KubeSphere vs Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
KubeSphere
kubesphere.io
Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
docs.mirantis.comSide by side
| Figure | KubeSphere | Mirantis Kubernetes Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $65/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 8.9 (#1) | 8.1 (#7) |
| Spec score · Container Management Software | 9.0 (#1) | 8.1 (#10) |
| Spec score · Container Orchestration Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Spec score · Multi-Cloud Management Software | 8.9 (#3) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Company headquarters | QingCloud's KubeSphere about page lists Beijing, China as headquarters, while LinkedIn lists KubeSphere headquarters as Hong Kong. | Mirantis lists its address as 900 E Hamilton Avenue, Suite 650, Campbell, California 95008. |
| Deployment | The platform supports deployment on any infrastructure environment, online or offline installation, one-click upgrades and cluster scaling. | MKE 4 supports deployment across public, private, multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, and bare-metal environments. |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China | Campbell, California, United States |
| Purpose | KubeSphere is a Kubernetes-based distributed operating system for cloud-native application management with a plug-and-play architecture for third-party applications. | MKE 4 is an enterprise Kubernetes platform built on the open-source k0s distribution. |
| Security | The Enterprise kernel adds security features including image security hardening, two-factor authentication and vulnerability fixes. | Mirantis describes MKE 4 as secure by default and says its default components are FIPS-validated. |
| Support | KubeSphere Enterprise offers one-stop professional technical support services. | Mirantis offers a choice of 24/7 proactive support or managed services for MKE 4. |
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
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.
Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
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.