Kubernetes distributions comparison

The Kubernetes landscape is vast and complex. If you are looking to compare different enterprise Kubernetes distributions, have a look at the table below. Kubernetes by Canonical stands out because it delivers multi-cloud operations, enterprise-grade security and optimal price-performance.

Learn more in the Kubernetes comparison whitepaper ›

Some categories are rated out of 5 for easy comparison

	Canonical Kubernetes	Red Hat Openshift	Rancher
CNCF Conformant
High availability
Automated updates & patches		–	–
Automated upgrades between versions		–
Edge support	5 out of 5 MicroK8s	4 out of 5 Openshift	5 out of 5 K3s
Single-node edition
Managed Kubernetes offering			–
Container runtime and registries	5 out of 5 ContainerD, Docker, Kata Private registries, DockerHub, rocks, public cloud registries	3 out of 5 CRI-O, Kata Private registries, DockerHub, public cloud registries	4 out of 5 ContainerD, Docker Private registries, DockerHub, public cloud registries
Networking	5 out of 5 Flannel, Calico, Cilium, Kube-OVN, Canal, TIgera EE, Multus, SR-IOV, Juniper Contrail	4 out of 5 OpenShift SDN, Flannel, Nuage, Kuryr, OvS, Multus, SR-IOV	3 out of 5 Canal, Calico, Flannel, Weave
Storage	5 out of 5 Ceph, NFS, Cloud Storage, NetApp, vSphere, FlexVolume, PureStorage	4.5 out of 5 Ceph/Rook, GlusterFS, NFS, Cinder, Flexvolume, vSphere	4.5 out of 5 GlusterFS, NFS, vSphere, Longhorn
Monitoring and Operations Management
Multi-cloud deployments	5 out of 5 Juju, Cluster API	3 out of 5 Ansible	4 out of 5 Terraform, Helm
Native AWS/GCP/Azure integration
Native OpenStack/VMware integration
GPU support for accelerated workloads
Bare metal deployment
Architectures supported	X86, POWER, ARM, Z, s390x	X86, POWER, Z	X86
Pricing	$$	$$$$$	$$$

Multi-cloud deployments & operations

Model-driven Kubernetes Operators. Supported or fully managed from public cloud to on-prem.

Charmed Operators streamline your Kubernetes deployments and operations across all clouds. Get started with our K8s Architecture Design and Deployment Workshop and our Cloud-native Migration Services. Enjoy peace of mind with Managed Kubernetes from Canonical.

Secure Kubernetes

Hardened platform. Immutable containers. Security patching.

Canonical Kubernetes runs in immutable containers to provide for better security out of the box. Integration with K8s RBAC, Active Directory and LDAP, CIS hardening by default, encryption at rest and automatic security patching ensure you get the most secure Kubernetes in the market.

Canonical Kubernetes pricing

Predictable pricing model. No licence fees. Enterprise support.

Canonical's support services for Kubernetes follow a per host pricing model to bring you the best price-performance. Just count the number of physical or virtual machines you want support for and get coverage through Ubuntu Pro, without any additional licence or support fees.