Antrea vs OVN-Kubernetes
Antrea
antrea.ioOVN-Kubernetes
ovn-kubernetes.ioSide by side
| Figure | Antrea | OVN-Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Microsegmentation Software | 9.0 (#1) | 7.4 (#13) |
| Spec score · Container Networking Software | 9.0 (#1) | 7.4 (#15) |
| Deployment | A standard installation is performed by applying one YAML manifest, with Helm and cloud-specific guides also documented. | It can be deployed on Kubernetes with Helm or kubeadm, run in Kind for development and testing, and installed with DPU acceleration. |
| Purpose | Antrea implements the Container Network Interface and Kubernetes NetworkPolicy to provide pod networking and security for Kubernetes workloads. | OVN-Kubernetes is an open-source Kubernetes networking solution and CNI-conformant plugin built on OVN and Open vSwitch. |
| Support | The project directs users to its Kubernetes Slack channel, mailing lists, community meetings, and office hours. | The project holds open community meetings on alternate Mondays at 5:00 PM CET/CEST using CNCF Zoom. |
| What it does | Antrea is a Kubernetes-native CNI that provides pod networking and Kubernetes NetworkPolicy enforcement. | OVN-Kubernetes is an open-source Kubernetes networking solution and CNI-conformant plugin built on OVN and Open vSwitch. |
| Windows support | The same Open vSwitch data-plane approach supports Kubernetes nodes running Windows. | Hybrid Overlay provides mixed Windows/Linux cluster networking using VXLAN tunnels. |
Plans
In their own words
Antrea
Antrea provides networking and security for Kubernetes workloads by implementing the Container Network Interface and Kubernetes NetworkPolicy. It uses Open vSwitch as its data plane, including for Kubernetes Service load balancing. Depending on infrastructure and use case, clusters can use VXLAN or Geneve overlays or run without an overlay. Antrea extends Kubernetes policy controls with tiers, rule priorities, cluster-level policies, and Node policies. It can federate clusters with a unified data plane, multi-cluster Services, and security posture. Diagnostics include command-line and UI tools for packet tracing, policy analysis, and flow inspection; metrics can be exported to Prometheus. Pod traffic encryption with IPsec or WireGuard is supported between Linux nodes, but not on Windows nodes. Deployment guides cover Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE, with GKE marked Alpha. The project requires a Kubernetes cluster and the Open vSwitch kernel module on every node, and its overview says it has been tested with Kubernetes 1.23 or later. Antrea is an open-source CNCF sandbox project under Apache License 2.0.
OVN-Kubernetes
OVN-Kubernetes is a free, open-source networking solution and CNI-conformant plugin for Kubernetes, built on OVN and Open vSwitch. It handles pod IP allocation and interfaces, GENEVE overlays, Kubernetes Services, EndpointSlices, network policies, and IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack clusters. OVN ACLs enforce NetworkPolicy, AdminNetworkPolicy, and EgressFirewall rules; EgressIP, EgressService, and EgressQoS govern outbound traffic. Pods can join multiple networks, and the project also supports multicast, traffic shaping, BGP route advertisements, and SmartNIC or DPU offload. For KubeVirt, it provides persistent IPs during live migration; Hybrid Overlay enables mixed Windows and Linux networking. Deployment documentation covers Kind, Helm, DPU acceleration, kubeadm, and source builds. Requirements depend on OVN, nft, Multus, CNI, and Kubernetes versions; the master branch lists Kubernetes 1.33 or newer. Secondary User Defined Networks currently lack north-south traffic and core Kubernetes Services support. AdminNetworkPolicy APIs remain alpha and may change before stable v1.