# Knative vs Modal

| Attribute | Knative | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 53.8 (52% (medium)) | 56.4 (72% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 11 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 446 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 6,110 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Open-source platform for deploying and auto-scaling containerized serverless applications on Kubernetes with integrated event routing and HTTP/gRPC serving. It is indexed under Serverless & Edge Platforms.","source":"https://knative.dev","question":"What is Knative?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Knative 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://knative.dev","question":"Is Knative free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Knative supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://knative.dev","question":"What platforms does Knative support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Knative can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://knative.dev","question":"Can Knative be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for Knative, including AWS S3, AWS SQS, AWS DynamoDB Streams, Apache Camel and Istio. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://knative.dev","question":"What does Knative integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Knative 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/knative/serving","question":"Is Knative open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A serverless cloud platform designed for running AI inference, training, batch processing, and interactive development. It automatically scales compute resources on demand, offers integrated logging and metrics, and provides a Python-native SDK for defining infrastructure as code. It is indexed under Serverless & Edge Platforms.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"What is Modal?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Modal offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"Is Modal free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Modal supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does Modal support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Modal, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"Can Modal be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Modal, including AWS Marketplace, GCP Marketplace, Datadog and Sentry.io. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"What does Modal integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and HIPAA for Modal. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Modal not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://modal.com/docs/guide/security","question":"What security certifications does Modal have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Modal is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://modal.com/pricing","question":"Where is Modal available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A platform for building event-driven applications on Kubernetes, providing brokers and event sources to integrate cloud services like AWS with local event processing workflows. | A cloud platform that automatically scales applications based on demand and charges only for actual compute consumed, measured per CPU cycle. Provides direct GPU access for AI inference and training, with support for Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and Go. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","triggers":"HTTP, CloudEvents, Kubernetes event sources","languages":"Any language via containerized HTTP/gRPC services","cold_start":"high","cli_and_iac":true,"http_trigger":true,"durable_state":true,"scale_to_zero":true,"custom_runtime":true,"runtime_substrate":"container","observability_builtin":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","triggers":"HTTP, cron/scheduled, events","languages":"Python","cold_start":"low","cli_and_iac":true,"http_trigger":true,"durable_state":true,"scale_to_zero":true,"custom_runtime":true,"scheduled_cron":true,"edge_distributed":true,"runtime_substrate":"container","observability_builtin":true}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 2 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS S3"},{"name":"AWS SQS"},{"name":"AWS DynamoDB Streams"},{"name":"Apache Camel"},{"name":"Istio"},{"name":"Apache Camel K","native":false,"direction":"inbound"}]` | `[{"name":"AWS Marketplace"},{"name":"GCP Marketplace"},{"name":"Datadog","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Sentry.io","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://knative.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T09:25:30.744Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Starter","summary":"$0/month base + compute usage ($30/month free credits)","features":["3 workspace seats","100 containers","10 GPU concurrency","Limited scheduled and web functions","Real-time metrics and logs","Region selection"],"minSeats":3,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For small teams and independent developers","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"compute":"$30/month","containers":"100","gpu_concurrency":"10"}},{"free":false,"name":"Team","summary":"$250/month base + compute usage ($100/month free credits)","features":["Unlimited workspace seats","5000 containers","50 GPU concurrency","Unlimited scheduled functions","Custom domains","Static IP proxy","Deployment rollbacks","Environment-level budgets"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":250,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For startups and larger organizations","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"compute":"$100/month","containers":"5000","gpu_concurrency":"50"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Volume-based discounts","Embedded ML engineering services","Private Slack support","Audit logs","SAML SSO","HIPAA compliance"],"description":"For organizations requiring security and compliance","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Non-preemptible execution","components":[{"of":"base compute pricing","kind":"percentage","rate":3}]}],"summary":"Free tier with $30/month compute. Pay-per-second metering: CPUs from $0.0000131/core/sec, GPUs from $0.000164/sec (T4) to $0.001972/sec (B300), memory at $0.00000222/GiB/sec.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://modal.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-18T15:59:18.208Z","startingPrice":{"amount":250,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | high |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":250,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.23.0","date":"2026-07-29T09:58:30Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.23.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.22.1","date":"2026-06-02T12:06:30Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.22.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.21.3","date":"2026-06-02T12:06:29Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.21.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.22.0","date":"2026-04-28T22:48:57Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.21.2","date":"2026-03-24T11:28:14Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.21.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.21.1","date":"2026-02-24T11:30:05Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.20.3","date":"2026-02-24T11:36:40Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.20.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.9","date":"2026-01-28T16:43:51Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.21.0","date":"2026-01-27T11:40:37Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.20.2","date":"2026-01-27T11:38:03Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.20.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.20.1","date":"2025-12-25T05:43:18Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.8","date":"2025-12-23T11:37:11Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.20.0","date":"2025-10-29T10:19:44Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.7","date":"2025-10-24T01:13:10Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.18.2","date":"2025-10-24T01:15:27Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.18.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.6","date":"2025-09-16T11:37:26Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.5","date":"2025-09-09T11:32:10Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.4","date":"2025-09-02T11:38:06Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.3","date":"2025-09-02T03:29:43Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/tag/knative-v1.19.2","date":"2025-08-26T11:37:33Z","type":"stable","version":"knative-v1.19.2"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","level":"Type II","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 8.1 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://modal.com/docs/guide/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=knative.dev%2Fserving&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Serverless & Edge Platforms)

| Capability | Knative | Modal |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Execution substrate | Container | Container |
| Language / runtime breadth | Any language via containerized HTTP/gRPC services | Python |
| **Reach** |  |  |
| Runs at global edge PoPs | - | ✓ |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Scale to zero | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| Cold-start profile | High (VM / container) | Low |
| **Limits** |  |  |
| Max execution duration | - | - |
| **Integration** |  |  |
| Event source breadth | HTTP, CloudEvents, Kubernetes event sources | HTTP, cron/scheduled, events |
| HTTP endpoint trigger | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cron / scheduled invocations | - | ✓ |
| **State** |  |  |
| Durable state / workflow primitive | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Flexibility** |  |  |
| Bring-your-own runtime / container | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud only |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Built-in logs / metrics / tracing | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| CLI + IaC / framework support | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:58:09.826Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*