k0s Kubernetes and k0smotron Join CNCF Sandbox in Next Stage of Development

Lightweight, open-source Kubernetes distribution and its powerful multi-cluster management tool enter CNCF community to further drive usability and innovation

KUBECON—Mirantis, providing organizations with total control over their strategic infrastructure using open-source software, today announced that k0s, its lightweight, zero-dependency Kubernetes distribution, and k0smotron, its production-grade Kubernetes cluster management tool, have officially joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, as a Sandbox project.

Developed alongside k0s, k0smotron simplifies Kubernetes cluster management while reducing complexity and operational costs. As the foundation of the k0rdent project, this milestone strengthens both projects' roles in the cloud-native ecosystem, advancing Kubernetes usability, scalability, and adoption.

"The CNCF is the home for the most innovative cloud-native projects, and joining the Sandbox program underscores our commitment to making Kubernetes more accessible and efficient for developers and operators everywhere," said Jussi Nummelin, senior principal engineer, Mirantis. "Becoming a CNCF Sandbox project enables us to gather invaluable feedback, foster collaboration, and refine k0s and k0smotron to better serve the cloud-native community. We’re excited to collaborate with the CNCF community and scale k0s’ impact on cloud-native infrastructure."

k0s is a lightweight, open-source Kubernetes distribution that simplifies cluster management with a single-binary architecture, streamlining installation and maintenance. Optimized for datacenters and resource-constrained environments like IoT, k0s enables seamless deployment from developer clusters to large-scale AI inference workloads at the edge.

“We use k0s as the basis for our Embedded Cluster product which lets users distribute a Kubernetes cluster and application together as a single appliance, making it easy to manage those in tandem,” said Chris Sanders, director of engineering, Replicated. “We particularly appreciate the zero dependencies nature of k0s which lets us easily target a variety of environments with a high level of confidence.”

k0smotron extends k0s with production-grade multi-cluster management, simplifying large-scale provisioning and hybrid deployments while reducing operational complexity and enhancing flexibility.

A longtime proponent of open source, and an active contributor to more than 50 open source projects, Mirantis made k0s open for public use and welcomes technologists worldwide to join the project. k0s is the most recent of a succession of open source projects released by Mirantis, including k0rdent, Rockoon, and Blueprint Operator.

The CNCF Sandbox serves as an entry point for promising early-stage projects in the cloud-native ecosystem, providing community support, enhanced visibility, and collaboration opportunities with other CNCF projects.

To learn more, read the blog post. Download and get started at k0s.io.

About Mirantis

Mirantis helps organizations simplify operations, reduce complexity, and accelerate innovation by providing open-source solutions for delivering and managing modern distributed applications at scale. The company enables platform engineering teams to build and operate secure, scalable, and customizable developer platforms across any environment—on-premises, public cloud, hybrid, or edge. As AI-driven workloads become a core component of modern architectures, Mirantis provides the automation, multi-cloud orchestration, and infrastructure flexibility required to support high-performance AI, machine learning, and data-intensive applications. Committed to open standards and avoiding vendor lock-in, Mirantis empowers organizations to deploy and operate infrastructure and services on their terms.

Mirantis serves many of the world’s leading enterprises, including Adobe, Ericsson, Inmarsat, PayPal, and Societe Generale. Learn more at www.mirantis.com.

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"Becoming a CNCF Sandbox project enables us to gather invaluable feedback, foster collaboration, and refine k0s and k0smotron to better serve the cloud-native community."