The Case for Kubernetes Alternatives and Why So Many are Choosing Cycle

Kubernetes has become quite the conundrum. It's 2024 and more teams than ever are looking for an alternative to the self proclaimed “de-facto” container solution for reasons ranging from long term complexity to its absolutely massive cost to maintain.

So here's the scoop. Teams have been ditching Kubernetes faster than hipsters drop mainstream coffee chains for that obscure, single-origin brew. Why? Because Kubernetes, for all its bells and whistles, turned out to be the tech equivalent of a high-maintenance espresso machine. Sure it makes a great cup of joe, but you need a PhD to operate it and a small fortune to keep it running.

So where did they all land after hitting the emergency exit on the Kubernetes hype train?

A lot of them landed on Cycle, and this post talks about the two main groups that we've seen choosing Cycle for their container platform:

1. Teams that already tried Kubernetes and want to migrate away from it.
2. Teams that are looking for a modern, container first architecture but aren't sure if they should choose Kubernetes or an alternative.

Migrating Away from Kubernetes

Believe it or not, lost among the wreckage of the “only pay for what you use” min-maxing that Kubernetes so famously promises was a hidden threat.

And that threat was cost.

While Kubernetes is “free to use”, it requires a team of people with deep expertise to maintain and, more than that, upgrades can be a nightmare.

So what have we been seeing from teams who are choosing to leave Kubernetes for Cycle?

The cost to maintain Kubernetes isn't just high, it's a complex calculation, and there isn't a definite answer.

• Should you spend the money to take a platform engineering approach and try to mold Kubernetes into a developer self service model?
• Do you isolate DevOps into its own silo where they're the only ones who can make meaningful changes to deployments in an effort to standardize?
• Do you use a wrapper and try to simplify an already broken platform with layers of abstraction leaving everyone confused?

At the end of the day, the teams that are moving to Cycle just don't see a light at the end of their Kubernetes tunnel and instead of investing millions more in engineering a solution that's yet to yield a meaningful positive impact for their tech, they've moved onto Cycle.

What do they get in return? In this case, they get an answer to these questions in the form of an opinionated platform that, while flexible, doesn't require so much additional engineering to get working.

Most of the Capabilities Go Unused

There are very few things you can't do with Kubernetes. But should you expose yourself to a menagerie of self-inflicted pain just because some industry influencers said it was the only way to do things in 2018?

If you answered yes, you're definitely in the wrong place.

If you're like the rest of us, and have a decent amount of respect for your emotional and mental well being (not to mention that of your team) you might consider how few pieces of Kubernetes your project will ever really need and if what you are using actually justifies the cost of maintaining it.

It's NOT Kubernetes

Lots of the people we talk to LOVE Kubernetes. Some of the biggest Cycle advocates will literally say, “I love Kubernetes” when we talk with them, and that's great, Kubernetes greatness isn't lost on our team and we appreciate all thats its brought to the world, especially what its done to provide inroads for organizational adoption of containers.

BUT

Those same users chose Cycle for exactly the reason that it's NOT Kubernetes. A lot of the engineering leaders we interact with will choose to move from Kubernetes to Cycle because they want to create a DevOps centered culture at their organization and doing that with Kubernetes would be the exact wrong choice.

With Cycle they're able to implement a culture of teamwork internally where most engineers on the team can make meaningful changes to production (or dev/staging) services without needing to get a lead, principle, or management level teammate involved. If you're in a position where you (or just a few people on your team) are constantly involved in every single aspect of change, in anything that touches or resembles Ops, this might be really appealing to you.

Teams Looking to Modernize

For teams looking to modernize their current platform, maybe in a move to containers or in some cases a move away from IaaS services like Fargate, ECS, Cloud Run, or another service, the conversation is similar. However, instead of migrating off of Kubernetes, they're looking to understand how Cycle can help them move past their current capabilities, while avoiding the Kubernetes world entirely.

In years past, we lost a lot of these engagements. The hype was just so strong in 2019, 2020, and 2021 that trying to push a true alternative to Kubernetes was a difficult thing to do.

So what's changed in the last 3 years to cause that hype to grind to a halt?

1. The number one thing that's changed is more people being honest about stories of failure with Kubernetes. Whether that's a team member, manager, or founder - it makes a major difference when people share their honest opinion of previous mistakes made adopting Kubernetes when it was the wrong choice.
2. Raising capital is a lot harder, people in leadership positions are forced to look at the total cost of ownership on products like kubernetes and the truth is, it's VERY expensive (hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain yearly).
3. Cycle continues to get better. We didn't build the platform and then just leave it alone. Cycle has had updates every 2 to 4 weeks (on average) over the last 6 years. That's a lot of time to hone an already sharp blade and we use it to cut complexity out of our users lives forever.

What's Your Goal?

Whether you're looking to move away from Kubernetes or just avoid it all together, we'd love to chat with you about your goals and how Cycle can help!

💡 Interested in trying the Cycle platform? Create your account today! Want to drop in and have a chat with the Cycle team? We'd love to have you join our public Cycle Slack community!