A private registry is a registry that requires security access. The private registry may be 'closed' by physically placing it inside of a secure environment, such as on a local area network.

Some private registries are shared by multiple companies. Thus, they are private in that participants are welcome on in an invite-only basis. Here, the registry may be hosted by an intermediary, hosted by one of the participants or hosted by several of the participants (replicated or federated registry).