Admission Controllers vs OPA Gatekeeper

Developers should learn and use Admission Controllers when deploying applications on Kubernetes to enforce security policies, validate configurations, and automate governance meets developers should learn opa gatekeeper when working in kubernetes environments to enforce security policies, such as preventing privileged containers or ensuring resource limits, and governance rules, like labeling or annotation requirements. Here's our take.

Admission Controllers

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use Admission Controllers when deploying applications on Kubernetes to enforce security policies, validate configurations, and automate governance

Pros

• Specific use cases include preventing insecure deployments, injecting sidecar containers, setting resource limits, and ensuring compliance with organizational standards
• Related to: kubernetes, kubernetes-api

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

OPA Gatekeeper

Developers should learn OPA Gatekeeper when working in Kubernetes environments to enforce security policies, such as preventing privileged containers or ensuring resource limits, and governance rules, like labeling or annotation requirements

Pros

• It is particularly useful in multi-tenant clusters, CI/CD pipelines, and regulated industries to automate compliance and reduce manual oversight, helping prevent misconfigurations that could lead to vulnerabilities or operational issues
• Related to: kubernetes, open-policy-agent

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Admission Controllers is a concept while OPA Gatekeeper is a tool. We picked Admission Controllers based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Admission Controllers wins

Based on overall popularity. Admission Controllers is more widely used, but OPA Gatekeeper excels in its own space.