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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Organizations see varied ROI from Kubernetes, influenced by expertise, scaling, technology adoption, and transitioning from VMs.
Sentiment score
8.5
Rancher Labs provides efficient open-source solutions like OpenShift with significant cost savings and an eight out of ten rating.
We receive revenue and returns from its deployment due to improved services and applications.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
I have seen a return on investment, and the metrics in return for the investment are very fast.
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Kubernetes support is community-driven, with users favoring self-help, vendor options, and experiencing varied satisfaction levels with official channels.
Sentiment score
7.8
Rancher Labs' customer service and technical support are praised for responsiveness, with users valuing community forums for assistance.
The application is stable, and I seldom require support.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Kubernetes efficiently scales for all sizes, supports horizontal and vertical growth, and integrates well with cloud services.
Sentiment score
7.7
Rancher Labs offers robust scalability for small to large teams, with effective deployment and minor automation improvements suggested.
By using horizontal pod autoscalers, Kubernetes automatically adjusts the number of pods based on CPU, memory usage, or other metrics.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Kubernetes is highly scalable, earning a rating of eight out of ten.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
Kubernetes is a scalable platform, which is why we are using it.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Kubernetes is stable and reliable, supported by extensive testing, automated repairs, and handles high-loads efficiently, despite occasional issues.
Sentiment score
8.7
Rancher Labs is praised for its stability and reliability, though users note complexity and upgrade challenges.
Our organization performs robust testing before sending changes to production, ensuring the stability of Kubernetes in live environments.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
If any containers take more space, sometimes the cluster goes down.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
Kubernetes offers high stability, allowing for easy scaling of ports and containers.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
 

Room For Improvement

Kubernetes needs improved UI, security, management, cloud integration, and native features to enhance user experience and simplify processes.
Rancher Labs needs improved stability, integrations, user-friendly features, enhanced security, multicloud support, and better community and development resources.
After the upgrade, some pods were not up as expected, leading to downtime.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Improved documentation would help in gaining scalable knowledge and making it more understandable.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
There is room for improvement in this area, as Kubernetes could benefit from having more integrations, such as for scanning vulnerabilities.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
 

Setup Cost

Kubernetes is affordable for large enterprises but can be costly for smaller entities due to variable infrastructure and operational costs.
Rancher Labs provides a cost-effective open-source container orchestration with optional paid support, seen as competitively mid-range priced.
the setup costs are high.
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.
Head of Data Science center of excellence at Ameriabank CJSC
 

Valuable Features

Kubernetes excels in scalability, automation, and container management, offering self-healing, cloud integration, and efficient microservices deployment.
Rancher Labs offers user-friendly Kubernetes management, seamless integrations, and supports GitOps and virtual machine management with promising potential.
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.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
The most valuable feature of Kubernetes is its support for load balancing.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
Kubernetes has positively impacted my organization as 99% of microservices are running.
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
 

Categories and Ranking

Kubernetes
Ranking in Container Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rancher Labs
Ranking in Container Management
11th
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 January 2026, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 6.1%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rancher Labs is 5.6%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Kubernetes6.1%
Rancher Labs5.6%
Other88.3%
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venu Boddu - PeerSpot reviewer
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
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
Head of Systems and Infrastructure at Booming Games
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
46%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
 

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?
I have had a good experience with pricing, but the setup costs are high.
What needs improvement with Kubernetes?
Kubernetes can be improved, though I cannot specify exactly how at this time.
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: December 2025.
880,685 professionals have used our research since 2012.