# HashiCorp Nomad vs K3s

| Attribute | HashiCorp Nomad | K3s |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 54.4 (59% (medium)) | 50.4 (46% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 66 | 32 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1,972 | 11 |
| adoption.github_stars | 16,835 | 33,826 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A simple and flexible scheduler and orchestrator to deploy and manage containers and non-containerized applications across on-prem and clouds at scale | K3s is a certified Kubernetes implementation that maintains full conformance while streamlining deployment through bundled components, simplified storage options, and a single-binary installation model suitable for resource-constrained environments and edge computing scenarios. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","orchestration":"custom","managed_control_plane":false}` | `{"hosting":"self","rootless":true,"arm_support":true,"cncf_maturity":"sandbox","orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"stateful_workloads":true,"managed_control_plane":false,"built_in_networking_cni":true}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | 9 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Consul"},{"name":"Vault"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Podman"},{"name":"QEMU"},{"name":"Java"}]` | `[{"name":"Traefik"},{"name":"CoreDNS"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"etcd"},{"name":"Local Path Provisioner"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"SQLite"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://www.nomadproject.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T21:35:24.024Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://k3s.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T14:26:35.599Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.5","date":"2026-08-13T00:16:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.11.8","date":"2026-07-08T16:53:09Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.11.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.10.14","date":"2026-07-08T16:31:37Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.10.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.4","date":"2026-07-07T19:12:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.3","date":"2026-06-09T18:40:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.11.7","date":"2026-06-09T20:50:22Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.11.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.10.13","date":"2026-06-09T20:50:39Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.10.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.2","date":"2026-05-22T15:44:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.11.6","date":"2026-05-22T18:05:37Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.11.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.10.12","date":"2026-05-22T18:06:10Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.10.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.1","date":"2026-05-12T16:18:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.11.5","date":"2026-05-12T19:54:35Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.11.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.10.11","date":"2026-05-12T19:54:17Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.10.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.0","date":"2026-04-21T17:52:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.11.4","date":"2026-04-21T21:36:36Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.11.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.10.10","date":"2026-04-21T21:36:19Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.10.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.0-rc.1","date":"2026-04-17T13:49:50Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v2.0.0-beta.1","date":"2026-03-19T15:04:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/v1.11.3","date":"2026-03-11T10:08:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.8.21","date":"2026-03-17T17:40:17Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.8.21"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.4-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-21T17:10:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.36.4-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.8-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-21T17:04:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.35.8-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.34.11-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-21T17:05:34Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.34.11-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.3%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-04T19:42:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.3+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.3-rc2%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-28T21:33:53Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.36.3-rc2+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.7%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-04T19:41:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.7+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.7-rc2%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-28T21:33:58Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.35.7-rc2+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.34.10%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-08-04T19:39:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.10+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.34.10-rc2%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-28T21:33:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.34.10-rc2+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.33.13%2Bk3s2","date":"2026-08-04T19:40:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.13+k3s2"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.33.13-rc2%2Bk3s2","date":"2026-07-28T21:34:16Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.33.13-rc2+k3s2"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.3-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-24T12:58:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.36.3-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.7-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-24T12:58:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.35.7-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.34.10-rc1%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-07-24T12:57:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.34.10-rc1+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.33.13-rc1%2Bk3s2","date":"2026-07-24T12:58:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.33.13-rc1+k3s2"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.2%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-06-24T22:57:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.2+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.36.2-rc3%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-06-24T18:29:23Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.36.2-rc3+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.6%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-06-24T22:57:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.6+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.35.6-rc3%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-06-24T18:28:55Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.35.6-rc3+k3s1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/tag/v1.34.9%2Bk3s1","date":"2026-06-24T22:57:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.9+k3s1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.5 | 8 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fhashicorp%2Fnomad%2Fapi&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":3,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fk3s-io%2Fk3s&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | HashiCorp Nomad | K3s |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | Custom scheduler | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | 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 | - | Sandbox |
| **UX** |  |  |
| GUI dashboard | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:44:47.140Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*