What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It originated as an internal project at Google and was later donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). The platform enables organizations to manage clusters of hosts running Linux containers with high efficiency.
Through APIs and controllers, Kubernetes abstracts infrastructure resources, allowing developers and operators to deploy applications consistently across private, public, or hybrid clouds. In addition to basic container scheduling, Kubernetes offers core features like service discovery, self-healing, load balancing, resource management, and automated rollouts and rollbacks.
Kubernetes has experienced massive adoption across the tech industry and is now considered a ubiquitous tool in modern DevOps practices. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, organizations rely on Kubernetes to orchestrate applications at scale, standardize deployment workflows, and enhance infrastructure reliability.
This is part of a series of articles about Kubernetes CI/CD
Key Kubernetes statistics
Kubernetes market size and growth forecast
Kubernetes continues to expand rapidly as containerization and cloud-native architectures gain traction across industries. The platform’s market size reflects this surge, showing strong historical growth and high future projections.
- Kubernetes market was valued at $1.8 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $9.69 billion by 2031 (ElectroIQ)
- Kubernetes security solutions market was $1.195 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 27.6%, reaching $10.7 billion by 2031 (ElectroIQ)
Kubernetes adoption and global usage
Enterprise adoption of Kubernetes has increased sharply, with organizations embracing it for its scalability, automation, and infrastructure abstraction benefits.
- Over 60% of enterprises used Kubernetes in 2024, with adoption projected to exceed 90% by 2027 (VMware)
- 96% of organizations reported Kubernetes usage in recent CNCF surveys
- 5.6 million developers globally are using Kubernetes (CNCF)
- Kubernetes holds a 92% market share in container orchestration tools (Edge Delta)
Kubernetes adoption by company size
Kubernetes adoption is highest among large and mid-sized organizations, reflecting the platform’s alignment with complex IT environments that require scalability and automation. Smaller companies adopt it at a slower pace, often due to resource constraints or simpler infrastructure needs.
- 34% of Kubernetes users are from companies with more than 20,000 employees
- 34% are from companies with 1,000–5,000 employees
- 23% are from companies with 5,000–20,000 employee
- Only 9% of Kubernetes users come from companies with 500–1,000 employees
- 91% of all Kubernetes users are from organizations with over 1,000 employees
Source: Portworx
Global customer distribution by country
Kubernetes is deployed globally, with the U.S. leading adoption, followed by strong usage in Europe and Asia.
- 52.4% of Kubernetes users are based in the United States (Edge Delta)
- Kubernetes is used by over 50,000 companies worldwide (Bacancy)
Kubernetes usage impacts and business concerns
Security concerns around Kubernetes impact business outcomes, from deployment delays to revenue loss.
- 67% of companies have delayed deployments due to Kubernetes security issues
- 46% experienced revenue or customer loss due to incidents
- 30% faced fines or legal action
- 26% had employee terminations after security breaches
- 60% are concerned about vulnerabilities and misconfigurations
- 42% say their container strategy under-invests in security
Source: Red Hat
Roles and responsibilities in kubernetes use
The responsibility for Kubernetes is spread across leadership, engineers, and operations staff, reflecting its strategic and technical importance.
- 39% of Kubernetes decision-makers are directors and managers
- 20% are C-level or VPs
- 21% are platform engineers
- 19% are storage/database administrators
Source: Portworx
Kubernetes technology ecosystem
The Kubernetes ecosystem supports a diverse technology stack, reflecting its role in building scalable and maintainable cloud-native applications.
- 77% use observability tools (e.g., logging, monitoring)
- 71% integrate databases
- 44% use messaging systems
- 39% employ Continuous Delivery tools
- 36% use big data technologies
- 34% are adopting Kubernetes security tools
- 31% use service mesh solutions
Source: Dynatrace
Education, training, and certification growth
Training and certifications in Kubernetes are expanding as demand for skilled professionals rises in the cloud-native ecosystem.
- Kubernetes MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses) enrollments grew 25%, totaling 290,000
- 104,000 people have taken the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam (49% YoY growth)
- 49,000 took the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) exam (44% growth)
- 18,000 took the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) exam, up 113%
- KCNA (Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate) program had 4,000 registrations since late 2021
- Kubernetes Training Partner (KTP) program grew 14%, now 60+ partners
- KCSP (Kubernetes Certified Service Provider) program grew 8.5%, reaching 254 companies
Source: CNCF
Kubernetes cost optimization challenges
As Kubernetes environments scale, managing resource usage becomes more important for controlling cloud infrastructure costs. Many organizations still struggle with rightsizing containers to avoid waste and improve efficiency.
- 37% of organizations have 50% or more workloads that need container rightsizing (Fairwinds)
- 57% have 10% or fewer workloads in need of rightsizing (CNCF)
- 30% of organizations overall still require rightsizing efforts to boost cost efficiency (CNCF)
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