What is Gardener used for?

Gardener is a managed Kubernetes service that provisions homogeneous clusters with identical configuration on any infrastructure using hosted control planes. It is a good fit for delivering fully-managed clusters at scale on any infrastructure and fleet management with consistent guardrails across clusters.

Is Gardener open source?

Yes. Gardener is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gardener/gardener and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Gardener is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Gardener?

Yes. Gardener can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Gardener an alternative to?

Gardener is an open-source alternative to Platform9, Mirantis, Spectro Cloud and env0. Other open-source alternatives to Platform9 include Kubermatic, Kubernetes and K3s.

Is Gardener actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Gardener was on 14 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.150.4, published on 8 October 2026. The project has 3.5k stars on GitHub.

Gardener: open-source alternative to Platform9, Mirantis

About Gardener

Gardener is a managed Kubernetes service that delivers fully-managed clusters at scale on any infrastructure. It provisions clusters with identical configuration and options across different infrastructures, with 100% CNCF Kubernetes and AI conformance.

The platform supports running thousands of clusters without sacrificing performance, resilience, or cost efficiency. It includes security and compliance checks, fleet management capabilities, and self-healing and auto-scaling features across the stack. Gardener is built in the open and governed under the NeoNephos Foundation.

Key features

Provision clusters with identical configuration on any infrastructure
Run thousands of clusters with day-1 and day-2 operations remaining consistent
Check clusters against enterprise-grade security standards
Apply guardrails to all clusters and control Kubernetes and OS versions and lifecycle
Self-healing and auto-scaling capabilities across the stack
Manage cluster lifecycle via click of a button or kubectl apply

Good fit for

Delivering fully-managed clusters at scale on any infrastructure
Fleet management with consistent guardrails across clusters

Built with: Go tools; Kubernetes tools
Tags: kubernetes; managed-service; control-planes; infrastructure; clusters

Gardener: questions and answers

What is Gardener used for?: Gardener is a managed Kubernetes service that provisions homogeneous clusters with identical configuration on any infrastructure using hosted control planes. It is a good fit for delivering fully-managed clusters at scale on any infrastructure and fleet management with consistent guardrails across clusters.
Is Gardener open source?: Yes. Gardener is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gardener/gardener and is written mainly in Go.
Is Gardener free?: Yes. Gardener is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Gardener?: Yes. Gardener can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Gardener an alternative to?: Gardener is an open-source alternative to Platform9, Mirantis, Spectro Cloud and env0. Other open-source alternatives to Platform9 include Kubermatic, Kubernetes and K3s.
Is Gardener actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Gardener was on 14 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.150.4, published on 8 October 2026. The project has 3.5k stars on GitHub.