Kubernetes vs OKD
Kubernetes
kubernetes.io
OKD
okd.ioSide by side
| Figure | Kubernetes | OKD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Orchestration Software | 8.1 (#7) | 7.7 (#14) |
| Spec score · Container Management Software | 8.1 (#9) | 7.7 (#16) |
| Downloads | Kubernetes publishes component binaries and container images; kubectl is installable on Linux, macOS, and Windows. | The installation guide directs users to stable releases and nightly builds for the installer and client tools. |
| Integrations | Kubernetes lets users integrate logging, monitoring, and alerting solutions, and its defaults are optional and pluggable. | OKD describes integrated deployments of projects in areas including GitOps, service mesh, virtualization, and storage. |
| Purpose | Kubernetes is an open source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. | OKD is an integrated Kubernetes platform for managing applications and clusters at scale. |
| Security | Kubernetes expects TLS for control-plane traffic and supports encryption at rest for data stored in the control plane. | The project site says its recommended design patterns enhance security posture and its defaults include hardened configuration. |
Plans
In their own words
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It supports stateless, stateful, and data-processing workloads, and can run locally, in a cloud, or in a datacenter; users can also choose a managed service rather than operate a cluster themselves. It coordinates gradual updates while monitoring application health and can roll back a change if something goes wrong. Pods receive IP addresses and groups of Pods can share a DNS name, with load balancing across them. Kubernetes can mount storage from local, public-cloud, or network systems such as iSCSI or NFS. Secrets and configuration can be updated without rebuilding images. Scaling can be manual or automatic based on CPU use. Security mechanisms include Secrets, Pod security standards, RuntimeClasses, network policies, admission controllers, and audit logging. Kubernetes is free, with a listed plan price of free. It does not include application-level services such as databases, message buses, caches, or cluster storage systems.
OKD
OKD is a free, self-hosted Kubernetes platform for managing applications and clusters at scale. It extends Kubernetes with more than 100 preinstalled Operators and includes a web console, authentication, image registry and tooling, monitoring, networking, node configuration and upgrades, and Operator management. Cluster nodes run an immutable operating system managed through cluster APIs. OKD states that it is 100% compliant with Kubernetes, with additional patches for some advanced features, and its defaults include hardened configuration. The platform supports autoscaling, rolling updates, and policy controls. Installation works on bare metal, virtualization platforms, and cloud platforms, using installer-provisioned or user-provisioned infrastructure. Integrated deployments cover areas such as GitOps, service mesh, virtualization, and storage. Downloads include stable releases and nightly builds for installer and client tools. The installation guide provides signed-checksum verification instructions; its examples cover Linux and macOS client and installer archives and Windows client archives. OKD directs users to Kubernetes Slack’s #okd-dev channel and a Google Group. It describes uses for technologists, students, and OpenShift contributors and partners.