Kubernetes is one of the fastest growing open source projects in history. In 2024, it generated $1.71 billion in revenue, according to Grand View Research, and is expected to exceed $8.5 billion by 2030. A recent Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) survey found that 93% of organizations either run Kubernetes in production or are piloting it in test environments.

Typically there have been three primary ways organizations deploy Kubernetes: proprietary, do it yourself (DIY) and the public cloud. But each has limitations that can hinder innovation, slow momentum and increase costs. Open, complete Kubernetes platforms offer an alternative that can help overcome these challenges.

Challenges of Proprietary Kubernetes Platforms

Proprietary enterprise-grade Kubernetes solutions attempt to include everything you might need in one package. The vendor adds its own “secret sauce” to open source Kubernetes in the form of modifications or additional layers. While they make it easy to get started, these proprietary solutions can greatly restrict compatibility. Such platforms aren’t readily customizable, as you are locked into a black box controlled by a single vendor.

Proprietary vendors may also be slow to integrate the latest updates from open source Kubernetes. It’s difficult, if not impossible, for vendors to keep up with the large number of cloud native and open source project updates released each year in technologies including storage, service mesh, container registry, continuous delivery, intelligent operations, AI, machine learning (ML), automation, data services, cost management, policy, networking, observability and security.

You can’t always predict whether the innovations the vendor prioritizes for integration — either directly or through partnerships — are the ones you most want. And you almost never know how long the integration might take. You must move at the pace of the vendor, so you may have to wait a while for access to a useful new tool.

The Pitfalls of DIY Kubernetes Deployments

In the build-your-own, DIY approach to Kubernetes, your team compiles and codes everything component by component, testing and verifying it all, and personally managing updates, security, networking and new tool integrations. A complete, enterprise-grade platform often requires integrating and managing 25+ different projects. This constant cycle of updating, patching vulnerabilities and testing integration necessitates substantial effort.

Organizations that already have internal expertise with Kubernetes may prefer this approach, but it can be incredibly time consuming and requires significant technical skills and resources. And the DIY approach is impossible for any organization that doesn’t have the required skills, experience and resources.

Understanding the Costs of Public Cloud Kubernetes

Public cloud Kubernetes services are often very good and straightforward to use. But that convenience comes with a trade-off: cost due to quickly escalating monthly bills.

For example, to lower spiraling cloud costs, a company running 200 clusters decided to turn off certain clusters at night. However, autoscaler capabilities built into the cloud service activated and turned them all on again. These changes generated a raft of configuration log entries and changes that caused the bill to mushroom.

Vendor lock-in can also be an issue when working with cloud hyperscalers. For example, when AWS recommended CloudWatch for logging and monitoring metrics in clusters, it received pushback from developers who preferred open source tools like Fluent Bit. Eventually, Amazon relented and let users pick the open source tool they wanted.

How Open Kubernetes Platforms Overcome Deployment Challenges

A complete, open Kubernetes platform is a deployment model that can deliver flexibility and consistency while accelerating innovation. It assembles and tests a modular, customizable architecture that runs the same way across every IT environment, whether on premises, in the cloud or at the edge.

This type of platform enables organizations to innovate more freely:

• It is production-ready and provides everything needed for real-world deployments. You don’t need to cobble together critical features like security, observability, networking and life cycle management.
• It is built from best-of-breed open source software components that use upstream, unmodified versions of Kubernetes and CNCF ecosystem projects. None of the components have been modified by a vendor or include a proprietary layer on top of the Kubernetes system.
• Instead of running inside a proprietary vendor’s black box, an open platform is modular and modifiable. By exposing open APIs, rather than hiding them behind proprietary APIs, open platforms keep applications portable across any Kubernetes environment. It avoids vendor lock-in and allows you to put applications and other workloads where they operate best.
• Because an open Kubernetes platform aligns with the upstream open source project, you can access cutting-edge technologies from the community more quickly compared to having to wait for a proprietary vendor to catch up.
• An open source, unified platform enables teams to use their prior Kubernetes experience. This can minimize management costs by reducing the need for specialized skills and streamlining processes.
• An open platform can operate on a single, unified platform, whether you’re deploying on premises, in the cloud, across multiple clouds or at the edge. This eliminates technology and operations silos that can occur when using different Kubernetes solutions in different deployment environments.
• Being able to run applications in different environments is one of the key value propositions for using containers in the first place. However, closed platforms can make it impossible to run apps the same way in different parts of the organization’s ecosystem. An open Kubernetes platform preserves the portability of applications across public and private clouds, on-premises servers and edge environments.

Combined, these benefits translate into faster development and time to market, simplified product and service ecosystem growth, lower costs, and an easier way to develop commercial versions of open source projects.

Key Benefits of an Open Kubernetes Platform

The future of Kubernetes lies in platforms that are complete and open. They deliver production-grade solutions that are fully assembled and ready to deploy with the openness, modularity and flexibility to drive innovation and avoid vendor lock-in.

Choosing a complete and open Kubernetes platform isn’t just about adopting the right technology. It’s about building a foundation for operational efficiency, accelerated innovation, vendor independence and long-term competitive advantage.

For example, the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) solution is based on pure, upstream, open source components. Nutanix delivers an enterprise-grade Kubernetes platform with centralized control, built-in resiliency and complete Day 2 operations to manage fleets of clusters across clouds, data centers and the edge without complexity or vendor lock-in. It uses only open source APIs and almost every component can be replaced with alternative open source or commercial solutions, if you prefer.

Learn more about NKP by taking it for a test drive.

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