GravityKit
GravityKit folds every GravityView extension into one Pro plugin.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Clair vs KubeVirt
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clair and KubeVirt — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Clair vs KubeVirt: at a glance
What is Clair?
Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.
Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.
What is KubeVirt?
KubeVirt 1.10 hits rc.1 with incremental VM backup in beta and a port-forward CVE fixed.
KubeVirt runs a long pre-release cycle per minor version, and 1.10 is now at rc.1 (12 November) with 1,761 changes from 104 contributors since 1.9.1. The cycle centres on VM data protection: incremental backup and the backup API move to beta, offline incremental backup and an External snapshot mode arrive. rc.1 also lists a fix for an SSRF flaw (CVE-2026-13318) that let a malicious guest agent redirect virtctl port-forward and ssh traffic.
Clair vs KubeVirt: editorial side-by-side
Clair
2.5INFRA · APIS
Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.
◆ Current state
Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.
◆ Where it's heading
Since 4.8 Clair has moved from Red Hat's older OVAL data to VEX, and each release follows Red Hat's security data more closely. 4.10 adds SBOMs as an input, so Clair can match what an image's own manifest declares, not only what it finds on disk.
◆ Prediction
More 4.10 release candidates and then a final are likely; the long gap between releases suggests that could take weeks.
KubeVirt
5.0INFRA · APIS
KubeVirt 1.10 hits rc.1 with incremental VM backup in beta and a port-forward CVE fixed.
◆ Current state
KubeVirt runs a long pre-release cycle per minor version, and 1.10 is now at rc.1 (12 November) with 1,761 changes from 104 contributors since 1.9.1. The cycle centres on VM data protection: incremental backup and the backup API move to beta, offline incremental backup and an External snapshot mode arrive. rc.1 also lists a fix for an SSRF flaw (CVE-2026-13318) that let a malicious guest agent redirect virtctl port-forward and ssh traffic.
◆ Where it's heading
1.10 is turning KubeVirt's backup story from experimental into something operators can plan around, while DRA-based networking and CPU allocation move it closer to how Kubernetes now hands out hardware. Lower overhead is a side thread: virt-launcher-monitor was rewritten in C to use about 2 MiB. Based on the 1.9 cycle, which went rc.0 to rc.2 in four weeks, the final release is likely a few weeks out.
◆ Prediction
Expect at least one more 1.10 release candidate, then the final, with incremental backup as the headline beta feature.
Alternatives to Clair and KubeVirt
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Clair or KubeVirt.
Payload CMS
Payload's v4 beta.9 keeps every past image crop and raises the Node floor again.
Nautobot
Nautobot 3.3 alpha 2 adds test helpers and a cable location filter after 3.2.9's token-leak fix.
Shuffle
Shuffle tags builds almost daily, but the notes are empty.
KrakenD
KrakenD's community edition is shipping only dependency bumps.
Velociraptor
Velociraptor's recent releases are mostly about patching CVEs.
See all Clair alternatives → · See all KubeVirt alternatives →
Recent activity from Clair and KubeVirt
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
- 1d agoKubeVirtKubeVirt 1.10 rc.1 fixes a port-forward SSRF and VM start bugs
- 11d agoKubeVirtKubeVirt 1.10 RC brings incremental backup to beta
- 1mo agoKubeVirtKubeVirt 1.10 beta opens with 1,345 changes
- 2mo agoKubeVirtv1.10.0-alpha.0
- 3mo agoKubeVirtv1.9.0-rc.2
- 4mo agoKubeVirtv1.9.0-rc.1
- 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
- 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
- 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
- 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
- 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Clair and KubeVirt?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. KubeVirt is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Clair better than KubeVirt?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. KubeVirt is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Clair?
Top Clair alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clair alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clair for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to KubeVirt?
Top KubeVirt alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "KubeVirt alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/kubevirt for the full list with editorial commentary on each.