---
title: What is a registry?
weight: 30
keywords: concepts, build, images, container, docker desktop
description: What is a registry? This Docker Concept will explain what a registry is, explore their interoperability, and have you interact with registries.
aliases:
- /guides/walkthroughs/run-hub-images/
- /guides/walkthroughs/publish-your-image/
- /guides/docker-concepts/the-basics/what-is-a-registry/
---

{{< youtube-embed 2WDl10Wv5rs >}}

## Explanation

Now that you know what a container image is and how it works, you might wonder - where do you store these images? 

Well, you can store your container images on your computer system, but what if you want to share them with your friends or use them on another machine? That's where the image registry comes in.

An image registry is a centralized location for storing and sharing your container images. It can be either public or private. [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com) is a public registry that anyone can use and is the default registry. 

While Docker Hub is a popular option, there are many other available container registries available today, including [Amazon Elastic Container Registry(ECR)](https://aws.amazon.com/ecr/), [Azure Container Registry (ACR)](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/products/container-registry), and [Google Container Registry (GCR)](https://cloud.google.com/artifact-registry). You can even run your private registry on your local system or inside your organization. For example, Harbor, JFrog Artifactory, GitLab Container registry etc.

### Registry vs. repository

While you're working with registries, you might hear the terms _registry_ and _repository_ as if they're interchangeable. Even though they're related, they're not quite the same thing.

A _registry_ is a centralized location that stores and manages container images, whereas a _repository_ is a collection of related container images within a registry. Think of it as a folder where you organize your images based on projects. Each repository contains one or more container images.

The following diagram shows the relationship between a registry, repositories, and images.

```goat {class="text-sm"}
+---------------------------------------+
|               Registry                |
|---------------------------------------|
|                                       |
|    +-----------------------------+    |
|    |        Repository A         |    |
|    |-----------------------------|    |
|    |   Image: project-a:v1.0     |    |
|    |   Image: project-a:v2.0     |    |
|    +-----------------------------+    |
|                                       |
|    +-----------------------------+    |
|    |        Repository B         |    |
|    |-----------------------------|    |
|    |   Image: project-b:v1.0     |    |
|    |   Image: project-b:v1.1     |    |
|    |   Image: project-b:v2.0     |    |
|    +-----------------------------+    |
|                                       |
+---------------------------------------+
```

> [!NOTE]
>
> You can create one private repository and unlimited public repositories using the free version of Docker Hub. For more information, visit the [Docker Hub subscription page](https://www.docker.com/pricing/).

## Try it out

In this hands-on, you will learn how to build and push a Docker image to the Docker Hub repository.

### Sign up for a free Docker account

1. If you haven't created one yet, head over to the [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com) page to sign up for a new Docker account.

    ![Screenshot of the official Docker Hub page showing the Sign up page](/Users/baehyunsol/Documents/Rust/ragit/sample/docker/content/get-started/docker-concepts/the-basics/images/dockerhub-signup.webp?border)

    You can use your Google or GitHub account to authenticate.

### Create your first repository

1. Sign in to [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com).
2. Select the **Create repository** button in the top-right corner.