# Helm vs K3s

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Helm

| Attribute | Helm | K3s |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.9 (60% (medium)) | 50.5 (46% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 32 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 5,000 | 11 |
| adoption.github_stars | 30,177 | 33,826 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Helm provides a templated configuration system and package manager for Kubernetes applications, allowing users to define complex multi-component deployments as reusable, versioned, and shareable packages. | 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 | `{"arm_support":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","pricing_model":"free_open_source","architecture_model":"open_source_cli"}` | `{"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 | - | 9 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"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 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://helm.sh","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:42:13.702Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://k3s.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T14:26:35.599Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 2 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.2.4","date":"2026-08-13T15:33:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.21.4","date":"2026-08-14T14:55:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.21.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.2.3","date":"2026-07-09T20:56:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.21.3","date":"2026-07-09T21:20:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.21.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.21.2","date":"2026-06-20T04:36:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.21.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.2.2","date":"2026-06-17T20:50:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2026-06-12T15:06:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.21.1","date":"2026-06-12T14:51:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.2.0","date":"2026-05-14T01:13:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.21.0","date":"2026-05-14T01:22:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.4","date":"2026-04-09T06:01:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.20.2","date":"2026-04-09T21:17:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.20.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.3","date":"2026-03-11T23:01:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.20.1","date":"2026-03-12T00:26:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.1","date":"2026-02-09T18:33:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.0","date":"2026-01-21T22:31:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.20.0","date":"2026-01-21T23:27:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.0.5","date":"2026-01-14T23:46:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v3.19.5","date":"2026-01-15T00:30:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.19.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/tag/v4.1.0-rc.1","date":"2026-01-12T19:54:05Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.1.0-rc.1"}]` | `[{"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"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 9 | 8 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":23,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=helm.sh%2Fhelm%2Fv3&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"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 | Helm | K3s |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **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 | Sandbox |
| **UX** |  |  |
| GUI dashboard | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:12:34.305Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*