head to head · open source
kubernetes vs st2
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars, 44,692 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. st2 has 6,537 stars, 787 forks, 603 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 1,856% (127,843 vs 6,537 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; st2 is written in Python under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, st2 12%. 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 | st2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 787 |
| 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 st2 if
- You want the st2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and st2 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 st2
StackStorm — packaged and installed as st2 — is an open source, event driven automation platform, often described as "IFTTT for Ops", that ties existing infrastructure, monitoring and application tools together so DevOps engineers and SREs can automate remediation, incident response, troubleshooting and deployment as rules and workflows stored as code.
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or st2 more popular?
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars and st2 has 6,537. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and st2 free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and st2 under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and st2?
kubernetes is written in Go and st2 in Python. 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 st2?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,843 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose st2 if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.