minikube
Local Kubernetes for development and learning
minikube is a tool that runs a single-node Kubernetes cluster on your local machine for development and learning. It supports multiple container runtimes and virtualization drivers, making it one of the most versatile options for local Kubernetes development across different operating systems.
29.0k
GitHub Stars
free
Pricing
Yes
Self-Hostable
Features
- ✓ Multiple driver support (Docker, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, etc.)
- ✓ Multiple container runtimes (Docker, containerd, CRI-O)
- ✓ Add-on system for easy feature installation
- ✓ Dashboard UI included
- ✓ LoadBalancer emulation with tunnel
- ✓ GPU support for ML workloads
- ✓ Multi-cluster management
- ✓ Pause and resume clusters
- ✓ Cross-platform support
- ✓ Custom Kubernetes version selection
Pros
- + Most feature-rich local K8s solution
- + Excellent addon ecosystem
- + Great documentation for beginners
- + Official Kubernetes project
- + Works on any OS
Cons
- − Single-node only (no HA testing)
- − Can be resource-intensive
- − Slower startup than kind/k3s
- − VMs add overhead on some drivers