Kyverno vs Trivy
Kyverno
kyverno.ioTrivy
trivy.devSide by side
| Figure | Kyverno | Trivy |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Security Software | 8.7 (#3) | 8.1 (#9) |
| Spec score · Infrastructure as Code Security Software | 8.4 (#8) | 8.1 (#12) |
| Deployment | Kyverno is installed in a Kubernetes cluster, with Helm recommended for production deployments and YAML manifests also available. | Aqua says Trivy can be installed as a binary for CI/CD and does not require middleware or database dependencies. |
| Founded | 2019 | 2015 |
| Purpose | Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine for defining and enforcing policy as code. | Trivy scans code repositories, binary artifacts, container images, and Kubernetes clusters for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. |
| SBOM | Each Kyverno release publishes a CycloneDX software bill of materials. | Trivy supports SBOM output, which its documentation describes as an output format rather than a scanner. |
Plans
In their own words
Kyverno
Kyverno is a free, open-source policy engine for defining and enforcing policy as code in Kubernetes. Its stable policy types can validate, mutate, generate or delete resources, and verify container image signatures and attestations. The Kyverno CLI can test policies against Kubernetes resource manifests in CI before they are applied to a live cluster. Documentation describes use with Helm, YAML manifests, GitHub Actions and GitOps tools such as ArgoCD. Kyverno is installed in a Kubernetes cluster; Helm is recommended for production, and YAML manifests are also available. A standard installation requires an admission controller, while background, reports and cleanup controllers are optional. Production installations should use high availability mode. The project supports CEL-based policy types and describes applying Kubernetes-style policies outside Kubernetes as part of its mission. Its webhooks default to fail-closed, so matching requests can fail if the API server cannot reach Kyverno. The project documents Cosign signatures for images and manifests, and lists CLI binaries for Linux, macOS and Windows.
Trivy
Trivy is a free, Apache-2.0-licensed scanner for code repositories, binary artifacts, container images, and Kubernetes clusters. Its scanners cover vulnerabilities, infrastructure-as-code misconfigurations, secrets, and licenses, and it can generate software bills of materials. Vulnerability checks include operating-system and language-specific packages, some non-packaged software, and Kubernetes components. Configuration checks cover Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, and CloudFormation files, and users can write custom checks. Trivy supports ecosystems including Ruby, Python, PHP, Node.js, .NET, Java, Go, Rust, C/C++, Elixir, Dart, Swift, Julia, and operating-system packages. It can run as a CI/CD binary without middleware or database dependencies and can be used in air-gapped environments. Installation options include container images, release binaries, package repositories, Homebrew, and Windows downloads; official integrations include Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions. Results can be exported as JUnit XML, SARIF, and ASFF. The vulnerability scanner documentation says third-party or self-compiled packages and binaries are unsupported, and the scanner may skip third-party packages. Trivy automatically fetches and maintains the security databases it needs for scans. The project is identified as Go software under the Apache-2.0 License; Aqua Security is listed as founded in 2015 with headquarters in Boston and Ramat Gan.