Knative
Definition
Knative is a Kubernetes-based platform designed for deploying and managing serverless workloads, streamlining development and scaling processes.
Use Cases
- Google: Run containerized web services and APIs with request-based autoscaling, including scale-to-zero for idle services. — Google Cloud Run is built on Knative Serving concepts (request-driven autoscaling, revisions/traffic splitting) and provides a fully managed experience on Google infrastructure. (Teams can deploy containers without managing Kubernetes nodes, reduce idle cost via scale-to-zero, and roll out changes safely using traffic splitting.)
- Red Hat: Provide a Kubernetes-native serverless platform for enterprise customers running workloads on OpenShift. — Red Hat OpenShift Serverless is based on Knative (Serving and Eventing) and integrates with OpenShift features such as routing, security controls, and cluster operations. (Customers can run event-driven and HTTP services that automatically scale, standardize serverless patterns across clusters, and reduce operational overhead compared to building a custom serverless stack.)
- IBM: Enable serverless-style deployment of container workloads on Kubernetes for hybrid and on-prem environments. — IBM Cloud Code Engine uses Knative under the hood to run container workloads with autoscaling and simplified deployment workflows. (Faster time to deploy containerized apps with less cluster management, and improved cost efficiency for bursty workloads through autoscaling behavior.)
Provider Equivalents
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between Knative and Kubernetes?
- Kubernetes runs and manages containers, but it doesn’t provide a full serverless experience by default. Knative adds serverless capabilities on top of Kubernetes—like automatically scaling based on requests/events, scaling to zero when idle, and managing versions (revisions) with traffic splitting.
- When should I use Knative?
- Use Knative when you want serverless-style deployment on Kubernetes—especially for bursty HTTP services or event-driven workloads—and you need portability across clusters (on-prem, hybrid, or multi-cloud). It’s a good fit when you already operate Kubernetes and want scale-to-zero, simple rollouts, and eventing without adopting a fully managed serverless platform.
- How much does Knative cost?
- Knative itself is open source and free to use, but you pay for the infrastructure it runs on: Kubernetes cluster costs (nodes/VMs), networking/load balancers/ingress, storage, observability tooling, and operational time. If you use a managed Knative-based service (for example, Cloud Run), pricing is based on the provider’s compute and request metrics rather than Knative directly.
Category: containers
Difficulty: advanced
Related Terms
See Also