Apache OpenWhisk vs Knative
Apache OpenWhisk
openwhisk.apache.orgKnative
knative.devSide by side
| Figure | Apache OpenWhisk | Knative |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Serverless Platforms | 7.9 (#8) | 8.0 (#7) |
| Integrations | Packages include integrations for Kafka, Cloudant, push notifications, Slack, RSS feeds, GitHub, JIRA, and custom data services. | Installation documentation lists networking integrations including Istio, Contour, and Gateway API, and messaging integrations including Kafka, RabbitMQ, and NATS. |
| Security reporting | Suspected undisclosed vulnerabilities should be reported to the Apache Security team at [email protected] rather than disclosed publicly. | The project asks vulnerability reporters to contact its private security email list, and says reports are investigated by community volunteers. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache OpenWhisk
Apache OpenWhisk has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Knative
Knative is open-source Kubernetes middleware for building, deploying, and managing serverless workloads. Knative Serving handles stateless HTTP services, including deployment, routing, and automatic scaling. Services can scale from zero when idle and rise again with incoming traffic. Serving also supports blue-green deployments, canary releases, and traffic splitting between revisions. Knative Eventing routes asynchronous events through CloudEvents over HTTP. Knative Functions provides a framework for packaging stateless functions as containers. Installation can use a local quickstart or a production setup on an existing Kubernetes cluster with YAML or the Knative Operator. The project runs on Kubernetes across cloud providers and on-premises environments, with Linux, macOS, and Windows listed for installation. Integrations include Istio, Contour, Gateway API, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and NATS. The open-source plan is free, with self-managed Kubernetes deployment.