Do You Really Need Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is one of the most powerful (and complex) tools in today’s DevOps world. But it’s also one of the most misunderstood and often adopted without a real need.

What problems does Kubernetes solve?

• Orchestration of containers and distributed services
• Autoscaling and automatic load balancing
• Zero-downtime deployments with automatic rollbacks
• Declarative infrastructure configuration

And what complexity does it add?

• Steep learning curve: YAML, controllers, operators, CRDs, RBAC…
• High operational costs: monitoring, security, cluster upgrades, backup, logs.
• Infrastructure for the infrastructure. Who manages the cluster?

Simpler alternatives

Not everything needs Kubernetes. Here are some practical alternatives:

• Docker Compose: ideal for development or small environments.
• ECS Fargate (AWS): deploy containers without managing servers.
• Render, Railway, Fly.io: modern platforms for web apps with less friction.
• Well-designed monoliths: better than poorly distributed microservices.

When is it actually worth it?

• Your team has experience or is willing to invest in learning it.
• You require high availability with multiple services.
• You need advanced and customized CI/CD workflows.
• You’re looking to scale horizontally with efficiency.