head to head · open source
kubernetes vs spug
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars, 44,692 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. spug has 11,076 stars, 2,196 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 1,054% (127,843 vs 11,076 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; spug is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, spug 20%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| kubernetes | spug | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| 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 spug if
- You want the spug feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and spug 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 spug
Spug is a lightweight, agent free automatic operations and maintenance platform for small and medium sized enterprises, combining host management, batch execution, a browser terminal, file management, application release, pipelines, task planning, a configuration center, monitoring, and alerting in one AGPL 3.0 open source system.
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Cloud Infrastructure Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Cloud Infrastructure Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or spug more popular?
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars and spug has 11,076. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and spug free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and spug under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and spug?
kubernetes is written in Go and spug in JavaScript. 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 spug?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,843 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose spug if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.