Scaleway Kubernetes Kapsule and Kosmos: Cloud Kubernetes Ledger

Part of the Managed Cloud Kubernetes Ledger (edition 2026-10-13). How the scores work: methodology.

1. Snapshot

Tier: European cloud
Owner: Scaleway SAS, subsidiary of the Iliad Group (French telecom group), privately held
Licence model: Pay as you go; free shared control plane (150 nodes), dedicated control plane EUR 0.11 to 0.35 per hour with a 30-day commitment
Products scored: Kapsule (Scaleway Instances) and Kosmos (multi-cloud nodes) managed clusters, shared and dedicated control planes
Latest release: Kubernetes 1.37 on 2026-08-26
Next signal: No dated roadmap; SecNumCloud qualification stated as under assessment (2026-10-13)
Archetype: European sovereign basics
Evidence grade: B. Changelog source files, version policy page, status page incidents, pricing page and CNCF folders were opened; 2019 and 2022 history, Kapsule GA date and compliance scope rest on press, blog or absence of evidence.

2. Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	63.8 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+21.2 points	higher is better
Credibility	16.0 / 25	higher is better
Commercial risk	7.5 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	8.0 / 25	lower is better
Integrator fit	13.0 / 20	higher is better
AI leverage	3.5 / 20	higher is better
Ledger Index	62.2 / 100	balanced weights

3. Capability by domain

Scores 0 to 5 against fixed anchors; total is weighted to 100.

Domain (weight)	2016	2019	2022	Today
Versions, upgrades and support (12)	n/a	0.5	2	3
Nodes, autoscaling and compute choice (12)	n/a	0.5	2	3
Networking (10)	n/a	0.5	2	3
Storage and data protection (8)	n/a	0.5	2	3.5
Security and compliance (12)	n/a	0.5	1.5	3
Observability and day-2 operations (8)	n/a	0.5	1.5	3
Multi-cluster, hybrid and fleet (10)	n/a	0.5	3.5	3.5
Developer and app platform (8)	n/a	0.5	3	3
GPU and AI workloads (10)	n/a	1	2	3.5
Regions, sovereignty and SLA (10)	n/a	1	2	3.5
Total / 100	not released	12.0	42.6	63.8

Year by year: 2019: 12.0 · 2020: 34.2 · 2021: 40.2 · 2022: 42.6 · 2023: 53.4 · 2024: 62.0 · 2025: 62.0 · 2026: 63.8

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2020	Developer and app platform	0.5 → 1.5	+1.6	Container Registry and CLI
2020	GPU and AI workloads	1 → 2	+2.0	GPU pools up to Render-S class in the final release
2020	Networking	0.5 → 2	+3.0	Load balancer integration through the cloud controller manager v0.1.0 (2020-03-10)
2020	Nodes, autoscaling and compute choice	0.5 → 2	+3.6	Node pools, autoscaling and autoheal at the 2020 release; up to 500 nodes claimed in press
2020	Observability and day-2 operations	0.5 → 1.5	+1.6	Autoheal and basic health checks
2020	Regions, sovereignty and SLA	1 → 2	+2.0	Free control plane with a 99.95% SLA claimed in press
2020	Security and compliance	0.5 → 1.5	+2.4	Kubeconfig access with standard Kubernetes RBAC; no Scaleway-specific controls found
2020	Storage and data protection	0.5 → 2	+2.4	Block Storage CSI v0.1.0 2020-03-23
2020	Versions, upgrades and support	0.5 → 2	+3.6	Final release about 2020-04-01; manual upgrades; auto-upgrade with maintenance window documented by 2023-01
2021	Multi-cluster, hybrid and fleet	0.5 → 3.5	+6.0	Kosmos GA 2021-10-13: external nodes from any provider under one managed control plane; no fleet manager
2022	Developer and app platform	1.5 → 3	+2.4	Easy Deploy application catalogue documented by 2023-01-20; Terraform, proxy registry 2024-01-09; no managed GitOps
2023	GPU and AI workloads	2 → 3	+2.0	NVIDIA GPU operator installed by default on all GPU pools 2023-07-18
2023	Networking	2 → 3	+2.0	Private Network by default 2023-05-15, Cilium or Calico, full-isolation pools 2023-10-18; no Gateway API, IPv6 or mesh found
2023	Nodes, autoscaling and compute choice	2 → 3	+2.4	Multi-AZ pools 2023-10-25 and dedicated control planes to 500 nodes GA 2023-09-06; Arm pools still beta; no spot, Windows or Karpenter-class
2023	Observability and day-2 operations	1.5 → 3	+2.4	Control plane metrics and logs in Cockpit by default 2023-07-19; container logs 2025-02-25; no cost allocation or API-deprecation insights
2023	Regions, sovereignty and SLA	2 → 3	+2.0	Dedicated control plane GA 2023-09-06 with 99.5% SLA; Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw with 3 zones each
2024	GPU and AI workloads	3 → 3.5	+1.0	H100, L4 and L40S pools 2023-10 to 2024-04, H100 SXM 2025-04; no sharing, DRA or reservations
2024	Security and compliance	1.5 → 3	+3.6	Audit logs 2024-03-13, allowed-IP list 2025-01-07, IAM resources 2025-01-28, ISO 27001 and HDS stated; no workload identity or policy engine
2024	Storage and data protection	2 → 3	+1.6	Low-latency block classes default 2024-03-19; snapshots and LUKS encryption in the CSI driver; no backup service
2024	Versions, upgrades and support	2 → 3	+2.4	14-month support window and published calendar from 1.29 (2024-02-06); patch auto-upgrade; median lag 55 days; no channels or rollback
2026	Regions, sovereignty and SLA	3 → 3.5	+1.0	Milan region added 2026-03; HDS on Kapsule dedicated, ISO 27001; SecNumCloud still in assessment
2026	Storage and data protection	3 → 3.5	+0.8	File Storage ReadWriteMany volumes GA 2026-07-16

4. Direction, 2023 to 2026

Each item carries one theme and one driver (V vision, C customer need, M market window, U upstream, P portfolio).

Date	Item	Theme	Driver
2023-07	Control plane metrics and logs in Cockpit	D8 Observability and operations	C
2023-07	NVIDIA GPU operator on all GPU pools	D13 Accelerators	C
2023-09	Dedicated control planes GA with 99.5% SLA	D10 Sovereignty and regions	C
2023-10	Multi-AZ clusters and full-isolation node pools	D4 Networking	C
2024-03	Kubernetes audit logs	D9 Security	C
2024-03	Low-latency block CSI v0.3 default; Arm pools in beta	D5 Storage and data protection	P
2024-05	Private Network mandatory for all Kapsule clusters	D9 Security	V
2025-01	Allowed-IP restriction for the API endpoint	D9 Security	C
2025-02	Container logs to Cockpit	D8 Observability and operations	C
2026-03	Milan region opens	D10 Sovereignty and regions	M
2026-07	File Storage GA with Kubernetes volumes	D5 Storage and data protection	P

Centre of gravity: Security (3), Observability and operations (2), Sovereignty and regions (2)
Driver mix: Vision 9%, Customer need 64%, Market window 9%, Upstream 0%, Portfolio 18%

5. Credibility: 16.0 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	3.5	Version calendar published and changelog dated, but 'a few days' availability claim missed; median lag 55 days
Roadmap transparency	3	Dated changelog and status incident JSON; no public roadmap board; feature-request site could not be read
Say-do	3.5	5 of 7 tracked items shipped on or before stated dates; version availability claim missed; Arm pools still beta
Velocity	3	17 Kubernetes changelog entries in 2024 and 13 in 2025; about one substantive capability a quarter
Lifecycle stability	3	14-month support, forced upgrades at end of support, several retirements (Flannel, Weave, public-only clusters, NAT IPs, CSI v0.2)

Say-do record, 2023 to 2026: 7 items 2022 to 2026: 5 shipped (dedicated control plane 10 months, ingress removal, Private Network, routed IPs early, File Storage), 1 slipped (version availability claim, median 55 days against 'a few days'), 1 pending (COP-ARM beta, no GA found). No public roadmap.

6. Commercial risk: 7.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Price and licence volatility	1.5	Free control plane capped at 150 nodes from 2023-09; dedicated tiers introduced; no list-price change from 2024-05 to 2026-10
Purchase constraints	1	Self-service pay as you go; free shared control plane; 30-day commitment on dedicated planes
Channel and access	1.5	Self-service sign-up and public pricing; four European regions only
Owner stability	1.5	Iliad Group subsidiary; no distress found, but ownership and financials not examined
Cost of staying supported	2	Patch upgrades free; minors supported 14 months, then forced upgrade within 30 days; no extended support

Security record of the product itself: none found: no cross-tenant or managed-control-plane flaw disclosed 2023 to 2026; runc CVE-2024-21626 (fix announced 2024-02-06) and OpenSSH CVE-2024-6387 (2024-07-03) were node-image fixes. The 2023-12-28 shared etcd error and 2024-02 API overload were availability incidents.

7. Technical lock-in: 8.0 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	0.5	Certified Kubernetes (CNCF folders 1.24 to 1.37); standard API and kubeconfig
Export path	2	No migration or Kubernetes backup service found; Object Storage egress 75 GB free then EUR 0.01 per GB
Stack coupling	2.5	Scaleway IAM, Private Network, load balancers and block storage classes reconciled by the service; Private Network mandatory
Hardware / cloud coupling	2	Kosmos adds nodes from other clouds, but the control plane runs only in Scaleway regions
Skills and tooling coupling	1	kubectl, Terraform and a Scaleway CLI

8. Integrator fit: 13.0 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Partner programme openness	3	Partner programme with directory and application page; partner names not confirmed
Multi-tenancy and self-service	3.5	Organisations, projects, IAM policies and applications
API and infrastructure-as-code	4	Terraform provider 16.4 million downloads (partner-premier), CLI, Go, Python and JS SDKs, Crossplane provider; Cluster API provider is for self-managed clusters
Skills and certification	2.5	Scaleway Learning page and community Slack; no Kubernetes certification found

9. AI leverage: 3.5 / 20

Strand	Today	Latest step
AI workload support	1.5	2023: GPU operator on every GPU pool 2023-07-18; scratch-storage guide for H100 and L40S pools; no sharing or inference add-ons
AI platform stack	0	none
AI-assisted operations	0.5	2024: 'Ask our AI' documentation search only; no cluster-aware assistant found
Agent openness	1.5	2019: REST API, CLI and Terraform; no official MCP server (community servers only)

AI say-do: 0 dated AI promises found; GPU pools with a default operator are shipped. Generative APIs and Managed Inference are separate products with no Kapsule integration; first-pass MCP server repository does not exist.

10. Reading

Scaleway is building a plain, standard Kapsule service with a multi-cloud Kosmos option, French data location and GPU pools. The record shows steady dated changelog entries and kept deprecation timetables, but new minors arrive after a median 55 days against a stated few days, there is no roadmap board and no AI tooling beyond GPU pools. A buyer gets low cost, EU control and conformant Kubernetes, with an SLA only on paid dedicated control planes and four European regions.

11. Open questions and evidence caveats

No public roadmap board; the feature-request site could not be read, so say-do rests on 7 items.
Kapsule final release date comes from press (2020-04-01); Scaleway's own announcement was not found.
2019 and 2022 history for network, security and devplat rests on a Wayback snapshot of 2023-01-20 and absence of evidence.
Dedicated control plane SLA credit percentages were not opened; only the 99.5% figure is confirmed.
Wayback Machine was partly offline, so list prices before 2024-05-24 are not dated by snapshots.
Compliance scope: ISO 27001 and HDS are stated for the provider, SecNumCloud is in assessment; whether each covers Kapsule beyond the HDS dedicated option was not confirmed.
Incidents: 2023-12-27 shared etcd error (about 14 hours), 2024-02-13 API overload (upgrades disabled for 7 days), 2024-07-03 etcd read-only.