Cluster API vs Kubean
Cluster API
cluster-api.sigs.k8s.io
Kubean
kubean-io.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Cluster API | Kubean |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 8.8 (#3) | 7.4 (#19) |
| Community support | The project directs users to the Kubernetes Slack #cluster-api channel, the SIG Cluster Lifecycle Google Group, and weekly working-group meetings for questions and project updates. | The roadmap says feature requests can be discussed in project issues and that its schedule depends on community needs. |
| Installation | The quick start offers clusterctl and the Cluster API Operator as installation paths; clusterctl fetches provider component YAML and installs it. | The maker documents installation as a Helm chart into an existing Kubernetes cluster. |
| Lifecycle operations | Its stated goals include creating, scaling, upgrading, and destroying Kubernetes-conformant clusters through a declarative API. | It manages Kubernetes cluster installation, uninstallation, upgrades, and scaling through custom resources and Kubernetes resources. |
| Purpose | Cluster API provides declarative APIs and tooling to provision, upgrade, and operate multiple Kubernetes clusters. | Kubean is a cluster lifecycle management toolchain based on Kubespray and other cluster lifecycle management engines. |
Plans
In their own words
Cluster API
Cluster API is an open-source project for managing the lifecycle of multiple Kubernetes clusters through declarative APIs and tooling. Platform operators can use it to create, scale, upgrade, and destroy Kubernetes-conformant clusters across on-premises and cloud environments. Provider implementations are interchangeable; kubeadm is the default bootstrap provider. The ecosystem includes infrastructure, bootstrap, control plane, IPAM, addon, and runtime extensions, with environments such as AWS, Azure, GCP, OpenStack, vSphere, and KubeVirt. A management cluster can use clusterctl or the Cluster API Operator to manage provider components. Clusterctl fetches provider component YAML and installs it, while the Operator uses a declarative approach intended to support GitOps workflows. Getting started requires an existing Kubernetes cluster accessible through kubectl; kind, Docker, and Helm are common prerequisites. Cluster API supports multi-cluster provisioning and upgrades, but does not manage a single cluster spanning multiple infrastructure providers or clusters it did not provision. It is free and open source. The project supports its latest two minor releases, with each supported for roughly 12 months including maintenance.
Kubean
Kubean is an open-source toolchain for managing Kubernetes cluster lifecycles. It runs on an existing Kubernetes cluster and uses Kubespray and other lifecycle engines. A declarative API and Kubernetes resources support installation, uninstallation, upgrades and scaling, including worker-node and control-plane operations. The documented installation method is a Helm chart, requiring an existing standard or cloud-provider Kubernetes cluster and Helm. Deployments can use SSH, with an SSH private key stored in a Kubernetes Secret referenced by a Cluster resource. Kubean supports offline deployment and publishes operating-system packages, images and binaries with releases. Operations can run a playbook or shell command, with optional pre-operation and post-operation hooks. Listed delivery architectures include AMD, ARM and Kunpeng with Kylin. Supported environments include bare metal, virtual machines and cloud environments, with customer-managed control planes. Offline packages cover CentOS, Red Hat, Kylin and Ubuntu; local ISO sources are currently limited to CentOS.