In simple English
This tool runs your web apps and functions on a Kubernetes (a system for running and managing many software containers across multiple computers) cluster. It turns your apps off when nobody is using them so you do not pay for idle server time. When a visitor arrives, it wakes the app back up in a second. You need an existing Kubernetes cluster to run it. It is free and open source.
What it is
Knative Serving is an add-on for Kubernetes that manages serverless containers with scale-to-zero capabilities. It handles networking, routing and automatic scaling based on incoming web traffic.
What it is good for
Solo builders who want serverless hosting on their own servers instead of paying a cloud provider for managed functions.
- Stops containers when idle to save memory and CPU on your servers.
- Scales up automatically when web traffic increases.
- Integrates directly with standard Kubernetes tools and setups.
- Very difficult setup for non-programmers who do not know Kubernetes.
- Needs a running Kubernetes cluster with enough RAM to stay stable.
- Requires ongoing maintenance to keep cluster components updated.
managed serverless platforms like AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Run
kubectl
- openfaas/faas26k stars
Another serverless framework for containers, but with its own gateway instead of deep Kubernetes CRDs.
- caprover/caprover15k stars
A web page that installs apps and databases onto one rented computer, and sorts out the addresses and certificates.
- google/slo-generator564 stars
Turns a written reliability target into a measured number and a remaining budget.
- vectordotdev/vector23k stars
One collector that gathers logs and numbers from machines and sends them to one or more monitoring services.
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/download/knative-v1.23.0/serving-core.yaml