head to head · open source
kubernetes vs Yearning
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars, 44,692 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. Yearning has 8,972 stars, 2,032 forks, 165 open issues and last shipped 27 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 1,325% (127,843 vs 8,972 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Yearning is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, Yearning 23%. kubernetes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (go), 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 | Yearning | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 9.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 Yearning if
- You want the Yearning feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Yearning 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 Yearning
Yearning is a locally deployed, open source SQL audit and query auditing platform for MySQL, built in Go and aimed at DBAs and developers who need SQL review, approval workflows and query control inside their own infrastructure.
read the full Yearning overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or Yearning more popular?
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars and Yearning has 8,972. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and Yearning free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Yearning under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and Yearning?
kubernetes is written in Go and Yearning 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 Yearning?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,843 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Yearning if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.