head to head · open source
kubernetes vs itamae
kubernetes has 128,660 GitHub stars, 45,728 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped yesterday. itamae has 1,135 stars, 118 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 11,236% (128,660 vs 1,135 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; itamae is written in Ruby under MIT. kubernetes has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, itamae 10%. 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 | itamae | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 129K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 46K | ⑂ 118 |
| 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 itamae if
- You want the itamae feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and itamae 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 itamae
Simple and lightweight configuration management tool inspired by Chef. CHANGELOG Concept Chef like DSL (but not compatible with Chef) Simpler and lighter weight than Chef Only recipes Idempotent Installation Getting Started Create a recipe file as recipe.rb : And then execute itamae command to apply a recipe to a local machine. Or you can apply a recipe to a remote machine by itamae ssh . You can also apply a recipe to Vagrant VM by itamae ssh vagrant . You can find further information to use Itamae on Itamae Wiki. Enjoy! Documentation Run tests Requirements: Vagrant Get Involved Join Slack team Presentations /…
read the full itamae overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or itamae more popular?
kubernetes has 128,660 GitHub stars and itamae has 1,135. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and itamae free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and itamae under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and itamae?
kubernetes is written in Go and itamae in Ruby. 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 itamae?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (128,660 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose itamae if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.