k0s

The Simple, Solid & Certified Kubernetes Distribution

Also known as
k0s

What is k0s?

k0s is a CNCF-certified, 100% open source & free Kubernetes distribution that runs on any infrastructure: bare-metal, on-premises, edge, IoT, public & private clouds.

Independently observed

k0s pricing

Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.

Pricing as of verify at live pricing ↗Independently observed
Open sourceFree tier

100% open source & free

k0s

Free
Free

100% open source & free for personal or commercial use

What k0s does

The capabilities that matter for container orchestration tools, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.

Core
Orchestration scope
Kubernetes
Deployment
Hosting
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
Sandbox
UX
GUI dashboard
-
Independently observed

Platform & deployment

Independently observed
Platforms
  • CLI
  • Linux
  • Windows
Deployment
  • Cloud / SaaS
  • Hybrid
  • On-premise
  • Self-hosted

Integrations (2)

Independently observed
  • Kube-Router
  • Calico

k0s alternatives

Other container orchestration tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.

Independent · unbought · dated

The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence

Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for k0s, not the verdict.

Balanced composite 56 / 100
low · 20%
Signal contributions to the composite score
SignalScoreWeightContributionEvidence
Pricing Transparency8012.00960.0
Price Level1008.00800.0
Capabilities5812.00693.8
Integrations1416.00219.5
Reliability030.000.0-
Security Posture022.000.0-

Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.

All data & sourcesshow ↓

Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.

Features

AttributeValueEvidence
Capabilities{"hosting":"both","arm_support":true,"cncf_maturity":"sandbox","orchestration":"kubernetes","k8s_conformant":true,"built_in_networking_cni":true}mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%

Integrations

AttributeValueEvidence
Count2mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%

Pricing

AttributeValueEvidence
Free tierYesmediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%
Modelcommercialmediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 70%
Price levelfreemediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%
TransparentYesmediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%