What is Knative?
Knative is an open-source serverless framework built on Kubernetes that automatically scales container workloads, including scale-to-zero. The framework consists of two main components: Knative Serving for request-based workloads and Knative Eventing for event-driven architectures. Since September 2025, Knative is a graduated project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), underscoring its production-ready status.
Knative forms the technological foundation of Google Cloud Run. While Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless platform, Knative on a self-operated Kubernetes cluster such as GKE offers the same serverless patterns with full Kubernetes control. As an open-source project, there is no dedicated SLA for Knative itself; SLAs apply only to the underlying cloud infrastructure components used.
Core Features
- Auto-scaling: Automatic scaling based on incoming requests, including scale-to-zero
- Knative Serving: Request-based container execution with traffic splitting and revisions
- Knative Eventing: Event-driven architecture with the CloudEvents standard and event brokers
- Portability: Standardized APIs that run on any Kubernetes cluster
- CNCF graduation: Production-ready status since September 2025, broad support across the cloud-native ecosystem
Typical Use Cases
Serverless on Existing Kubernetes
Teams with existing GKE clusters use Knative to introduce serverless patterns without operating a separate platform. Containers scale automatically and cost nothing when not in use.
Event-Driven Microservices
Knative Eventing enables loosely coupled microservice architectures where services communicate through events. The CloudEvents standard ensures interoperability between different systems.
Benefits
- Open source and portable across Kubernetes clusters
- Scale-to-zero saves costs for sporadic workloads
- No vendor lock-in through standardized, CNCF-graduated APIs
- Seamless integration with GKE and the Google Cloud ecosystem via Cloud Run
Integration with innFactory
As a certified Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you with Knative: serverless application architecture on GKE, migration to Cloud Run, and event-driven design.
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Knative?
Knative is an open-source serverless framework for Kubernetes that automatically scales container workloads, including scale-to-zero. It forms the technological foundation of Google Cloud Run and became a graduated CNCF project in September 2025.
What is the relationship between Knative and Cloud Run?
Cloud Run is built on the Knative API. Knative Serving on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster (e.g., GKE) provides full Kubernetes control, while Cloud Run is a fully managed variant.
When should I use Knative instead of Cloud Run?
Knative on GKE is suitable when you already use Kubernetes and want to introduce serverless patterns within your existing cluster. Cloud Run is the better choice when you don't want to manage your own Kubernetes infrastructure.
What does Knative cost?
Knative itself is free open-source software. Costs arise from the underlying infrastructure, such as the GKE cluster, or when used as the basis of Cloud Run according to its pricing model.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of Google Cloud (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by Google Cloud.
