Gardener

Spec sheet

Purpose

Gardener is a managed Kubernetes service framework for delivering fully managed clusters at scale through your own Gardener installation.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Security

Gardener mandates the DISA Security Technical Implementation Guide for Kubernetes and provides adopters a compliance checker for demonstrating DISA Kubernetes STIG compliance.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Support

The documentation directs users to community channels, GitHub Issues, and the Gardener community on Slack for assistance and questions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Cluster portability

It provisions clusters with identical configuration and options across different infrastructure providers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Configurable limits

Operators can configure shoot cluster limits through CloudProfile resources, and configured limits are enforced for shoots using that profile.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Deployment model

Gardener delivers fully managed clusters at scale through your own Gardener installation.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Deployment requirement

A Gardener installation requires an existing Kubernetes cluster to host its runtime components.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Extensibility

Gardener's extension architecture supports external controllers for vendor-specific functionality.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Extension architecture

Gardener uses Kubernetes controller extensions to add infrastructure support and cluster capabilities while keeping provider-specific knowledge out of its core.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Fleet controls

Operators can control the Kubernetes and operating system versions available to clusters and manage their lifecycle.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Governance

The site says Gardener is built in the open and neutrally governed under the NeoNephos Foundation.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Infrastructure

The homepage lists OpenStack, metal-stack, IronCore, STACKIT, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Infrastructure integrations

The landing page lists OpenStack, metal-stack, IronCore, STACKIT, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Lifecycle

Gardener supports cluster lifecycle management, self-healing, and autoscaling across the stack.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Lifecycle management

The homepage says cluster lifecycle can be managed through a button or kubectl apply, with self-healing and auto-scaling capabilities.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Limit behavior

The documented maximum node count is not a hard runtime limit and can be temporarily exceeded during worker pool updates or changes.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Regional controls

Gardener supports regional placement restrictions, but users are responsible for configuring them to meet applicable regional requirements.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Scale

The site says Gardener can run thousands of clusters while maintaining performance, resilience, and cost efficiency.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Security caveat

Gardener's compliance report says some DISA requirements are adjusted or skipped when they are not applicable or optimal for Gardener's environment.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Security guidance

Gardener aims to follow DISA's Kubernetes Security Technical Implementation Guide and checks security-hardened shoot cluster configurations for every release.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Who uses it

The adopter page identifies SAP BTP as using Gardener to deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters uniformly across infrastructures.Read 3 Oct 2026 · gardener.cloud

Where Specifiction places it

• Kubernetes Management Platforms#16 of 297.6