compare
Cluster Autoscaler vs Karpenter
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | Cluster Autoscaler | Karpenter |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | Go |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 9k | 2.2k |
| Latest | vertical-pod-autoscaler-chart-0.13.0 | v1.14.1 |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Release cadence | about 9 days between releases | about 1 day between releases |
| Active contributors | 49 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 32 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Karpenter replaces Cluster Autoscaler. Alternatives to Cluster Autoscaler →
Full replacementProvisions right-sized nodes directly from pending pods instead of resizing fixed node groups.
Cluster Autoscaler
- vertical-pod-autoscaler-chart-0.13.02026-09-23Automatically adjust resources for your workloads
- vertical-pod-autoscaler-1.8.02026-09-23Add validation to the verticalpodautoscaler.spec.resourcePolicy.containerPolicies.controlledResources field.
- vertical-pod-autoscaler-1.7.22026-09-23vertical-pod-autoscaler.1.7.2
- vertical-pod-autoscaler-chart-0.12.02026-09-05Automatically adjust resources for your workloads
- addon-resizer-1.8.242026-08-06This is a patch release that enables addon-resizer to work with Kubernetes 1.37.
Karpenter
- v1.14.12026-08-21cherrypicks for v1.14.1 (#3238) #3238 (Ryan Mistretta)
- v1.14.02026-07-11dra allocator implementation (#3082) #3082 (Jason Deal)
- v1.10.12026-07-08termination: prevent negative pod grace period when Node Repair … (#3051) #3051 (Sarthak Umarani)
- v1.11.22026-07-08termination: prevent negative pod grace period when Node Repair … (#3050) #3050 (Sarthak Umarani)
- v1.9.12026-07-08termination: prevent negative pod grace period when Node Repair … (#3052) #3052 (Sarthak Umarani)
Cluster Autoscaler
✓ signed The latest release, vertical-pod-autoscaler-chart-0.13.0, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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Karpenter
✓ signed The latest release, v1.14.1, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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