head to head · open source
kubernetes vs devspace
kubernetes has 128,671 GitHub stars, 45,732 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. devspace has 5,227 stars, 429 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kubernetes leads on adoption by 2,362% (128,671 vs 5,227 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; devspace is written in Go under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, devspace 8%. 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 | devspace | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 129K | ★ 5.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 46K | ⑂ 429 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 129K 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 devspace if
- You want the devspace feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and devspace fits your workflow better
About kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open source system for managing [containerized applications] across multiple hosts. It provides basic mechanisms for the deployment, maintenance, and scaling of applications. Kubernetes builds upon a decade and a half of experience at Google running production workloads at scale using a system called [Borg], combined with best of breed ideas and practices from the community. Kubernetes is hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation ([CNCF]). If your company wants to help shape the evolution of technologies that are container packaged, dynamically…
read the full kubernetes overview →
About devspace
Website • Quickstart • Documentation • Blog • Twitter Client Only Developer Tool for Cloud Native Development with Kubernetes Build, test and debug applications directly inside Kubernetes Develop with hot reloading : updates your running containers without rebuilding images or restarting containers Unify deployment workflows within your team and across dev, staging and production Automate repetitive tasks for image building and deployment ⭐️ Do you like DevSpace? Support the project with a star ⭐️ DevSpace was created by Loft Labs and is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) sandbox project. Contents Why…
read the full devspace overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or devspace more popular?
kubernetes has 128,671 GitHub stars and devspace has 5,227. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and devspace free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and devspace under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and devspace?
kubernetes is written in Go and devspace in Go. 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 devspace?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (128,671 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose devspace if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.