KY Kyverno vs OP Open Policy Agent (OPA)
Which wins: Kyverno vs Open Policy Agent (OPA)? Dive into our expert analysis of features and costs to decide for your engineering team. Compare pricing...
Quick Verdict
Kyverno excels at core workflow integration; Open Policy Agent (OPA) wins on infrastructure policy. Choose Kyverno if you prioritize core workflow integration; choose Open Policy Agent (OPA) if you need infrastructure policy.
Kyverno vs Open Policy Agent (OPA) Feature Comparison
| Feature | Kyverno | Open Policy Agent (OPA) |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes Admission Control | Supported Yes Core feature: K8s admission controller | Supported Yes Via OPA Gatekeeper for Kubernetes admission |
| Regulatory Compliance | Supported Yes Pre-built policies for Pod Security Standards | Supported Yes Pre-built library for common policies |
| Infrastructure Policy | Not supported No Kubernetes-only, no Terraform integration | Supported Yes Terraform Cloud Sentinel integration |
| Cost Estimation | Not supported No Not a cost estimation tool | Not supported No Not a cost estimation tool |
| Policy as Code | Supported Yes YAML-based policies (no Rego needed) | Supported Yes Rego policy language, version-controlled |
| Audit Mode | Supported Yes Audit mode for reporting | Supported Yes Audit mode in Gatekeeper |
| Enforce Mode | Supported Yes Enforce mode for blocking | Supported Yes Enforce mode in Gatekeeper |
| Custom Policies | Supported Yes Validate, mutate, generate, and verify image policies | Supported Yes Custom Rego policies |
| CI/CD Integration | Supported Yes CI/CD via Kyverno CLI | Supported Yes CI/CD integration via OPA CLI |
| Policy Reporting | Supported Yes PolicyReport CRD for compliance reporting | Supported Yes Constraint templates and audit reports |
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About Kyverno
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you click any of these links and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our reviews.
Kyverno is a CNCF graduated Kubernetes-native policy engine that validates, mutates, and generates resources using YAML-based policies (no Rego required). Features: validate/mutate/generate/verify image policies, background scanning, policy reports, and audit/enforce modes. Easier to learn than OPA for teams already comfortable with Kubernetes YAML.
About Open Policy Agent (OPA)
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you click any of these links and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our reviews.
Open Policy Agent (OPA) is a CNCF graduated project that provides a general-purpose policy engine for cloud-native environments. Uses Rego, a declarative policy language. Integrates with Kubernetes (via Gatekeeper), service meshes (Envoy, Istio), CI/CD pipelines, and APIs. Policies-as-code with version control, testing, and audit. Industry standard for policy enforcement in cloud-native stacks.
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