Industry perspectives on Kubernetes: a multi-method empirical analysis of adoption drivers, usage patterns, and ecosystem activity

Abstract

Kubernetes has rapidly become the backbone of cloud native computing, yet we still know relatively little about how it is adopted and practiced in day-to-day software engineering work. Despite its central role in modern infrastructure, systematic empirical research that captures both practitioner experiences and open-source evidence has been largely absent. To address this gap, we conducted a mixed-method study combining 22 semi-structured practitioner interviews, survey responses from 31 professionals, and an analysis of 1,429 public repositories. Together, these sources provide a comprehensive view of Kubernetes adoption, usage, and challenges. The interviews informed the design of the survey, which in turn guided our analysis of repositories. By linking practitioner perspectives with the technical evidence from repositories, we were able to observe which practices appeared frequently, which were less common, and which showed variation between the two sources. Our findings highlight the widely shared practices as well as gaps where aspirational best practices are not consistently reflected in real-world repositories. We also highlight ongoing five key challenges that illustrate how Kubernetes remains a maturing ecosystem rather than a fully developed technology. Taken together, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of Kubernetes in practice. For practitioners, it offers lessons for navigating adoption and maintenance, while for researchers, it provides a unique empirical dataset that links qualitative insights with quantitative repository evidence.