K3s vs MicroK8s: Lightweight Kubernetes Showdown
K3s vs MicroK8s: Lightweight Kubernetes Showdown Need Kubernetes but without the heavy machinery? That’s where K3s and MicroK8s shine. Let’s break them down in a simple and friendly way. What Are They? K3s – A lightweight Kubernetes distribution by Rancher, designed for IoT, edge, and low-resource environments. MicroK8s – A snap-based Kubernetes distro from Canonical (Ubuntu), easy to install and manage. Why Use Them? Feature K3s MicroK8s Size <100MB ~200MB Install Single binary snap install microk8s Resource usage Very low Low High availability Yes (with some config) Yes (built-in clustering) OS compatibility Linux (only) Linux, Windows (some support) Add-ons Helm, Traefik (default), etc. Built-in add-ons (microk8s enable) Installation K3s: curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh - MicroK8s: sudo snap install microk8s --classic Use Cases K3s: Great for edge computing, Raspberry Pi clusters, or minimal VMs. MicroK8s: Ideal for local development, CI/CD pipelines, and Ubuntu-based systems. Pros and Cons K3s Pros: ...