Platform · 2026-03-04 · 8 min
Kubernetes when you actually need it (and when you do not)
K8s is a force multiplier for teams running many services with similar operational needs. It is a tax if you have two containers and no platform engineer.
CNCF’s annual survey shows Kubernetes as the default for new cloud-native work — but default is not destiny. Managed Cloud Run, App Runner, ECS, or even a well-run VM fleet can beat a neglected cluster.
You probably need Kubernetes if
If none of those are true, start with a managed container service. You can always graduate. Going the other direction is painful.
- You already have more than ~8 independently deployable services.
- You need consistent rollouts, HPA, and service mesh policies.
- Multiple teams ship to the same runtime and you want one paved road.
The hidden cost
Plan for cluster upgrades, node images, ingress, certificates, and observability. If nobody owns those, the cluster becomes the outage.
A cluster without owners is just a more expensive VM with extra YAML.