# CRI-O vs Kustomize

**Leader by Vioscale score:** CRI-O

| Attribute | CRI-O | Kustomize |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 55.5 (48% (low)) | 47.6 (64% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 43 | 13 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 61 | 8,193 |
| adoption.github_stars | 5,654 | 12,144 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A runtime implementation that enables Kubernetes to execute and manage containers, supporting OCI-compliant container images from any registry. | 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 | `{"hosting":"self","oci_compliant":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"built_in_networking_cni":false}` | `{"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 |
| platform.support | `{"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://cri-o.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:25:33.464Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source, free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kustomize.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:41:28.401Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.36.4","date":"2026-08-24T16:56:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.7","date":"2026-08-24T17:02:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.12","date":"2026-08-24T17:05:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.36.3","date":"2026-08-04T00:43:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.6","date":"2026-08-04T00:46:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.11","date":"2026-08-04T00:45:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.36.2","date":"2026-07-02T00:58:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.5","date":"2026-07-02T12:07:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.10","date":"2026-07-02T00:57:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.36.1","date":"2026-06-03T01:09:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.4","date":"2026-06-03T01:09:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.9","date":"2026-06-03T01:09:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.33.13","date":"2026-06-03T01:09:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.3","date":"2026-05-05T00:48:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.8","date":"2026-05-05T00:47:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.33.12","date":"2026-05-05T00:47:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.36.0","date":"2026-05-05T18:29:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.35.2","date":"2026-04-02T00:36:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.34.7","date":"2026-04-02T00:36:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases/tag/v1.33.11","date":"2026-04-02T00:36:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.11"}]` | `[{"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"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 8.4 | 5.7 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":13,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcri-o%2Fcri-o&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"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 | CRI-O | Kustomize |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | Kubernetes | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | 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 2026-09-01T16:55:07.835Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*