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Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 1, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix Kubernetes Platform...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Container Management (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2741271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nutanix Administrator at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Has provided seamless upgrade experiences and robust technical support
I have heard there are many features added in NKP that are not available in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, such as load balancer features. The unified control plane feature is not being used in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE. We are currently using a third-party tool for load balancing, but going forward, NKP will include load balancer, ingress, and egress features, making infrastructure management much easier. There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention. Concerning policy-driven governance in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, we have the ability to implement RBAC at the cluster level, which helps maintain security by not granting full admin privileges to every end user, thus restricting access effectively.
RashidAnwar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Project Lead at Tetra Pak
Centralized cluster deployment has improved remote site operations and supported hybrid application models
The initial setup was not straightforward. It was challenging, but then it was manageable. It is relatively easy, but we do have challenges. Not everything is straightforward. There are things that can be addressed. In a couple of cases, we needed some third-party expertise to ensure that we did it correctly. In most cases, we were able to do it on our own. When hosting something on Azure and connecting with an HTTPS link, there are some dependencies that need to be tweaked on Nutanix. Otherwise, it does not communicate with the on-premises infrastructure. There were a few tweaks that we struggled with for almost a couple of days. That was not part of the original design manual. We needed to make some tweaks within the cluster ourselves to achieve the goal. There were some shortcomings in the design that we had to customize ourselves to achieve, especially integration with Azure Cloud.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"My experience with Nutanix's technical support is excellent."
"The technical support is excellent."
"The solution is embedded in the hypervisor and there are no deployment costs."
"The most valuable features of the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) are its simplicity and efficiency during the initial cluster creation phase."
"The platform is valuable due to its ease of use and quick deployment capabilities."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The solution is easy to manage. You can get everything in a single platform. It is also easy to work with Terraform as a code."
"Nutanix is very stable and reliable, based on my experience with many customers, including large banks and telcos."
"We have great support from Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) and the experience has been excellent; the relationship maintained with the team in India is particularly strong, and the support directly from Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) itself has been exceptional."
"Migration from public cloud to private cloud and vice versa is actually seamless using Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), making it very handy when providing a Kubernetes platform for customers needing on-premises solutions during application modernization."
"The platform is easy to set up, maintain, and update."
"Before working with Nutanix Kubernetes (NKP), I was working on Dockers, which required separate setups for each microservice, application, or web server, but now everything is under one umbrella, allowing us to manage it all without going here and there."
"Compared to Azure or Amazon, Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is not as secure, but the new edition may improve these functionalities."
"The platform is stable."
"The stability of Nutanix is exceptional; when operational, it performs flawlessly and demonstrates remarkable resilience."
"Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is a centralized platform that allows us to deploy different clusters from a centralized location."
 

Cons

"There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention."
"One major issue we faced was that appliances couldn't migrate from VMware to the tool. However, this seems to be a common problem across platforms. We've seen the same issue when migrating from VMware to RHV or other solutions. It's not specifically a Nutanix problem but rather an issue migrating appliances from one VM infrastructure to another. Some kernel-level and storage-level issues impact this process."
"I have issues with the product's interoperability."
"I would like to have more nodes for availability and storage."
"Areas for improvement in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) include upgrading management capabilities and enhancing the user interface for improved usability."
"The product lacks some virtualization capabilities, making it an area for improvement where the solution can focus on providing users with more virtualization capabilities related to disk systems."
"NKE could benefit from additional features that support more advanced Kubernetes functionalities and configurations."
"In the next release, I would like to have automatic dynamic scaling, both upscaling and downscaling."
"A significant limitation of the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is its requirement for extensive Kubernetes knowledge."
"In Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I believe the migration process needs to be much simpler, similar to other Kubernetes platforms we are using, with all steps being clear and direct to facilitate an easier experience for everyone."
"There were some shortcomings in the design that we had to customize ourselves to achieve, especially integration with Azure Cloud."
"Regarding the stability and reliability of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I sometimes worry about incidents that occur, but we don't receive a clear explanation of what happened."
"They have to improve their marketplace offering for Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) which is currently limited."
"There are some limitations with the non-air gap version as it requires complete internet access, which poses restrictions due to government regulations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing as four out of ten."
"The product's licenses are included in the software version deployed in our data center."
"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"While deploying Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix is cost-effective, there may be additional costs for remote branch offices where Kubernetes is less common."
"I rate NKE's pricing a six out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
The most valuable features of the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) are its simplicity and efficiency during the initial cluster creation phase.
What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
In terms of features, I cannot comment technically, but the real value is the consolidated out-of-the-box solution that Nutanix offers. Nutanix has built great branding and a lot of credibility and...
What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
I have experience with OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Nutanix, as we are one of the largest Nutanix resellers in the Middle East. We handle Kubernetes on the cloud as well, so we manage most of the Kub...
What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?
Other areas of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) that could be improved include backup, replication, and disaster recovery. Currently, we can create the Kubernetes cluster, but for backup or disast...
What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?
We are not the end users of this solution; we are a kind of cloud provider for the government. The institutions ask for a platform, and we create it while providing all the necessary infrastructure...
What advice do you have for others considering Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?
Regarding API-driven infrastructure of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I didn't quite understand that question. I don't think we utilize it, but I am unsure if it is there. My overall review rat...
 

Also Known As

Nutanix Karbon
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen
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