Kubescape alternatives for Kubernetes vulnerability scanning

People look for a Kubescape or ARMO alternative for three reasons: the public price disappeared and the free tier is a sales funnel, the company has moved its focus from Kubernetes security to cloud detection and response, and the open-source scanner alone leaves you building the history and fleet view yourself.

Facts last checked . Prices and features change — verify with the vendor before deciding.

What Kubescape does well

Before the list: Kubescape is a good tool for the right team. Kubescape is a CNCF-incubating open-source Kubernetes security scanner whose in-cluster operator includes eBPF runtime relevancy and runtime threat detection; ARMO Platform is the commercial SaaS built on it, adding a hosted dashboard, history across clusters, EPSS/KEV-based prioritisation and, more recently, cloud detection and response.

  • CNCF-incubating project with a large open-source community and a wide feature surface: misconfigurations, compliance frameworks, RBAC and vulnerabilities in one tool.
  • The open-source operator’s eBPF node agent provides “relevancy”: it can tell which vulnerable packages are actually loaded in memory, which StackRadar does not do. Kubescape 4.0 (March 2026) made its runtime threat detection generally available.
  • ARMO Platform’s prioritisation uses CVSS, EPSS, KEV and fixability — the same signals StackRadar uses — on top of the relevancy data.
  • Enterprise logos and a sales-led motion if you want a vendor relationship.

Kubescape pricing

ARMO no longer publishes pricing. Before it was withdrawn, the platform was listed at roughly $59 per worker node per month with a free tier of up to ten nodes and one month of retention. Per-node pricing scales with cluster size; StackRadar’s Pro plan is $59 per month at the beta price ($99 standard) for up to five clusters regardless of node count.

Kubescape alternatives

1. StackRadar (that's us)

StackRadar keeps a CycloneDX SBOM for every image running in your Kubernetes clusters and re-checks it against OSV.dev advisories as they land — no rescan. Findings are ranked by the Radar Score, which combines CVSS, EPSS and the CISA KEV catalogue in a published formula, and every finding carries its workload, Helm release and ArgoCD application. One dashboard covers every cluster, with one to two years of history by plan. The whole product is open source and free to self-host for one cluster; the scanner installs as one Helm chart, releases are signed, and cloud data stays in the EU. The cloud starts with a 14-day free trial; then Pro $59 and Business $199 per month at the beta price ($99 and $299 standard).

Where Kubescape is stronger: you want misconfiguration, compliance and RBAC scanning in the same tool as vulnerabilities. See StackRadar vs Kubescape for the full comparison.

2. Trivy Operator

Trivy Operator is the free, Apache-2.0 Kubernetes operator from Aqua Security that scans running workloads with Trivy and writes the results into the cluster as custom resources.

Best for: You run one or two clusters and mainly want to know what is vulnerable right now. Pricing: Free (Apache-2.0); you run and operate it. Compare with StackRadar · Trivy Operator website

3. Sysdig Secure

Sysdig Secure is an enterprise cloud-native application protection platform built on Falco, with an eBPF agent per node, runtime threat detection, and vulnerability management that pairs SBOMs with runtime “in use” data.

Best for: You need runtime threat detection and response, not just vulnerability tracking. Pricing: Quote-only; reported ~$40–120 per host per month. Compare with StackRadar · Sysdig Secure website

4. Fairwinds Insights

Fairwinds Insights is a Kubernetes governance and cost platform — Polaris policies, deprecated-API detection, right-sizing — that includes container vulnerability scanning by wrapping Trivy.

Best for: Your main problem is configuration, policy and cost, and vulnerabilities are secondary. Pricing: Free ≤20 nodes / 2 clusters; paid quote-only (~$100/node/mo reported). Compare with StackRadar · Fairwinds Insights website

Should you switch?

Choose Kubescape if

  • You want misconfiguration, compliance and RBAC scanning in the same tool as vulnerabilities.
  • Runtime “is this package actually loaded?” filtering is a hard requirement.
  • You prefer a CNCF project with a large community behind the open-source half.
  • You want a sales-led vendor relationship with an enterprise contract.

Choose StackRadar if

  • You want a published price you can put on a credit card, not a quote.
  • You want the scanner’s source, release signatures and scoring formula open to audit.
  • You want EU-only data residency and only the SBOM leaving the cluster.
  • You want vulnerability history and a multi-cluster view without a per-node bill.

Frequently asked questions

How much does ARMO Platform cost?

ARMO does not publish current pricing. Earlier public listings showed roughly $59 per worker node per month with a free tier up to ten nodes. Contact ARMO for a quote; for comparison, StackRadar is free to self-host and publishes flat per-cluster prices for the cloud.

Is Kubescape free?

Kubescape, the open-source project, is free under Apache-2.0. The ARMO Platform SaaS built on it has a free tier and paid plans that are quote-based.

Does StackRadar have runtime reachability like Kubescape?

No. StackRadar shows every vulnerable package in every running image and ranks by real-world exploitability (EPSS and CISA KEV). It does not use eBPF to filter out packages that are not loaded, because a filter you cannot audit can hide risk. If runtime relevancy is a hard requirement, Kubescape — free, or with ARMO Platform on top — is the better fit.

More alternatives pages