Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
Kubernetes (K8s) is the de facto standard for running production containerized workloads. Manages clusters of containers across nodes, providing self-healing, load balancing, and rolling updates. Major distributions: AWS EKS, Google GKE, Azure AKS. By 2026, managed K8s is dominant; raw self-managed clusters are rare. Alternatives: Nomad, Docker Swarm, ECS.
Kubernetes has become the standard orchestration layer for containerized workloads at scale. Familiarity with it is increasingly assumed in backend and platform roles, much like Linux once was.
A team packages each microservice in a container and lets Kubernetes schedule, scale and restart them across a cluster. When traffic spikes, more pods come up automatically; when one node fails, workloads reschedule onto healthy nodes.
Kubernetes is not a starter tool. For small teams running a handful of services, simpler platforms (Cloud Run, Fly.io, App Service) deliver most of the benefit with a fraction of the operational load.
Use a managed Kubernetes service (EKS, GKE, AKS) rather than self-hosting unless you have a clear reason; the control plane operational burden is significant and the managed cost is usually justified.
Kubernetes falls under the Hosting category.
These tools put kubernetes into practice. Compare features, pricing, and ratings:
Now that you understand Kubernetes, explore the best tools in this category.