Mirantis Kubernetes Engine: On-Prem Kubernetes Ledger

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

1. Snapshot

Tier: Challenger
Owner: Mirantis, Inc., subsidiary of IREN Ltd since 2026-08-03 (all-stock deal, about $625 million at signing); bought Docker Enterprise in 2019
Licence model: MKE 3 and MKE 4 commercial licences and k0rdent Enterprise subscriptions, prices not public; k0s and k0rdent open source
Products scored: MKE 4.2 (k0s based) with k0rdent Enterprise and k0rdent Virtualization; MKE 3.9 (Swarm plus Kubernetes); k0s 1.36
Latest release: MKE 4.2.0 (2026-07-02, Kubernetes 1.35); MKE 3.9.0 (2026-03-24, 1.34); k0s v1.36.1+k0s.0 (2026-06-14)
Next signal: k0s 1.37 milestone open; next MKE 3 major expected yearly; k0rdent AI products announced May 2026
Archetype: Open-source rebuild under new owner
Evidence grade: A. Dates, minors and features come from MKE and UCP release notes, the MKE lifecycle page and the GitHub API; ownership, Lens Prism and k0rdent AI rest on press snippets, partner and training facts were not found.

2. Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	68.6 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+21.4 points	higher is better
Credibility	16.5 / 25	higher is better
Commercial risk	12.0 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	6.0 / 25	lower is better
Integrator fit	12.5 / 20	higher is better
AI leverage	5.5 / 20	higher is better
Ledger Index	64.0 / 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
Install, upgrade and lifecycle (12)	n/a	2.5	3	3.5
Bare metal, edge and on-prem infrastructure (10)	n/a	3	3.5	4
Multi-cluster and fleet management (10)	n/a	1	1	4
Networking (10)	n/a	3	3.5	4
Storage and data protection (10)	n/a	2	2	2.5
Security and compliance (12)	n/a	3.5	3.5	4
Developer platform (8)	n/a	3	3	3
Observability and day-2 operations (8)	n/a	2	3	3
VMs on Kubernetes (VMware exit) (10)	n/a	0	0	3
GPU and accelerator workloads (10)	n/a	0	1	3
Total / 100	not released	40.4	47.2	68.6

Year by year: 2018: 36.2 · 2019: 40.4 · 2020: 40.4 · 2021: 40.4 · 2022: 47.2 · 2023: 47.2 · 2024: 51.2 · 2025: 62.2 · 2026: 68.6

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2019	Bare metal, edge and on-prem infrastructure	2.5 → 3	+1.0	UCP 3.2: bare metal or VMs, Windows workers, offline bundle
2019	Networking	2.5 → 3	+1.0	UCP 3.2: Calico, Interlock NGINX proxy, offline images
2019	Security and compliance	3 → 3.5	+1.2	UCP 3.2: Pod Security Policies on by default, SCIM, OSCAL
2019	Storage and data protection	1.5 → 2	+1.0	UCP 3.2: CSI 1.0 with drivers flagged pre-GA, iSCSI
2022	Bare metal, edge and on-prem infrastructure	3 → 3.5	+1.0	MKE 3.6 adds GCP and Windows Server 2022; k0s single binary for edge
2022	GPU and accelerator workloads	0 → 1	+2.0	MKE 3 NVIDIA GPU feature discovery component; date of introduction not found
2022	Install, upgrade and lifecycle	2.5 → 3	+1.2	MKE 3.6 (Oct 2022): two-year support per major; k0s with k0sctl, 30-70 day lag
2022	Networking	3 → 3.5	+1.0	MKE 3.5-3.6: NGINX ingress, IPVS and eBPF options, mTLS
2022	Observability and day-2 operations	2 → 3	+1.6	MKE 3.6-3.7 bundled Prometheus metrics
2024	GPU and accelerator workloads	1 → 3	+4.0	MKE 4.0 (Nov 2024): NVIDIA GPU Operator and feature discovery; no MIG, no DRA
2025	Multi-cluster and fleet management	1 → 3.5	+5.0	k0rdent 1.0 (May 2025) on Cluster API; MKE 4k child clusters from 4.1.1 (Sep 2025)
2025	VMs on Kubernetes (VMware exit)	0 → 3	+6.0	k0rdent Virtualization (Nov 2025): KubeVirt 1.6 VMs on MKE 4k, VM balancer, NUMA passthrough
2026	Bare metal, edge and on-prem infrastructure	3.5 → 4	+1.0	MKE 4.2: RHEL, Ubuntu, Rocky, Windows workers, offline install, AWS and vSphere child clusters
2026	Install, upgrade and lifecycle	3 → 3.5	+1.2	MKE 3 two-year majors, MKE 4 mkectl upgrades; median lag 44 days k0s, 142 days MKE
2026	Multi-cluster and fleet management	3.5 → 4	+1.0	k0rdent Enterprise templates, vSphere child clusters and drift detection in MKE 4.2
2026	Networking	3.5 → 4	+1.0	MKE 4.2: Calico eBPF, Multus, MetalLB, Envoy Gateway API, unmanaged CNI choice
2026	Security and compliance	3.5 → 4	+1.2	MKE 4.2: Dex OIDC, SAML, LDAP, Gatekeeper, audit logs, optional FIPS 140-3
2026	Storage and data protection	2 → 2.5	+1.0	MKE 4: CSI drivers, local backup tarballs without schedules, Velero; Ceph in k0rdent

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
2023-08	MKE 3.7: certificate management and upgrade rollback	D1 Install and lifecycle	C
2024-11	MKE 4.0 rebuilt on k0s, Kubernetes only	D1 Install and lifecycle	V
2025-05	k0rdent 1.0 multi-cluster manager on Cluster API	D3 Fleet management	U
2025-07	Lens Prism AI assistant in Lens desktop	D7 AI-assisted operations	M
2025-11	k0rdent Virtualization: KubeVirt VMs on MKE 4k	D10 VMs on Kubernetes	C
2026-03	MKE 3.9 with Envoy Gateway keeps Swarm users supported	D4 Networking	C
2026-05	k0rdent AI inference products announced	D13 Accelerators	M
2026-07	MKE 4.2: Windows workers, FIPS 140-3, vSphere child clusters	D9 Security	C
2026-08	IREN completes acquisition of Mirantis	D12 Packaging and licensing	M

Centre of gravity: Install and lifecycle (2), Fleet management (1), AI-assisted operations (1)
Driver mix: Vision 11%, Customer need 44%, Market window 33%, Upstream 11%, Portfolio 0%

5. Credibility: 16.5 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	3.5	MKE patches every eight weeks as published, k0s minors each four months; yearly MKE 3 majors slipped to 15-16 months
Roadmap transparency	3.5	k0s and k0rdent public GitHub milestones and releases, public MKE docs and lifecycle; no MKE roadmap
Say-do	4	6 of 7 promises GA within 12 months (MKE 4 on the announced day); k0s 1.29 and 1.35 50-64 days late
Velocity	3	MKE 4 adds a few features per release (4.1 offline and k0rdent, 4.2 Windows and FIPS); k0rdent monthly
Lifecycle stability	2.5	Two years per MKE 3 major, but MKE 3 to 4 is a migration without Swarm and MKE 4 restores only same version

Say-do record, 2023 to 2026: 7 items 2023-2026: MKE 4 GA on the announced date, continued MKE 3 releases for Swarm users, k0s milestones 1.26 and 1.30 on time, 1.29 and 1.35 50-64 days late, yearly MKE 3 major partial (15-16 months). 16 pass-1 items removed as unsupported.

6. Commercial risk: 12.0 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Price and licence volatility	2.5	MKE 4 introduced as a new licensed product (2024), MKE 4k and k0rdent Enterprise packaging; no prices published
Purchase constraints	1.5	Free k0s and k0rdent for any size; MKE requires a licence, terms not public
Channel and access	1.5	Public docs and open-source code; MKE and enterprise builds need a subscription
Owner stability	4	Acquired by IREN, an AI cloud operator, closed Aug 2026; earlier Docker Enterprise purchase
Cost of staying supported	2.5	Two-year support per MKE 3 major; Swarm users must stay on MKE 3 or migrate

Security record of the product itself: No CISA KEV entry and no critical (CVSS 9+) CVE in MKE, k0s or k0rdent 2023-2026; CVE-2024-41110 (Moby, 9.9) does not affect Mirantis Container Runtime per the advisory; k0s advisories in 2026 rated high (7.9) and medium.

7. Technical lock-in: 6.0 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	1.5	CNCF-certified k0s, MKE and k0rdent; Swarm workloads on MKE 3 do not move to MKE 4
Export path	2	MKE 3 to 4 migration documented; MKE 4 backups restore only to the same version
Stack coupling	1	Choice of RHEL, Ubuntu or Rocky; Calico or unmanaged CNI; any CSI
Hardware / cloud coupling	0	Any x86 hardware or cloud, offline installs, no SaaS dependency
Skills and tooling coupling	1.5	kubectl skills plus mkectl, k0sctl, k0rdent templates; Swarm skills for MKE 3

8. Integrator fit: 12.5 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Partner programme openness	2.5	Mirantis partner programme exists; tiers not verified
Multi-tenancy and self-service	3.5	k0smotron hosted control planes and k0rdent child clusters per team; RBAC groups in MKE 4
API and infrastructure-as-code	4	Terraform providers for MKE and Launchpad, k0smotron Cluster API providers, k0sctl, k0rdent CRDs
Skills and certification	2.5	k0s community (6,524 stars); Mirantis training not verified; CKA applies

9. AI leverage: 5.5 / 20

Strand	Today	Latest step
AI workload support	0.5	2026: k0rdent AI Inference Runtime and Mesh announced May 2026, maturity not confirmed
AI platform stack	1	2026: k0rdent AI Model Registry announced May 2026, separate product, maturity not confirmed
AI-assisted operations	2.5	2025: Lens Prism (Jul 2025): read-only natural-language assistant in paid Lens desktop plans, any cluster
Agent openness	1.5	2024: mkectl, k0rdent CRDs and Terraform providers; no official MCP server for MKE

AI say-do: 1 tracked, 0 confirmed GA, 1 pending (k0rdent AI inference products). Lens Prism explains and drafts commands from live cluster data under the user's RBAC but does not act; MKE itself ships only NVIDIA GPU enablement.

10. Reading

Mirantis is moving customers from the Docker-era MKE 3 to a Kubernetes-only MKE 4 built on its open-source k0s and k0rdent, now adding KubeVirt VMs and AI inference products. The record shows k0s tracking upstream within about six weeks and MKE 4 shipping on its announced date, but MKE itself trails upstream by five months and skips minors. Buyers get open, low-lock-in building blocks, but face a Swarm-to-Kubernetes migration and a new AI-cloud owner since August 2026 whose priorities may differ.

11. Open questions and evidence caveats

IREN ownership facts rest on search snippets of the IREN release and SEC filings; the pages were blocked.
k0rdent Virtualization and k0rdent AI maturity is not labelled GA in the sources read.
Mirantis partner, training and price facts were not found.
MKE 3 still serves Swarm users; scores mix MKE 3.9 and MKE 4.2 capabilities as products buyable today.