Kueue
Kueue manages quotas and job resource use in Kubernetes, deciding when workloads wait, start, or are preempted.
What Kueue is
Kueue manages quotas and job resource use in Kubernetes, deciding when workloads wait, start, or are preempted. It installs on a vanilla Kubernetes cluster without replacing existing components. Its scheduling features include priority queues, fair sharing, quota borrowing between teams, resource flavor fungibility, preemption policies, and all-or-nothing scheduling. Built-in integrations cover Kubernetes Jobs and Pods, Kubeflow training, Ray jobs and clusters, JobSet, AppWrapper, Deployments, StatefulSets, and LeaderWorkerSet. MultiKueue can find capacity and dispatch jobs across clusters, while topology-aware scheduling takes data-center layout into account to improve communication throughput between pods. For visibility, Kueue provides Prometheus metrics and an endpoint for pending workloads. Installation options include kubectl, Helm, or a source build. The guide recommends Kubernetes 1.34 or newer and says only those versions are officially supported and tested. Kueue also provides batch administrator and user ClusterRoles, with resource-specific roles that can be composed into custom roles. The project is free and open source.
Good
- Installs without replacing Kubernetes components
- Supports quota sharing and borrowing
- Schedules across clusters with MultiKueue
- Provides Prometheus metrics
- Free open-source project
Watch out
- Officially supports and tests Kubernetes 1.34 or newer
- Requires a Kubernetes cluster
- Self-hosted deployment
Who it suits
Kueue suits teams running batch or other supported workloads on Kubernetes that need quota controls and scheduling across teams or clusters. It requires a Kubernetes environment managed by the user.
Verdict
Kueue provides quota management, workload scheduling, and visibility for Kubernetes clusters. Check the documented Kubernetes version requirement before adopting it.
Plans and prices
From Kueue's own pricing page, checked 3 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Kueue | Free | Open-source Kubernetes project |
The facts
Each one read from Kueue's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Access control
- Kueue installs batch administrator and batch user ClusterRoles and supports composing custom roles from resource-specific editor and viewer roles.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Cluster fit
- Kueue installs on a vanilla Kubernetes cluster and does not replace existing Kubernetes components.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Community support
- The project directs users to Kubernetes Slack, GitHub for bugs and contributions, and a mailing list for announcements.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Installation methods
- The documentation provides installation instructions using kubectl, Helm, or a source build.checked 2 Oct 2026
- Installation requirement
- The installation guide recommends Kubernetes 1.34 or newer, stating that only those versions are officially supported and tested.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Install methods
- The maker documents installation with kubectl or Helm, building from source, and installing a development version.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Monitoring
- Kueue exposes Prometheus metrics for system health and ClusterQueue and LocalQueue status, with Grafana query guidance in its docs.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Multi-cluster
- MultiKueue can search for capacity and dispatch workloads across multiple clusters.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Kueue manages quotas and job resource consumption in Kubernetes, deciding when jobs wait, start, or are preempted.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Queueing and resource management
- Features include priority-based job queueing, resource flavor fungibility, fair sharing, cohorts, and preemption policies.checked 2 Oct 2026
- Quota sharing
- Kueue supports tenant quotas and fair sharing, including shared resource pools and quota borrowing between teams.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Scheduling
- Kueue supports priority-based queueing, resource flavor fungibility, preemption, and all-or-nothing scheduling.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Security operations
- Kueue's webhook server uses internal certificate management, and its installation guide also links instructions for using cert-manager.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Topology
- Topology-aware scheduling places distributed workloads with data-center topology in mind to improve pod-to-pod communication throughput.checked 3 Oct 2026
- Topology-aware scheduling
- Kueue can schedule with data center topology in mind to optimize pod-to-pod communication throughput.checked 2 Oct 2026
- What it does
- Kueue manages quotas and job resource consumption, deciding when jobs wait, start, or are preempted.checked 2 Oct 2026
- Where it runs
- Kueue can be installed on a vanilla Kubernetes cluster and does not replace existing Kubernetes components.checked 2 Oct 2026
- Workload integrations
- Built-in integrations include Kubernetes Batch Jobs, Kubeflow training jobs, Ray jobs and clusters, JobSet, AppWrapper, plain Pods, and Pod groups.checked 2 Oct 2026
- Workload support
- Built-in integrations include Kubernetes Jobs, Kubeflow training jobs, Ray jobs and clusters, JobSet, AppWrapper, Pods, Deployments, StatefulSets, and LeaderWorkerSet.checked 3 Oct 2026
