# k0s vs MicroK8s

**Leader by Vioscale score:** k0s

| Attribute | k0s | MicroK8s |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 52.9 (45% (low)) | 46.3 (77% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 6,452 | 9,357 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"air_gapped":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source Kubernetes distribution packaged as a single binary with minimal dependencies, designed to run on any infrastructure including bare metal, cloud platforms, and edge environments with simple configuration. | A self-contained Kubernetes distribution providing high availability and minimal operational overhead. Designed for rapid deployment across development machines, datacenters, and edge infrastructure with integrated monitoring, networking, and container services. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","arm_support":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","gui_dashboard":false,"orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"stateful_workloads":true,"managed_control_plane":false,"built_in_networking_cni":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","gpu_scheduling":true,"k8s_conformant":true,"managed_control_plane":false,"built_in_networking_cni":true}` |
| integrations.count | 2 | 9 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kube-Router"},{"name":"Calico"}]` | `[{"name":"Knative"},{"name":"Fluentd"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Metrics"},{"name":"Ingress"},{"name":"DNS"},{"name":"Dashboard"},{"name":"Clustering"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Python |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"k0s","description":"100% open source & free for personal or commercial use"}],"summary":"100% open source & free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://k0sproject.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T14:26:13.706Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source with optional Ubuntu Pro support","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://microk8s.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:45:24.919Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 108 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.36.3%2Bk0s.2","date":"2026-08-12T10:59:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.3+k0s.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.36.3%2Bk0s.1","date":"2026-08-07T13:05:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.3+k0s.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.36.3%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-07-27T14:22:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.3+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.35.7%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-07-27T14:15:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.7+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.34.10%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-07-27T14:11:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.10+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.33.13%2Bk0s.1","date":"2026-07-27T08:36:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.13+k0s.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.37.0-alpha.1%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-30T14:23:55Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.37.0-alpha.1+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.36.2%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-30T11:27:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.2+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.35.6%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-29T13:32:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.6+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.34.9%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-29T13:30:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.9+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.33.13%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-29T13:26:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.13+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.35.5%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-16T13:06:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.5+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.34.8%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-16T09:43:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.8+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.33.12%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-16T07:11:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.12+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.36.1%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-06-14T13:05:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.1+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.33.11%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-05-13T13:31:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.11+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.35.4%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-05-13T14:36:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.4+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.34.7%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-05-13T13:34:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.7+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.35.3%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-04-08T14:03:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.3+k0s.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/k0sproject/k0s/releases/tag/v1.34.6%2Bk0s.0","date":"2026-04-08T13:59:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.6+k0s.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.36","date":"2026-05-25T06:56:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.35","date":"2025-12-19T10:01:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.34","date":"2025-09-01T15:15:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.33","date":"2025-04-25T05:37:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.32","date":"2024-12-12T18:22:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.32"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.31","date":"2024-08-14T12:08:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.30","date":"2024-04-19T07:55:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.29","date":"2023-12-14T09:54:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.4","date":"2023-10-23T14:28:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.28","date":"2023-08-16T11:16:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.3","date":"2023-06-22T18:03:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.27","date":"2023-04-12T09:19:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.2","date":"2023-03-21T18:04:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.3.1","date":"2023-01-20T08:29:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.26","date":"2022-12-12T10:43:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.25","date":"2022-08-25T10:55:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.24","date":"2022-05-04T13:50:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/v1.23","date":"2021-12-08T15:15:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.1","date":"2021-11-02T13:44:20Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/canonical/microk8s/releases/tag/installer-v2.2.0","date":"2021-09-22T19:57:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"installer-v2.2.0"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.9 |
| security.scorecard | 5.9 | 4.4 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fk0sproject%2Fk0s&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | k0s | MicroK8s |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | Kubernetes | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **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 2026-09-01T17:06:29.369Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*