# Artifact and container registries for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "artifact repository" and as "container registry", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/artifact-and-container-registries/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** GitHub Packages leads with 50% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 58 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [GitHub Packages](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/github-packages/index.md) | 50% | 8% | 74 |
| 2 | [Sonatype Nexus Repository](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonatype-nexus-repository/index.md) | 12% | 19% | 32 |
| 3 | [GitLab Package Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gitlab-package-registry/index.md) | 9% | 3% | 34 |
| 4 | [Cloudsmith](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudsmith/index.md) | 5% | 11% | 28 |
| 6 | [Amazon ECR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-ecr/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 16 |
| 7 | [AWS CodeArtifact](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-codeartifact/index.md) | 3% | 19% | 27 |
| 8 | [Azure Artifacts](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-artifacts/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 16 |
| 11 | [JFrog Artifactory](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jfrog-artifactory/index.md) | 2% | 58% | 48 |
| 12 | [Docker Hub](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/docker-hub/index.md) | 2% | 62% | 42 |
| 13 | [Google Artifact Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-artifact-registry/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 41 |
| 14 | [Azure Container Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-container-registry/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 30 |
| 15 | [AWS ECR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-ecr/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 15 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 78 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts; alternatives GitHub Packages, Nexus Repository
- GPT-5.4 mini: Sonatype Nexus Repository; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, JFrog Artifactory
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: GitHub Packages, GitLab Package Registry; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts, Cloudsmith
- Perplexity Sonar: GitHub Packages; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Cloudsmith, GitLab Package Registry, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Grok 4.20: GitHub Packages; alternatives Azure Artifacts, Google Artifact Registry, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Mistral Small: GitHub Packages; alternatives Cloudsmith, GitLab Package Registry, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub Packages; alternatives Cloudsmith, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Llama 4 Maverick: GitHub Packages; alternatives CloudRepo
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Sonatype Nexus Repository; alternatives GitHub Packages, GitLab Package Registry, JFrog Artifactory
- Kimi K2: GitHub Packages; alternatives JFrog Artifactory, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: no first choice; alternatives CloudRepo, GitHub Packages, JFrog Artifactory, Nexus Repository Community Edition
- MiniMax M2.5: GitHub Packages; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts, Cloudsmith, GitLab Package Registry
- GPT-6 Luna: GitHub Packages; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Cloudsmith
- Muse Glimmer 30B: CloudRepo, GitHub Packages; alternatives Cloudsmith, Sonatype Lifecycle

## Sources the answers cite

66 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- github.com: 28 answers, 48 citations
- dev.to: 25 answers, 28 citations
- cloudrepo.io: 23 answers, 32 citations
- gane.ai/index: 22 answers, 23 citations
- kubernetesinmyhead.net: 18 answers, 18 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- container-registry.com: 16 answers, 18 citations
- jfrog.com: 15 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://dev.to/wenping/how-to-choose-an-artifact-repository-nexus-artifactory-and-self-hosted-angusrepo-by-team-size-5f4g (25 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/developer/artifact-and-container-registries/smb (21 answers)
- https://kubernetesinmyhead.net/deployment/artifact-repositories (18 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-8-container-registries-2026 (17 answers)
- https://github.com/ishandutta2007/Awesome-Artifact-Repository-Manager/blob/main/README.md (13 answers)
- https://container-registry.com/compare (12 answers)
- https://cloudrepo.io/articles/best-private-maven-repository-small-teams (11 answers)
- https://github.com/ishandutta2007/Awesome-Artifact-Repository-Manager (11 answers)
- https://ohmyops.dev/tools/container-registry-small-teams (11 answers)
- https://railway.com/guides/best-container-registries-2026 (10 answers)

## Warned against

- Docker Hub: 26 of 42 labels negative. "Production images should not be pulled directly from Docker Hub due to rate limits, the possibility of public image compromise, and namespace squatting." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- JFrog Artifactory: 28 of 48 labels negative. "Avoid JFrog Artifactory and AWS CodeArtifact if budget is a major concern" (Mistral Small, budget prompt)
- Harbor: 16 of 36 labels negative. "running your own Docker Registry or Harbor on bare metal... Avoid unless you have dedicated DevOps expertise." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- GitHub Packages: 6 of 74 labels negative. "avoid it for proprietary, business-critical production applications" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: GitHub Packages at 50%.

- GitHub Packages: 33% to 50%, +17. Cleared the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 78, unchanged.
- Harbor: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 34 of 78.
- Sonatype Nexus Repository: 16% to 12%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 78, unchanged.
- JFrog Artifactory: 6% to 2%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 → 11 of 78.
- Amazon ECR: 0% to 3%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 23 → 6 of 78.
- Azure Artifacts: 0% to 3%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 30 → 8 of 78.
- Docker Hub: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 7 → 12 of 78.
- Cloudsmith: 3% to 5%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 4 of 78.
- GitLab Package Registry: 10% to 9%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 of 78, unchanged.
- AWS CodeArtifact: 2% to 3%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 9 → 7 of 78.
- Google Artifact Registry: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 20 → 13 of 78.
- Azure Container Registry: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 21 → 14 of 78.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.