DevZero vs KEDA

Feature Comparison

Workload profiling

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Builds a usage profile per workload from collected CPU, memory and runtime data and uses it to drive rightsizing recommendations.

Automatic language detection

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroTen runtimes

The node agent detects JVM, Node.js, .NET, Go, Rust, GraalVM native image, Python, Ruby, Deno and Bun in every container with no workload changes. Low-privilege installs turn it off.

Network tracing (eBPF)

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroOpt-in eBPF

Collects pod-to-pod network flows with netfilter by default. An eBPF collector mode is available as an opt-in setting.

Application health profiling

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Tracks OOM kills, crash loops, CPU throttling and container startup lifecycle events for each workload.

Node group profiling for shapes and sizes

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Analyzes each node group and the workloads on it, then suggests node policy changes to requirements, capacity type, zones, limits and disruption settings.

Node group consolidation opportunities

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroCompaction

Previews underused nodes whose pods fit elsewhere in their node group and drains them on demand or by policy. Also flags duplicate and overlapping node policies.

Workload cost

Cost attribution

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Splits node prices into CPU, memory and GPU unit costs and attributes them to each workload.

Network cost

Cost attribution

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Prices network traffic by type, including cross-AZ, cross-region, internet egress and NAT paths, estimated at cloud list rates.

Workload storage cost

Cost attribution

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Calculates persistent volume claim storage cost for each workload.

Savings Plan, RI and CUD awareness

Cost attribution

KEDANot offered
DevZeroBilling export

Reads AWS, GCP and Azure billing exports to show commitment coverage and utilization and to price nodes at commitment-adjusted cost. It does not buy or manage commitments.

Vertical pod autoscaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroRequests and limits

Sizes CPU and memory requests per container and adjusts memory limits with them. Applies changes in place on Kubernetes 1.33+, with a restart-based fallback when in place is unavailable.

API-performance-based autoscaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDA70+ scalers

Scales on API metrics, Prometheus queries, or HTTP request queues using built-in scalers and the KEDA HTTP Add-on.

DevZeroNot offered

RED metrics are collected for visibility, but no workload rule scales on them.

Flexible instance shapes in node groups

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Node policies select instances by category, family, size and capacity type, so one policy spans many shapes.

Spot-to-spot consolidation

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Installs Karpenter with spot-to-spot consolidation turned on for AWS, Azure, GCP and OCI, with a per-cluster toggle in Karpenter settings.

Manage existing Karpenter

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Mirrors existing Karpenter NodePools as read-only cluster-managed policies, and a migration wizard moves them under DevZero management.

Static capacity

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Supports fixed-size NodePools through spec.replicas on AWS, Azure and GCP once you turn on the Static capacity setting. OCI is not supported.

Live migration of running pods

Reliability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroWithin one cluster

Checkpoints a running container with CRIU and restores it on the replacement pod with its in-memory state. Opt-in per policy, on labelled nodes in the same cluster.

Checks before a change is applied

Reliability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroOpt-in, Pro

Live migration checks workload kind, image coherence and node readiness first, and skips the workload without changes if a check fails. Live migration is opt-in per policy and part of Pro.

Alerts on restarts, OOM kills and throttling

Reliability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroIncluded

Alerts on application restarts, out-of-memory kills and CPU throttling, delivered by email or by webhook to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord or your own endpoint.

API latency, throughput and error detection

Observability

KEDANot offered
DevZeroOpt-in

Records inbound request rate, errors and latency per container from socket probes in the network monitor. Off by default; enable it with the containerRedMetrics Helm value.

Horizontal pod autoscaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDADrives HPA

Creates and manages an underlying HorizontalPodAutoscaler for ScaledObjects, driving replica scaling from 1 to N alongside scale-to-zero.

DevZeroVia KEDA

Horizontal scaling runs through KEDA ScaledObjects rendered from the workload rule. KEDA is an opt-in install, off by default, and DevZero creates no native HPA.

Predictive workload scaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDAElastic Forecast

Includes an experimental Elastic ML Forecast scaler for prediction-driven scaling. Standard KEDA triggers react to observed event queue depths.

DevZeroNot offered

Workload forecasts estimate cost only, and no rule scales from a forecast.

Language-aware autoscaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroJVM only

Raises the CPU request of detected Java containers to a startup floor, 75m by default, and can tune JVM heap flags when the heap rule is on. No other runtime has its own rule.

Workload profile-based autoscaling

Workload autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroBehavior-based sizing

The sizing engine adapts percentile targets and headroom to each workload's observed CPU and memory behavior. No rule triggers scaling from a stored profile.

OOM and CPU throttling handling

Workload autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroOOM by default

Raises memory right after an OOM kill, on by default, with configurable multipliers and cooldowns. A CPU throttling response exists in the operator but ships off.

Savings plan aware node choice

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroEstimates only

Savings estimates flag the share of billed node hours under a reservation or savings plan. It does not buy commitments or steer nodes onto them.

Workload profile-based node scaling

Cluster autoscaling

KEDANot offered
DevZeroSuggestions only

Node policy suggestions read workload profiles, such as spot suitability and startup time, to propose spot capacity and grace periods. You apply them; no rule scales nodes on profiles.

Last updated

Pricing Compared

KEDA is free and open source; DevZero offers free monitoring and charges $5 per CPU per month for automated optimization.

KEDA

Freeopen source

  • Software. Free, open source under Apache 2.0 license
  • Compute. You pay for the pods and cloud infrastructure it scales into
  • No license tiers. All 70+ scalers are included with no commercial gating

Graduated CNCF project maintained by the open-source community.

$5per CPU per month

  • Free. $0 for monitoring on unlimited clusters
  • Pro. $5 per CPU per month, billed monthly
  • No annual commitment

Billed monthly on consumption. The more you save on compute, the less you pay DevZero.

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Teams Already Running DevZero

Published results from customers who run DevZero in production.

How DevZero Works With KEDA

DevZero integrates with KEDA as its horizontal scaling engine while rightsizing container resources.

  1. 1Install

    Deploy DevZero Beside KEDA

    Install the DevZero operator. It discovers existing ScaledObjects and observes resource consumption.

  2. 2Observe

    Measure Real Resource Consumption

    DevZero analyzes historical CPU and memory utilization across traffic surges and idle periods.

  3. 3Rightsize

    Tune Requests and Limits

    DevZero applies vertical rightsizing recommendations so replicas run with optimal resource allocations.

  4. 4Scale

    Drive Horizontal Scale With KEDA

    KEDA continues managing replica counts from 0 to N based on event triggers, while DevZero optimizes each pod.

DevZero vs KEDA: FAQ

KEDA is an event-driven horizontal autoscaler that adds or removes pod replicas based on external event sources like queues and streams. DevZero is a Kubernetes cost optimization platform that rightsizes container CPU and memory requests, monitors spend, and optimizes cluster nodes. They complement each other.

Yes. DevZero includes a KEDA template on workload rules that lets you configure minimum, maximum, and idle replicas and triggers directly, rendering native KEDA ScaledObject custom resources in your cluster.

No. DevZero optimizes vertical container sizing (CPU and memory requests and limits) and node provisioning, while KEDA manages horizontal replica scaling. DevZero detects KEDA ScaledObjects and avoids horizontal scaling conflicts.

Yes. KEDA natively scales workloads to zero when event queues are idle. DevZero's KEDA template supports setting minimum and idle replicas to zero, allowing idle event-driven services to consume no pod resources.

KEDA is a free, open-source CNCF graduated project under the Apache 2.0 license. DevZero offers a free tier for cluster cost monitoring and a Pro plan at $5 per CPU per month for automated rightsizing and optimization.

What our Customers say

Databahn logo

“We were essentially able to reduce the cost of that cluster by about 75%. On AWS, DevZero demonstrated they could achieve significantly higher savings than we initially thought possible.”

Mihir Nair

Mihir Nair

Head of Architecture, Databahn

See your own numbers first

In a demo you can

  • Use your own data

    See your cluster costs and recommendations in the dashboard.

  • Compare side by side

    Check DevZero's results against your current tool.

  • Plan the switch

    Move one namespace at a time, and keep the rest where it is.