Directus
Harbor
| Feature | Directus | Harbor |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $99/mo | Free only |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, agencies, content-teams, data-driven-teams | enterprise-devops, container-teams, security-teams, regulated-industries |
| Founded | 2016 | 2016 |
| Data Studio | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rest Api | ✓ | ✗ |
| Graphql Api | ✓ | ✗ |
| Flows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Permissions | ✓ | ✗ |
| File Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Container Registry | ✗ | ✓ |
| Vulnerability Scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rbac | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image Signing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Replication | ✗ | ✓ |
| Garbage Collection | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audit Logs | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Directus Pros
- Open source
- Database-first
- Beautiful admin UI
- REST + GraphQL
✗ Directus Cons
- Self-hosting required for free
- Smaller community
- Documentation gaps
✓ 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
Directus is built for developers and agencies, with a focus on data-studio and rest-api. Harbor targets enterprise devops and container teams and leads with container-registry and vulnerability-scanning.
Harbor uses custom enterprise pricing, while Directus starts at $99/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.
Feature-wise, Harbor offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Directus takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
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.