Karmada
Karmada manages cloud-native applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters and clouds without requiring application changes.
What Karmada is
Karmada manages cloud-native applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters and clouds without requiring application changes. It supports public and private clouds, self-built Kubernetes-compliant clusters, on-premises systems, and edge deployments. Clusters can connect through Push mode using their Kubernetes API server or Pull mode with an agent deployed in the cluster. Scheduling policies cover cluster affinity, taints and tolerations, topology spread constraints, and replicated or divided replica placement. OverridePolicy allows per-cluster changes to images, arguments, commands, and plain-text configuration. Karmada can move replicas after a cluster failure, including migration without service replicas dropping to zero. Its karmada-apiserver provides unified create, update, delete, and query operations across member clusters. Documentation also describes Submariner networking and ErieCanal service governance integrations, while components export Prometheus metrics. Installation options include CLI tools, Helm, an operator, binaries, or source. Karmada is open source; its documented CLI initialization requires elevated privileges to store shared configuration under /etc/karmada by default.
Good
- Manages applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters.
- Supports Push and Pull cluster connections.
- Offers policy-based scheduling and replica placement.
- Can migrate replicas after cluster failure.
- Installable with CLI tools, Helm, or an operator.
Watch out
- Does not provision clusters.
- CLI initialization requires elevated privileges by default.
- Security guidance should be adapted to local requirements.
Who it suits
Karmada may suit teams operating Kubernetes-compliant clusters across public or private cloud, on-premises, or edge environments. It is for organizations managing their own control plane and clusters, rather than provisioning clusters for them.
Verdict
Karmada provides cross-cluster management, scheduling, and failure migration for Kubernetes applications. Teams should account for customer-managed infrastructure and the elevated privilege requirement during CLI initialization.
Plans and prices
From Karmada's own pricing page, checked 9 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Karmada | Free | Open source Kubernetes management system |
The facts
Each one read from Karmada's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Audience
- Karmada supports public cloud, private cloud, and self-built clusters that comply with Kubernetes specifications.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Cluster connections
- Clusters can connect in Push mode through their Kubernetes API server or Pull mode through an agent deployed in the cluster.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Failover
- Karmada can migrate replicas after cluster failure and supports migration without service replicas dropping to zero.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Installation
- Karmada can be installed on a user's cluster using CLI tools, Helm, an operator, binaries, or from source.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Installation requirement
- The documented CLI initialization requires escalated privileges to store shared configuration under /etc/karmada by default.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The documentation describes cross-cluster networking with Submariner and service governance integration with ErieCanal.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Monitoring
- Karmada exports Prometheus metrics from components including karmada-apiserver, controller manager, scheduler, agent, webhook, and descheduler.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Overrides
- OverridePolicy supports per-cluster differences for container images, arguments, commands, and plain-text configuration.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Project status
- The official site identifies Karmada as a CNCF graduated project.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Karmada manages cloud-native applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters and clouds without requiring application changes.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Resource management
- Karmada provides unified create, update, delete, and query operations across member clusters through karmada-apiserver.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Scheduling
- Scheduling policies include cluster affinity, taints and tolerations, topology spread constraints, and replicated or divided replica placement.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Security
- Karmada introduced Cosign image verification starting with the v1.7.0 release, and its security guide documents TLS settings for components.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Security limitation
- The security guide says its recommendations are for reference and should be adapted to users’ circumstances and requirements.checked 9 Oct 2026
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