Key Differences

Core Philosophy

Kubernetes

Industry standard for container orchestration, built around moving data to a centralized cluster. Assumes you'll bring all your data to where the compute power is, typically in a single data center or cloud region.

Expanso

Designed around 'Compute Over Data'-bringing computation to wherever your data already lives. Instead of moving petabytes to a central cluster, Expanso runs jobs where the data resides, whether on edge devices, in S3 buckets, or across distributed databases.

Execution Environments

Kubernetes

Primarily designed for Docker and container orchestration with an extensive ecosystem (Helm, Operators). WASM support is emerging. Managing diverse runtimes often requires additional tooling or custom API server extensions.

Expanso

Natively supports Docker containers and WASM with native pass-throughs. Pluggable architecture lets you add custom binaries, run CUDA programs, and take full advantage of hardware acceleration like GPUs-all without rewriting your applications.

Data Movement & Locality

Kubernetes

Centralized approach assumes data can and will be moved to the compute cluster. Works well for applications within a defined cluster, but moving petabytes can take days or weeks and cost a fortune in bandwidth fees.

Expanso

Prioritizes data locality as a core principle. Processes data where it lives-eliminating expensive transfers, reducing time to insights, and improving security. You choose what to move, not the platform.

Edge & Disconnected Environments

Kubernetes

Not natively designed for disconnected operations. Edge computing requires additional integrations. Assumes persistent network connections to a central control plane.

Expanso

Built for distributed and intermittently connected environments. Jobs can execute without persistent network connections to a central controller. Native support for edge devices with network instability.

Security & Data Exposure

Kubernetes

Provides robust security (RBAC, Network Policies, Secrets), but centralized model aggregates logs, credentials, and job metadata. This creates risks of metadata leakage that can reveal sensitive information about data and infrastructure.

Expanso

Security advantage through 'Compute Over Data'-data stays where it is. By not transferring sensitive datasets across networks, attack surface is reduced. Metadata isn't centralized by default, lowering breach risks.

Collaboration, not Competition

Kubernetes and Expanso address different challenges and can work together. Use Kubernetes to manage your core infrastructure and containerized microservices in your data center, while using Expanso to run specialized compute jobs on distributed data-whether it's processing satellite imagery across regional archives, analyzing sensor data on industrial equipment, or running ML inference on edge devices.

The question isn't 'Kubernetes or Expanso?' but rather 'Which tool for which job?' If you're asking 'Why are we moving petabytes just to run a computation?'-that's where Expanso shines.

Feature	Kubernetes	Expanso
Container Orchestration
Data Locality Priority
Edge Computing (Native)	Requires integrations
Multi-Cloud Native
WASM Support (Native)	Emerging
Compute Over Data
Disconnected Execution
Lightweight Deployment	Requires control plane

Expanso vs Kubernetes: Data-First vs Container-First Orchestration | 2025 Comparison

Key Differences

Core Philosophy

Execution Environments

Data Movement & Locality

Edge & Disconnected Environments

Security & Data Exposure

At a Glance

Collaboration, not Competition

Ready to stop moving data?