There are dozens of Kubernetes offerings and more coming to market.

How can Kubernetes users be confident that their suite of applications will deploy correctly onto a given Kubernetes implementation?

Users want their workloads to run everywhere — without having to test their applications or those from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) against every K8s environment. Kubernetes was designed with portability and interoperability in mind, and providers want to enable application portability.

Software conformance ensures that every vendor’s version of Kubernetes supports the required APIs. For enterprises and startups using Kubernetes, conformance guarantees interoperability from one Kubernetes installation to the next. It allows them flexibility and vendor independence.

CNCF has created a Certified Kubernetes Conformance Program. Most of the world’s leading vendors and cloud computing providers have Certified Kubernetes offerings.

All vendors are invited to submit conformance testing results for review and certification by the CNCF. If your company provides software based on Kubernetes, we urge you to get certified today. Certification is available for Kubernetes versions 1.7 and higher.

Certified Kubernetes Conformance Program Benefits

  1. Guaranteed Portability & Interoperability: users want their workloads to run everywhere.
  2. Timely Updates: to remain certified, vendors need to provide the latest version of Kubernetes yearly or more frequently, so you can be sure that you’ll always have access to the latest features the community has been working hard to deliver.
  3. Confirmability: any end user can confirm that their distribution or platform remains conformant by running the identical open source conformance application (Sonobuoy) that was used to certify.

Look for products that proudly display the Certified Kubernetes logo. The following products have earned Certified Kubernetes status:

See a spreadsheet of all Kubernetes offerings and their certification status.

How to Get Certified

1. Prepare

Learn about the certification requirements and technical instructions to prepare your product for certification.

2. Run the Test

Follow the instructions to run your test using Sonobuoy.

3. Submit

Prepare a PR to submit your results to the Conformance repo on GitHub. Complete the terms and conditions form.

4. Review

A reviewer will approve your PR at which point you are certified.

Helpful Links

Certified Kubernetes Conformance Program:

More info, including how to join the working group developing the program, is available on the conformance site. Questions? Please contact conformance@cncf.io.