Clusternet vs KubeSphere
Clusternet
clusternet.io
KubeSphere
kubesphere.ioSide by side
| Figure | Clusternet | KubeSphere |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $65/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 8.8 (#4) | 8.9 (#1) |
| Integrations | The documentation lists integration with Submariner and support for installing Helm charts from a private registry. | Official materials identify integrations or ecosystem collaboration with Jenkins, Grafana, Loki, Higress, KubeKey, OpenELB, KubeEye, Fluent Operator, and OpenFunction. |
| Kubernetes compatibility | The introduction says Clusternet manages Kubernetes versions above v1.17.x and documents version compatibility by Clusternet release. | KubeSphere v4.1.3 is tested with Kubernetes v1.21 through v1.30, while untested versions are not guaranteed compatible. |
| Purpose | Clusternet is an open-source add-on for managing Kubernetes clusters across public, private, hybrid, and edge environments. | KubeSphere is a Kubernetes-based distributed operating system for cloud-native application management with a plug-and-play architecture for third-party applications. |
| Support | The contribution guide says users can ask for help through the project mailing list, CNCF Slack channel, Google Group, or a GitHub issue. | KubeSphere Enterprise offers one-stop professional technical support services. |
| What it does | Clusternet is an open source add-on for managing Kubernetes clusters across public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and edge environments. | KubeSphere is a Kubernetes-based distributed operating system and multi-tenant container platform for managing cloud-native applications. |
Plans
KubeSphere
- KubeSphere Backup FreeFree
- KubeSphere Community EditionFree
- KubeSphere Community EditionFree
- KubeSphere Backup Basic$65 a month
- KubeSphere Backup Standard$200 a month
- KubeSphere Backup Enterprise$340 a month
- KubeSphere Backup ExclusivePriced on request
- KubeSphere EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Clusternet
Clusternet is a free, open-source add-on for managing Kubernetes clusters across public and private cloud, hybrid, on-premises, and edge environments. It lets operators manage member clusters from a parent cluster and access them as though they were local. It deploys Kubernetes resources, custom resource definitions, and Helm charts, with configuration tailored to individual clusters. Application scheduling can replicate workloads or distribute them by cluster weight or available capacity. Clusternet supports clusters from AWS, Google Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud, along with on-premises systems, k3s, and edge clusters. It can discover and register clusters created by Cluster API and configure network tunnels for clusters in VPC networks, at the edge, or behind a firewall. Dynamic RBAC rules control access to managed clusters, and Submariner integration can connect workloads across clusters. Installation options include Helm and manual setup. A kubectl plugin is available through Krew or as a binary. Linux builds are listed for several architectures. Clusternet is a CNCF Sandbox project.
KubeSphere
KubeSphere is a Kubernetes-based platform for managing cloud-native applications, with a plug-in architecture for third-party applications and open-source tools. Its Community Edition is an open-source container platform and costs nothing, with free-forever availability for a self-managed Kubernetes platform. The platform supports multi-tenancy and multi-cluster management, with monitoring, event and audit-log queries, tenant log collection, alerting and notifications. Delivery features include Jenkins-based CI/CD and automated Source-to-Image and Binary-to-Image workflows. KubeSphere supports online or offline installation, one-click upgrades and cluster scaling across infrastructure environments. Its REST API backend includes an API server and controller manager. Enterprise adds image security hardening, two-factor authentication, vulnerability fixes and permission controls at platform, cluster and application levels. Enterprise is available by on-demand subscription or private deployment, with extensions available by subscription; pricing is available from sales. Its lightweight architecture can run with 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of memory.