Small business▲+3Since September 2026: 5% → 8%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
8%from 5% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 8 pointsRank 4 → 3 of 68
Linode · 1 category · RankedLinode Kubernetes Engine
65Judge labels
6First choices
14Negative labels
12 / 14Models named it
1Category
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.8, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
7% in Managed Kubernetes for small business buyers
Rank 6 of 52 in the mid-market standingcriticized challenger
1 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 32% of its 22 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Linode Kubernetes Engine →By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business3 of 76
7%37 labels
accepted challenger
Mid-market6 of 52
3%22 labels
criticized challenger
Enterprise51 of 52
0%6 labels
under the label threshold
In managed kubernetes · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Linode Kubernetes Engine for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes platforms | Cloud and infrastructure | 3% | 6 of 52 | 32% | 22 | criticized challenger | ▼−8Since September 2026: 10% → 2%, −8 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Linode Kubernetes Engine held within the floor in its one category: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Managed Kubernetes · by segment
Mid-market▼−8Since September 2026: 10% → 2%, −8 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 10% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 3 pointsRank 4 → 6 of 46
Enterprise=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 52 → 46 of 47
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes | 10% | 2% | ▼−8Since September 2026: 10% → 2%, −8 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 4 → 6 of 52 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Linode Kubernetes Engine across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Linode Kubernetes Engine across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct11 labels2
Paraphrase1 labelNone
Comparative10 labelsNone
Budget-constrained20 labels3
Scale-constrained5 labels1
Negative18 labels3not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative65 labels in all, every segment counted; 6 of the 9 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Best for developers, startups, and mid-market teams that need affordable managed Kubernetes with transparent pricing.” Llama 4 Maverick · Managed Kubernetes · direct prompt · first choice
“Absolute cheapest to start: DigitalOcean Kubernetes or Linode LKE” Muse Glimmer 30B · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · first choice
“Recommended for startups and small businesses due to its affordability and ease of use.” Mistral Small · Managed Kubernetes · budget prompt · alternative
“DOKS and LKE remove 90% of the complexity, offering a basic control plane” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Managed Kubernetes · comparative prompt · alternative
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Multiple negative labels indicate reliability issues; not recommended for core mission-critical production workloads” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · hard negative
“88% negative label rate. "Avoid these for core mission-critical production workloads."” Muse Glimmer 30B · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · hard negative
“May be economical but often lack enterprise-grade features, HA guarantees, or mature tooling ecosystems” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · soft negative
“be cautious about scaling massive, mission-critical, enterprise-grade production workloads on them” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Managed Kubernetes · negative prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Linode Kubernetes Engine, over the 65 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Linode Kubernetes Engine was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Linode Kubernetes Engine, over the 65 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Linode Kubernetes Engine was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Linode Kubernetes Engine. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 61 of the 65 answers that named Linode Kubernetes Engine and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
medium.com41
digitalocean.com33
spot.rackspace.com33
it-ai-index.com28
blog.railway.com26
dev.to25
linkedin.com22
northflank.com21
portainer.io13
controlplane.com12
254 of the 254 domain citations in answers naming Linode Kubernetes Engine came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
linode.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Linode Kubernetes Engine takes 3% of first choices and Google Kubernetes Engine takes 43%.ShowHide
Search and answers
linode.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Linode Kubernetes Engine takes 3% of first choices and Google Kubernetes Engine takes 43%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “managed kubernetes platform”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “managed kubernetes platforms”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 30 a month (“linode kubernetes engine”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 1 a month
- Its company's site
- linode.com shared with Linode's other products; the figures are the site's
- Organic visits to its site
- about 15,263 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 2,863 · 155 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 19,420
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
3%
rank 6 of 52 in managed kubernetes
Segment leader
43%
Google Kubernetes Engine
- First choices
- 6 across its categories
- Named in
- 65 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 61 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Linode Kubernetes Engine; a claim can dispute any of them.
Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) 5Linode LKE 4Linode 2Linode/Akamai 2Linode (Akamai Easy Infrastructure) / LKE 1Linode (Akamai) 1Linode (Akamai) Kubernetes 1Linode (now Akamai) 1Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE by Akamai) 1Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE, now Akamai) 1
Follow Linode Kubernetes Engine
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Linode is the company behind Linode Kubernetes Engine.ShowHide
The company
Linode is the company behind Linode Kubernetes Engine.
ShowHideOn record
Company records- Also from Linode
- Linode Managed Databases, Linode NodeBalancer, Linode Object Storage
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- Déployez et gérez des conteneurs sur Kubernetes sans complexité ni frais supplémentaires
- For
- Développeurs; ingénieurs plateforme; start-ups; dév./test; petite production; grande production; charges de travail d'IA multi-équipes
- Price stated
- sans frais supplémentaires; Payez uniquement pour les nœuds, le stockage et les dispositifs d'équilibrage de la charge; haute disponibilité à partir de 60 $/cluster linode.com/fr/products/kubernetes
- Starting price
- 60 $/cluster linode.com/fr/products/kubernetes
- Free plan or trial
- Plan de contrôle gratuit linode.com/fr/products/kubernetes
- Certifications
- certifié CNCFconformité Kubernetes certifié par la CNCFcertificación CNCFCNCFKubernetes Conformance ProgramCNCF-zertifiziertCNCF 認定CNCF の認定 Kubernetes Conformance Program
- Hosting
- disponibilidad
- Customers named
- EyevinnMTISharePlayエムティーアイ
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations
What Linode Kubernetes Engine's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: linode.com/fr/products/kubernetes, linode.com/es/products/kubernetes, linode.com/it/products/kubernetes, linode.com/de/products/kubernetes, linode.com/ja/products/kubernetes. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Linode Kubernetes Engine's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Linode Kubernetes Engine, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Linode Kubernetes Engine by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Linode Kubernetes Engine is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Linode Kubernetes Engine, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.