head to head · open source
kubernetes vs aws-cdk
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars, 44,561 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aws-cdk has 12,902 stars, 4,631 forks, 2,863 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kubernetes leads on adoption by 891% (127,813 vs 12,902 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; aws-cdk is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, aws-cdk 36%. kubernetes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| kubernetes | aws-cdk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 4.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 128K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aws-cdk if
- You want the aws-cdk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and aws-cdk fits your workflow better
About kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed system for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts, hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and aimed at teams who deploy, maintain and scale container packaged and microservices oriented workloads in production.
read the full kubernetes overview →
About aws-cdk
AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) is an open source software development framework for defining cloud infrastructure in code and provisioning it through AWS CloudFormation. It lives in the AWS ecosystem and ships under the Apache 2.0 license, with the core implementation written in TypeScript. The framework offers a high level object oriented abstraction that lets developers define AWS resources imperatively using modern programming languages rather than writing raw CloudFormation templates by hand.
read the full aws-cdk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or aws-cdk more popular?
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars and aws-cdk has 12,902. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and aws-cdk free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and aws-cdk under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and aws-cdk?
kubernetes is written in Go and aws-cdk in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kubernetes or aws-cdk?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,813 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aws-cdk if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.