Cluster API vs Mirantis Kubernetes Engine

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.

Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE 4) is a self-hosted enterprise Kubernetes platform built on the open-source k0s distribution. It supports deployment across public and private clouds, multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, and bare-metal infrastructure. Teams manage cluster lifecycle with the mkectl command-line tool and a declarative mke4.yaml configuration file; standardized APIs and GitOps-based lifecycle management are also listed. A cluster combines k0s, a container network interface, the MKE control plane, system services, and user services. Calico is installed by default, with other network interface options supported. The web dashboard manages Kubernetes resources in an MKE-managed cluster. Backup and restore are supported, and the CLI upgrade process includes automated backups. Authentication through Dex supports OIDC, SAML, and LDAP, but not MFA. MKE 4 requires x86_64 and Linux manager/control-plane nodes; supported operating systems include specified Ubuntu, RHEL, and Rocky Linux versions, plus Windows Server worker nodes. A valid license is required, and a trial license is available on request. Mirantis offers 24/7 proactive support or managed services.