head to head · open source
kubernetes vs fission
kubernetes has 128,671 GitHub stars, 45,732 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. fission has 8,942 stars, 794 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 1,339% (128,671 vs 8,942 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; fission is written in Go under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, fission 9%. kubernetes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (containers, go, kubernetes), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | fission | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 129K | ★ 8.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 46K | ⑂ 794 |
| 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 fission if
- You want the fission 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 fission 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 fission
Fission: Serverless Functions for Kubernetes Fission is an open source, Kubernetes native serverless framework that simplifies the deployment of functions and applications on Kubernetes. With Fission, developers can easily create and deploy serverless functions that can be triggered by a variety of events, such as HTTP requests, messages from a message queue, or scheduled tasks. Fission provides a simple, easy to use interface for developers to create serverless functions in their language of choice, without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. The framework also offers automatic scaling, so…
read the full fission overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or fission more popular?
kubernetes has 128,671 GitHub stars and fission has 8,942. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and fission free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and fission under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and fission?
kubernetes is written in Go and fission 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 fission?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (128,671 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose fission if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.