Kubernetes is increasingly becoming the standard for running your applications. But managing your own cluster is a discipline in itself: etcd backups, network policies, ingress controllers, upgrades, monitoring, and the occasional CrashLoopBackOff to dig into. For many teams, that's more work than the application itself.
You might wonder why you'd bother at all. It's perfectly possible to run an application on a VM and call it a day, right?
Kubernetes is much more than just a place to run a container. Think about:
- Automatic horizontal / vertical scaling
- Automatic replacement of crashed workloads
- Everything is declarative and you get an API that's the same at every provider
- That last point also means: no lock-in when you stick to standard Kubernetes
- All resources like databases, Valkey, secrets management, and load balancers are managed for you based on your definitions
And this is just scratching the surface. So yes, it makes sense that more and more teams are moving to Kubernetes.
What teams actually want
Most teams searching for a "middle ground" with Kubernetes want the same thing: deploy containers, auto-restart on failures, scale when needed. Without setting up and maintaining a cluster.
That middle ground exists. For most applications, it's the better starting point.
Option 1: Managed containers (Pods)
With Pods, you deploy containers on one of our Kubernetes clusters. You deliver a container image, we run it. Scaling, self-healing, TLS certificates, and monitoring are included.
This isn't a stopgap. This is Kubernetes, without your team having to manage a cluster. You get the same benefits: rolling updates, health checks, resource limits. The cluster operations sit with us.
Good fit for: teams with 1-5 services that already work with containers and want to deploy fast.
Pods enters early access in Q1 2026. You can sign up for the launch now. In the meantime, we run your containers on a managed server with Docker.
Option 2: A dedicated managed cluster
Larger platforms with staging, production, multiple teams, and specific network requirements benefit from a dedicated cluster. With our managed clusters, you get a dedicated Kubernetes environment, fully managed. We handle upgrades, monitoring, backups, and network configuration. The advantage over the Pods option is that we tailor the cluster and our management tooling to exactly what you need.
Good fit for: teams with 5+ services, multiple environments, or compliance requirements that call for a dedicated cluster.
Not ready for containers yet?
Not every application is containerized yet. Sometimes the first step is a stable environment where your application just runs, while your team works toward containers.
Our managed servers give you a managed VM with load balancing, backups, and monitoring. When your team is ready to containerize, we migrate together to Pods or a dedicated cluster.
How to decide
- Your application already runs in containers: Pods is your starting point. Sign up for the launch, or run on a managed server with Docker in the meantime.
- You have multiple teams or environments: a managed cluster gives you the control you need. Also available VM-based.
- You're not containerized yet: start on a managed server and grow when you're ready.
At CoffeeSprout, we guide teams through this entire journey. Whether you're starting with a single container or need a full platform: we help figure out the approach that fits your team.
Get in touch and we'll figure out which approach works best for your team.