# Buildah vs Kustomize

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Buildah

| Attribute | Buildah | Kustomize |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 60.6 (59% (medium)) | 47.9 (64% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 84 | 13 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 321 | 8,193 |
| adoption.github_stars | 8,995 | 12,144 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source utility for building OCI-compliant container images from Dockerfiles or from scratch, maintained by the containers organization. | Kustomize is a Kubernetes-native configuration management tool that enables declarative customization of application configurations without templates. It integrates natively with kubectl and is available as a standalone binary for use in various environments. |
| features.capabilities | `{"rootless":true,"oci_compliant":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","daemonless":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","gui_dashboard":false,"orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"stateful_workloads":true,"managed_control_plane":false}` |
| integrations.count | - | 5 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Kots"},{"name":"ArgoCD"},{"name":"Flux"},{"name":"Kubestack"},{"name":"Unfork"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://buildah.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T23:01:29.635Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source, free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kustomize.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:41:28.401Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 7 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.45.0","date":"2026-07-30T17:44:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.45.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.44.1","date":"2026-07-21T17:36:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.44.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.43.2","date":"2026-06-08T19:32:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.43.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.44.0","date":"2026-05-27T21:40:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.44.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.39.9","date":"2026-05-13T14:11:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.29.8","date":"2026-05-07T20:13:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.29.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.33.15","date":"2026-05-04T22:32:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.26.11","date":"2026-05-06T17:50:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.26.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.41.9","date":"2026-04-17T18:46:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.41.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.43.1","date":"2026-04-08T18:08:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.43.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.43.0","date":"2026-02-06T13:48:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.43.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.21.6","date":"2026-01-22T20:16:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.21.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.29.7","date":"2026-01-15T23:49:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.29.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.39.8","date":"2026-01-08T21:47:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.37.8","date":"2026-01-08T21:30:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.33.14","date":"2026-01-08T21:32:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.41.8","date":"2026-01-06T19:39:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.41.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.41.7","date":"2025-12-13T01:37:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.41.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.39.7","date":"2025-12-13T01:28:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases/tag/v1.33.13","date":"2025-12-11T18:46:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.13"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kyaml/v0.21.1","date":"2026-02-09T15:27:15Z","type":"stable","version":"kyaml/v0.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kustomize/v5.8.1","date":"2026-02-09T16:40:16Z","type":"stable","version":"kustomize/v5.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/cmd/config/v0.21.1","date":"2026-02-09T15:41:58Z","type":"stable","version":"cmd/config/v0.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/api/v0.21.1","date":"2026-02-09T16:00:09Z","type":"stable","version":"api/v0.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kyaml/v0.21.0","date":"2025-11-09T13:45:10Z","type":"stable","version":"kyaml/v0.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kustomize/v5.8.0","date":"2025-11-09T15:00:06Z","type":"stable","version":"kustomize/v5.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/cmd/config/v0.21.0","date":"2025-11-09T14:01:17Z","type":"stable","version":"cmd/config/v0.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/api/v0.21.0","date":"2025-11-09T14:29:11Z","type":"stable","version":"api/v0.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kyaml/v0.20.1","date":"2025-07-23T12:10:24Z","type":"stable","version":"kyaml/v0.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kustomize/v5.7.1","date":"2025-07-23T12:54:41Z","type":"stable","version":"kustomize/v5.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/cmd/config/v0.20.1","date":"2025-07-23T12:20:32Z","type":"stable","version":"cmd/config/v0.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/api/v0.20.1","date":"2025-07-23T12:34:01Z","type":"stable","version":"api/v0.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kyaml/v0.20.0","date":"2025-06-28T06:15:13Z","type":"stable","version":"kyaml/v0.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kustomize/v5.7.0","date":"2025-06-28T07:09:54Z","type":"stable","version":"kustomize/v5.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/cmd/config/v0.20.0","date":"2025-06-28T06:28:41Z","type":"stable","version":"cmd/config/v0.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/api/v0.20.0","date":"2025-06-28T06:45:45Z","type":"stable","version":"api/v0.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kyaml/v0.19.0","date":"2025-01-14T14:12:39Z","type":"stable","version":"kyaml/v0.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/kustomize/v5.6.0","date":"2025-01-14T15:32:11Z","type":"stable","version":"kustomize/v5.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/cmd/config/v0.19.0","date":"2025-01-14T14:41:06Z","type":"stable","version":"cmd/config/v0.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/tag/api/v0.19.0","date":"2025-01-14T14:53:53Z","type":"stable","version":"api/v0.19.0"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.6 | 5.7 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":9,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcontainers%2Fbuildah&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=sigs.k8s.io%2Fkustomize%2Fkyaml&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | Buildah | Kustomize |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | - | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | - | Self-hosted only |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OCI / CRI compliant | ✓ | - |
| CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant | - | ✓ |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Rootless operation | ✓ | - |
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Daemonless architecture | - | ✓ |
| **Platform** |  |  |
| Windows containers | - | - |
| ARM architecture support | - | - |
| **Workloads** |  |  |
| GPU scheduling | - | - |
| Stateful workloads | - | ✓ |
| **Networking** |  |  |
| Built-in networking / CNI | - | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Vendor-managed control plane | - | ✗ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| CNCF maturity | - | Graduated |
| **UX** |  |  |
| GUI dashboard | - | ✗ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:43:10.587Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*