Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Kubernetes vs Rancher Labs comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 13, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Kubernetes
Ranking in Container Management
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rancher Labs
Ranking in Container Management
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Storage for Kubernetes (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 5.5%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rancher Labs is 7.9%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venu Boddu - PeerSpot reviewer
Manage infrastructure automation and smooth application deployment with robust auto-scaling capabilities
Kubernetes is highly valuable for its node-based setup, which allows for the running of multiple pods. This feature is essential for infrastructure automation and application deployment. Kubernetes also offers rollback control and auto-scaling capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining an application's availability even if nodes or pods go down. Additionally, Kubernetes supports load balancing to distribute traffic efficiently across multiple pods.
RyanVassallo - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers an open-source version along with a good UI
The product has multiple good features. One of the solution's good features is that it is the GitOps functionality known as Rancher fleet, which is used for continuous delivery. The tool's UI is very convenient enough to help you manage multiple clusters in the cloud or on-premises, making it a product with which you can manage different clusters and locations. The tool also has a feature that is still kind of maturing, but I think it has very good potential. This new feature is named Harvester, which is allows users to have virtual machines managed by Kubernetes engine. This is very new technology in the market. I think that Harvester needs to mature as a product, and I think that in the future, it will be very powerful. You have one tool that does many things for you.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the Zero Touch Operations, which involves a new way of performing operations and support. We do not have to do maintenance, the operations are very simple."
"The easy management of containers is one of the main features I have found useful."
"This product has a rich toolset from the community including CNI plug-ins, Helm packages, operators, dashboards, various integrations, etc."
"The ease of use if the solution is a very valuable aspect for us."
"The deployment is one of the most valuable feature."
"The best thing about Kubernetes is that most of the containerized applications are centralized."
"I rate Kubernetes nine out of ten."
"The most important feature is container orchestration."
"The most valuable feature of Rancher Labs is its user interface, which makes it easier to work with containers and deployment."
"The solution has a lot of good features, such as you can access the console and edit through the GUI. The dashboard and the UI are designed well, user-friendly, and easy to manage, and access."
"The most valuable feature is its comprehensive support, easy resource scaling, compatibility with various OEMs, and seamless service integration."
"The initial setup is simple and straightforward."
"The solution is stable."
"The product is simple to use for a beginner."
"This solution is not vendor-locked, which means that we we are able to use it across all of our resources; this feature is of great value to us."
"The customized deployment process is the most valuable feature in Rancher Labs."
 

Cons

"The price is something they need to improve."
"There are several areas where Kubernetes could improve."
"The pricing could be improved. It would be ideal if it was a bit less."
"In the financial service sector, I'd rate scalability an eight out of ten. But do it in a controlled manner, not auto-scaling. If your application has a bug and you enable the autoscaler, it will spike your costs. If someone deploys an application with a bug, that's automatically a problem."
"The support could be faster at resolving issues."
"Having a thread dump and memory dump, and seeing how many objects were created would be useful."
"There are features in Google Cloud or AWS that aren't in Azure. They need to implement a couple more tools in Azure."
"Kubernetes can improve pod escalation."
"The solution could improve by adding more features in the dashboard, such as monitoring, scanning, and security. This would be a great benefit."
"We're looking for something that is even easier to use. It's a bit complicated."
"There needs to be an improvement in observability and microservice monitoring tools in Rancher Labs."
"While Rancher Labs provides some level of security, it's not considered very robust."
"The biggest room for improvement in Rancher Labs would be to have a proper upgrading plan."
"Could be more intuitive."
"One area for improvement in Rancher Labs is the development aspect."
"I can't migrate to the newer version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You need to pay for a license if you buy branded products. For example, if you take the services from Azure, AWS, or Google, the price of the Kubernetes cluster is inclusive of the service that's being offered to us on a pay-and-use model."
"Microsoft provides reasonable costs for Kubernetes."
"Kubernetes is open source and is an orchestration platform. It is a cost effective solution and its pricing depends on your company and how you use it"
"The management layer is free, which is perfect. You don't need to pay money for the management layer, but in AWS develop service, you need to pay. I think it is €75 per month for the management layer. It is free here, so you can have as many Kubernetes clusters as you need. You are paying just for the workload, that is, for the machine, CPU, memory, and everything."
"Kubernetes is open-source. Kubernetes is free, but we're charged for AWS utilization."
"We use the solution's open-source version."
"If you have a solid AKS and a solid DevOps process, you'll automatically get an ROI, not just in terms of cost but also in how quickly you can see your business application progress."
"Google Kubernetes Engine is free in the simplest setup, AWS Kubernetes Engine costs about $50 (depending on the region), in a three master setup, so it's almost the same as the cost of the EC2 instances and it's totally fine from my point of view."
"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs involved."
"The pricing of the solution sits in the mid range, not high and not low. It has a fixed price that you pay every month."
"There is an annual subscription. The price of the solution should be cheaper and have better pricing flexibility."
"Although Rancher Labs is an open-source solution, they also offer a paid version, where you buy the support when needed."
"The solution is free and open source but there is a fee for support."
"The cost is reasonable since it's open source. Rancher effectively addresses container orchestration trends, especially for those with some Kubernetes knowledge."
"There are no hidden charges attached to the product unless a user opts for the premium support offered by the solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Container Management solutions are best for your needs.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
39%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kubernetes?
There are many good features. I feel that the scale-out features, like replica sets, are very good. The number of running containers can be autoscaled.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?
Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.
What needs improvement with Kubernetes?
Although we face issues when migrating to new versions of Kubernetes, such as misunderstandings on using new features or integration with proxy services, these issues can be addressed with proper p...
What do you like most about Rancher Labs?
The tool's UI is very convenient enough to help you manage multiple clusters in the cloud or the company, making it a product with which you can manage different clusters and locations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rancher Labs?
The cost is reasonable since it's open-source. Rancher effectively addresses container orchestration trends, especially for those with some Kubernetes knowledge.
What needs improvement with Rancher Labs?
While Rancher Labs provides some level of security, it's not considered very robust. We found it to offer basic security features, which met some of our requirements, but we also relied on other op...
 

Also Known As

K8
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect
Albert Heijn, Bell, BMC, Samsung, WindStream, Johnson & Johnson
Find out what your peers are saying about Kubernetes vs. Rancher Labs and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.