compare
K3s vs kind
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | K3s | kind |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | Go |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 34k | 16k |
| Latest | v1.37.1+k3s1 | v0.33.0 |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-09-30 |
| Release cadence | about 1 day between releases | about 105 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 28 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 11 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Both replace minikube. Alternatives to minikube →
Full replacementK3sA single-binary Kubernetes distribution that runs on a laptop and in production alike.
Full replacementkindClusters as Docker containers, built for CI.
K3s
- v1.34.12+k3s12026-09-30> [!WARNING]
- v1.34.12-rc2+k3s12026-09-24[Release-1.34] Improve CA hash validationpre-release
- v1.35.9+k3s12026-09-30> [!WARNING]
- v1.35.9-rc2+k3s12026-09-24[Release-1.35] Reject anonymous access to supervisor router (spegel/pprof/metrics)pre-release
- v1.36.5+k3s12026-09-30> [!WARNING]
kind
- v0.33.02026-08-26This release contains critical dependency updates, bug fixes, and defaults to Kubernetes 1.37.0.
- v0.32.02026-06-02This release contains critical dependency updates, bug fixes, and defaults to Kubernetes 1.36.1.
- v0.31.02025-12-18This release contains dependency updates and defaults to Kubernetes 1.35.0.
- v0.30.02025-08-27This is small release containing patched dependencies and Kubernetes 1.34, as well as a bugfix for Kubernetes v1.33.0+…
- v0.29.02025-05-21This is a quick security release to pickup the containerd 2.1.1 CVE-2025-47290 fix.
K3s
unsigned The latest release, v1.37.1+k3s1, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
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kind
✓ signed The latest release, v0.33.0, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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