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k3s

Lightweight Kubernetes distribution for edge, IoT, and development

open sourceupdated Apr 21, 2026

k3s is a CNCF Sandbox lightweight Kubernetes distribution packaged as a single binary under 100MB. Created by Rancher Labs and now maintained by SUSE, it strips non-essential components and bundles containerd, Flannel, CoreDNS, and Traefik into a minimal but fully conformant K8s distribution. Ideal for edge computing, IoT, ARM devices, and local development environments.

k3s redefined lightweight Kubernetes by proving that a fully conformant distribution could be packaged into a single binary under 100MB with minimal system requirements. Created by Darren Shepherd at Rancher Labs and now maintained by SUSE, k3s removes heavy upstream components like etcd (replacing it with SQLite by default), cloud controller managers, and storage drivers that are unnecessary for edge and development scenarios. The result is a Kubernetes distribution that starts in seconds and runs comfortably on hardware as small as a Raspberry Pi.

Despite its minimal footprint, k3s passes full CNCF conformance testing and supports the complete Kubernetes API surface. It bundles containerd as the container runtime, Flannel for networking, CoreDNS for service discovery, Traefik as the default ingress controller, and local-path-provisioner for persistent storage. These bundled components provide a working cluster out of the box while remaining replaceable for teams that need specific alternatives like Calico or Cilium for networking.

k3s has found its primary audience in three scenarios: edge computing deployments where hardware resources are constrained and remote management is essential, IoT gateways and embedded systems running on ARM processors, and local development environments where developers want a fast Kubernetes cluster without the overhead of minikube or kind. The k3s agent/server architecture supports both single-node and high-availability multi-node clusters, with an optional embedded etcd mode for production deployments that need distributed consensus.

Pricing

Free and open-source under Apache 2.0

Platforms

Linux (x86-64, ARM64, ARMv7), single binary

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Comparisons

k0s vs k3s — Zero-Dependency Binary vs Lightweight Edge Kubernetes

k0s and k3s both package Kubernetes into minimal single-binary distributions but target different operational priorities. k0s by Mirantis emphasizes zero host dependencies and enterprise lifecycle management with automatic upgrades and built-in high availability. k3s by SUSE prioritizes extreme minimalism with a sub-100MB binary optimized for edge computing, IoT devices, and ARM hardware with SQLite as default storage.

k0sk3s

FAQ

What is k3s?

k3s is a CNCF Sandbox lightweight Kubernetes distribution packaged as a single binary under 100MB. Created by Rancher Labs and now maintained by SUSE, it strips non-essential components and bundles containerd, Flannel, CoreDNS, and Traefik into a minimal but fully conformant K8s distribution. Ideal for edge computing, IoT, ARM devices, and local development environments.

Is k3s free?

Yes — k3s is open source and free to use. Free and open-source under Apache 2.0

Is k3s open source?

Yes — k3s is open source.

What are the best k3s alternatives?

The top editor-verified k3s alternatives are k0s, KubeVela.