Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Harbor
| Feature | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Harbor |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free only |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | enterprises, startups, large-scale-applications, machine-learning-teams | enterprise-devops, container-teams, security-teams, regulated-industries |
| Founded | 2006 | 2016 |
| Compute Ec2 | ✓ | ✗ |
| Storage S3 | ✓ | ✗ |
| Serverless Lambda | ✓ | ✗ |
| Databases Rds | ✓ | ✗ |
| Machine Learning | ✓ | ✗ |
| Containers Ecs | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cdn Cloudfront | ✓ | ✗ |
| Container Registry | ✗ | ✓ |
| Vulnerability Scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rbac | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image Signing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Replication | ✗ | ✓ |
| Garbage Collection | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audit Logs | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Amazon Web Services (AWS) Pros
- Most extensive service catalog of any cloud provider
- Global infrastructure with 30+ regions worldwide
- 12-month free tier covering many services
- Mature enterprise tooling and compliance certifications
✗ Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cons
- Complex pricing that is hard to predict
- Steep learning curve with overwhelming service count
- Console UI feels dated compared to competitors
✓ Harbor Pros
- Completely free and CNCF graduated project
- Built-in vulnerability scanning (Trivy integration)
- Image signing and policy enforcement
- Multi-registry replication for geo-distribution
✗ Harbor Cons
- Requires self-hosting and infrastructure management
- UI is functional but not modern
- Initial setup complexity for production
The Verdict
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is built for enterprises and startups, with a focus on compute-ec2 and storage-s3. Harbor targets enterprise devops and container teams and leads with container-registry and vulnerability-scanning.
Harbor uses custom enterprise pricing, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) starts at $0/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.