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K3s vs minikube: catalog facts
K3s	minikube
Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hosting, hardware and…	Free The open-source application is available without a license fee.
Linux, Self-hosted, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux
Single binary installs a conformant cluster in under a minute Runs comfortably on small ARM boards and low-memory hosts	Local clusters with common Kubernetes features
Defaults to SQLite for a single server; high availability needs etcd or an external database Bundled Traefik and ServiceLB have to be disabled if you prefer your own	Requires enough local resources and a supported runtime or driver.
Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.