# Artifact and container registries: 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 mid-market B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/artifact-and-container-registries

**Standing:** Sonatype Nexus Repository leads with 28% of first choices; verdict contested. 60 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Sonatype Nexus Repository](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonatype-nexus-repository/index.md) | 28% | 5% | 38 |
| 2 | [JFrog Artifactory](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jfrog-artifactory/index.md) | 22% | 14% | 57 |
| 3 | [Amazon ECR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-ecr/index.md) | 8% | 7% | 14 |
| 4 | [GitHub Packages](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/github-packages/index.md) | 5% | 9% | 64 |
| 5 | [Harbor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/harbor/index.md) | 5% | 5% | 42 |
| 6 | [Azure Container Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-container-registry/index.md) | 5% | 6% | 35 |
| 7 | [Google Artifact Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-artifact-registry/index.md) | 5% | 10% | 41 |
| 8 | [Cloudsmith](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudsmith/index.md) | 3% | 4% | 26 |
| 9 | [Amazon Elastic Container Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-elastic-container-registry/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 13 |
| 10 | [Sonatype Lifecycle](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonatype-lifecycle/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 13 |
| 12 | [GitLab Package Registry](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gitlab-package-registry/index.md) | 2% | 10% | 21 |
| 17 | [AWS CodeArtifact](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-codeartifact/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 24 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 82 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: Artifactory, Nexus Repository; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, GitHub Packages, GitLab Package Registry
- 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, ECR
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudsmith; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, GitHub Packages, JFrog Artifactory, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Grok 4.20: JFrog Artifactory; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts, Cloudsmith, GHCR
- Mistral Small: JFrog Artifactory; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts, Cloudsmith, Google Artifact Registry
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub Packages, JFrog Artifactory; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, Azure Artifacts, Cloudsmith, Google Artifact Registry
- Llama 4 Maverick: JFrog Artifactory; alternatives Amazon Elastic Container Registry, GitHub Packages, Google Artifact Registry, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: JFrog Artifactory; alternatives AWS ECR, Azure Container Registry, GitLab Package Registry, Google Artifact Registry
- Kimi K2: Sonatype Nexus Repository; alternatives Cloudsmith, GitHub Packages
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Sonatype Nexus Repository; alternatives Harbor, JFrog Artifactory
- MiniMax M2.5: Sonatype Nexus Repository; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, GitHub Packages, Google Artifact Registry, JFrog Artifactory
- GPT-6 Luna: Cloudsmith; alternatives AWS CodeArtifact, JFrog Artifactory, Sonatype Nexus Repository
- Muse Glimmer 30B: JFrog Artifactory; alternatives Cloudsmith, Sonatype Nexus Repository

## Sources the answers cite

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

- github.com: 31 answers, 62 citations
- sonatype.com: 20 answers, 35 citations
- jfrog.com: 17 answers, 26 citations
- ciopages.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- dev.to: 17 answers, 17 citations
- cloudrepo.io: 15 answers, 24 citations
- container-registry.com: 15 answers, 17 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 15 answers, 15 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://github.com/ishandutta2007/Awesome-Artifact-Repository-Manager/blob/main/README.md (18 answers)
- https://ciopages.com/buyer-guides/container-registry-artifact-management (17 answers)
- https://dev.to/wenping/how-to-choose-an-artifact-repository-nexus-artifactory-and-self-hosted-angusrepo-by-team-size-5f4g (15 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-8-container-registries-2026 (15 answers)
- https://container-registry.com/compare (14 answers)
- https://github.com/ishandutta2007/Awesome-Artifact-Repository-Manager (13 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-artifact-repository-tools (12 answers)
- https://kubernetesinmyhead.net/deployment/artifact-repositories (10 answers)
- https://jfrog.com/blog/what-is-artifactory-jfrog (9 answers)
- https://bluelight.co/blog/how-to-choose-a-container-registry (8 answers)

## Warned against

- Docker Hub: 17 of 33 labels negative. "Unverified Public Registries (e.g., Standard Docker Hub) ... they pose high risks because they allow anyone to push images." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- GitHub Packages: 6 of 64 labels negative. "public registries like Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry (GHCR), or Google Artifact Registry are convenient, they pose high risks" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- JFrog Artifactory: 8 of 57 labels negative. "Avoid JFrog for mid-market unless you specifically need its 60+ format support" (Kimi K2, direct prompt)
- Google Artifact Registry: 4 of 41 labels negative. "public registries like Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry (GHCR), or Google Artifact Registry ... they pose high risks" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Sonatype Nexus Repository at 28%.

- JFrog Artifactory: 14% to 22%, +8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 2 of 82, unchanged.
- Amazon Elastic Container Registry: 10% to 3%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 9 of 82.
- Sonatype Nexus Repository: 22% to 28%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 82, unchanged.
- Cloudsmith: 8% to 3%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 4 → 8 of 82.
- Harbor: 3% to 5%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 5 of 82.
- Google Artifact Registry: 3% to 5%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 7 of 82.
- Sonatype Lifecycle: 5% to 3%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 10 of 82.
- AWS ECR: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 13 → 19 of 82.
- GitLab Package Registry: 3% to 2%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 11 → 12 of 82.
- Amazon ECR: 8% to 8%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 → 3 of 82.
- GitHub Packages: 5% to 5%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 4 of 82.
- Azure Container Registry: 5% to 5%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 82, unchanged.

## 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.