supported Harbor deployments as separate commercial services.
Harbor is an open source, CNCF-graduated container registry that stores, scans and signs container images and OCI artifacts with role-based access control for Kubernetes environments.
Yes, Harbor is entirely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with organizations only paying for their own hosting infrastructure.
Harbor originated at VMware in 2014, was open sourced in 2016, and is now governed as a CNCF Graduated project with contributions from more than 680 organizations.
Yes, many organizations use Harbor as a private, self-hosted alternative to public registries like Docker Hub, particularly when they need built-in vulnerability scanning and access control.
Yes, Harbor is designed to deploy on any Kubernetes environment via an official Helm chart, or on a system with Docker support.
Harbor was created at VMware in 2014, open sourced in 2016, and joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation in 2018, graduating in June 2020 as the first open source container registry to reach that status.