head to head · open source
rancher vs kubero
rancher has 26,031 GitHub stars, 3,225 forks, 3,371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kubero has 4,460 stars, 216 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. rancher leads on adoption by 484% (26,031 vs 4,460 stars). rancher is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kubero is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. rancher has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, kubero 5%. rancher was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| rancher | kubero | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 216 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rancher if
- You weight community size — 26K 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 kubero if
- You want the kubero feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and kubero fits your workflow better
About rancher
Rancher Rancher is an open source container management platform built for organizations that deploy containers in production. Rancher makes it easy to run Kubernetes everywhere, meet IT requirements, and empower DevOps teams. Stable Release v2.15.1 rancher/rancher:v2.15.1 / rancher/rancher:stable Read the full release notes. To get automated notifications of our latest release, you can watch the announcements category in our forums, or subscribe to the RSS feed Quick Start sudo docker run d restart=unless stopped p 80:80 p 443:443 privileged rancher/rancher Open your browser to Installation See…
read the full rancher overview →
About kubero
中文翻译 日本語訳 Kubero [pronounced: Kube Hero] is a self hosted PaaS (Platform as a Service) that allows any developer to deploy their application on Kubernetes without specialized knowledge. Kubero follows the principles of 12 factor apps. It is possible to run apps based on existing containers or from source code. More Screenshots and a full video on YouTube Features (DEMO) Docker Deployments Deploy Docker containers on Kubernetes without needing Helm charts. App Templates (+160) Deploy popular applications like WordPress and Grafana with ready to use templates. CI/CD Pipelines Create unlimited pipelines with up to…
read the full kubero overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rancher or kubero more popular?
rancher has 26,031 GitHub stars and kubero has 4,460. rancher has the larger community by that measure.
Are rancher and kubero free?
Both are open source. rancher is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kubero under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rancher and kubero?
rancher is written in Go and kubero in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rancher or kubero?
Choose rancher if you want the larger community (26,031 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kubero if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.