# CNCF Distribution vs Kraken

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** CNCF Distribution

| Attribute | CNCF Distribution | Kraken |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 66.3 (66% (medium)) | 47.8 (72% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 63 | 29 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 2,403 | 1 |
| adoption.github_stars | 10,646 | 6,743 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Open-source implementation of the OCI Distribution Specification for storing and distributing container images. Enables organizations to tightly control their image storage and distribution pipeline with full ownership of their distribution infrastructure. It is indexed under Container Registries.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"What is CNCF Distribution?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"CNCF Distribution is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"Is CNCF Distribution free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. CNCF Distribution can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","question":"Can CNCF Distribution be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. CNCF Distribution is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution","question":"Is CNCF Distribution open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Open-source P2P-powered Docker registry designed for scalable and highly available image management, replication, and distribution in hybrid cloud environments with pluggable storage backends. It is indexed under Container Registries.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What is Kraken?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Kraken is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Is Kraken free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Kraken supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does Kraken support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Kraken can be deployed hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Can Kraken be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Kraken, including S3, GCS, ECR and HDFS. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What does Kraken integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Kraken is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/uber/kraken","question":"Is Kraken open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Docker Hub enables developers to push, pull, and manage container images with their teams, automate builds and deployments through webhooks, and control access to repositories. | A peer-to-peer based Docker registry system designed for high-throughput distribution of container images across large clusters and hybrid cloud environments with built-in support for multi-cluster replication. |
| features.capabilities | `{"rbac":true,"web_ui":true,"hosting":"self","image_signing":true,"oci_compliant":true,"private_repos":true,"artifact_types":"images","vulnerability_scanning":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","private_repos":true,"artifact_types":"images","high_availability":true,"replication_mirroring":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 5 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"S3"},{"name":"GCS"},{"name":"ECR"},{"name":"HDFS"},{"name":"Harbor"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://distribution.github.io/distribution/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-10T21:11:49.107Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-14T13:21:23.302Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 55 | 14 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.2","date":"2026-09-24T12:21:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.1","date":"2026-05-01T15:51:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.1.0","date":"2026-04-06T17:09:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2025-04-03T06:25:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.4","date":"2025-03-22T14:59:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.3","date":"2025-02-11T16:21:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.2","date":"2024-12-18T15:23:19Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-rc.1","date":"2024-11-07T21:04:41Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta.1","date":"2024-07-10T13:22:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v3.0.0-alpha.1","date":"2023-12-19T16:03:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.3","date":"2023-10-02T18:23:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2","date":"2023-05-11T10:47:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.2","date":"2023-05-09T23:32:56Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.2-beta.1","date":"2023-05-09T22:42:12Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.2-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.1","date":"2022-03-08T18:19:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0","date":"2022-02-07T15:53:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.8.0-beta.1","date":"2022-01-21T16:49:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.8.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.1","date":"2019-01-17T23:22:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0","date":"2018-12-04T00:20:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/distribution/distribution/releases/tag/v2.7.0-rc.0","date":"2018-09-28T23:23:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.7.0-rc.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.28","date":"2026-08-31T10:56:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.27","date":"2026-07-06T09:38:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.26","date":"2026-06-29T12:12:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.25","date":"2026-06-22T14:26:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.24","date":"2026-06-10T11:12:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.23","date":"2026-05-26T11:25:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.22","date":"2026-04-14T10:23:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.21","date":"2026-03-23T15:50:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.20","date":"2026-03-02T12:26:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.19","date":"2026-01-26T11:46:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.18","date":"2026-01-05T09:55:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.17","date":"2025-12-17T10:09:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.16","date":"2025-12-08T16:40:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.15","date":"2025-11-28T10:16:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.14","date":"2025-11-18T12:34:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.13","date":"2025-11-10T13:30:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.12","date":"2025-10-20T13:49:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.11","date":"2025-10-10T12:12:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.10","date":"2025-09-23T11:20:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/uber/kraken/releases/tag/v0.1.9","date":"2025-09-09T10:56:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.9"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.6 | 4.6 |
| security.trust_center | - | https://github.com/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":4,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fdistribution%2Fdistribution%2Fv3&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fuber%2Fkraken&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Container Registries)

| Capability | CNCF Distribution | Kraken |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Self-hosted only |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OCI Distribution Spec compliant | ✓ | - |
| **Scope** |  |  |
| Artifact types | Container images only | Container images only |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Built-in vulnerability scanning | ✓ | - |
| Image signing (Cosign/Notation) | ✓ | - |
| SBOM generation / storage | - | - |
| **Access** |  |  |
| Fine-grained RBAC / robot accounts | ✓ | - |
| Private repositories | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Geo-replication / mirroring | - | ✓ |
| Pull-through cache / proxy | - | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| Native cloud IAM integration | - | - |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Pull-rate limits | - | - |
| **UX** |  |  |
| Web UI / console | ✓ | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| High-availability deployment | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:59:41.222Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*