# Kustomize vs Red Hat OpenShift

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Red Hat OpenShift

| Attribute | Kustomize | Red Hat OpenShift |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 47.6 (64% (medium)) | 55.7 (64% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 13 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 8,193 | 983 |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,144 | 8,680 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | An enterprise container application platform built on Kubernetes that enables organizations to build, deploy, and manage modern applications with a consistent experience across self-managed and managed cloud services. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","daemonless":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","gui_dashboard":false,"orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"stateful_workloads":true,"managed_control_plane":false}` | `{"hosting":"both","gui_dashboard":true,"orchestration":"kubernetes","managed_control_plane":true}` |
| 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,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source, free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kustomize.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:41:28.401Z"}` | `{"summary":"Free Developer Sandbox available; enterprise deployment via self-managed or managed cloud services","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/cloud-computing/openshift","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T13:41:09.992Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | - | 25 |
| release.history | `[{"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"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.11.0","date":"2018-10-11T15:53:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.10.0","date":"2018-08-03T02:42:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.10.0-rc.0","date":"2018-06-20T01:41:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.10.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.9.0","date":"2018-03-30T23:30:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.7.2","date":"2018-03-16T19:56:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.9.0-alpha.3","date":"2018-02-08T01:57:01Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.9.0-alpha.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.7.1","date":"2018-01-16T17:48:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.7.0","date":"2017-11-29T19:35:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.7.0-rc.0","date":"2017-10-27T16:44:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.7.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.1","date":"2017-10-25T19:54:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.7.0-alpha.1","date":"2017-08-30T21:45:18Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.7.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.0","date":"2017-07-31T05:25:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.0-rc.0","date":"2017-07-14T02:40:42Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.6.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.0-alpha.2","date":"2017-06-08T05:04:38Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.6.0-alpha.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v1.5.1","date":"2017-05-16T20:58:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v1.5.0","date":"2017-04-21T18:53:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.0-alpha.1","date":"2017-04-12T18:05:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.6.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v3.6.0-alpha.0","date":"2017-03-22T01:48:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.6.0-alpha.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v1.5.0-rc.0","date":"2017-03-09T22:53:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.5.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openshift/origin/releases/tag/v1.5.0-alpha.3","date":"2017-02-20T21:32:22Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.5.0-alpha.3"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"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}` | `{"count":3,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fopenshift%2Forigin&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Container Orchestration Tools)

| Capability | Kustomize | Red Hat OpenShift |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Orchestration scope | Kubernetes | Kubernetes |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | 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 2026-09-01T17:03:20.505Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*