CIOPages
For vendorsCorrections to your listing are free
Fix an error, free List a company, free Order a Spotlight listingAbout Spotlight listings
DirectoryDevOps & Platform EngineeringCI/CD & Build Automationko

ko

Open Source

About ko

ko offers a container image builder for Go applications. It builds images without requiring docker to be installed. It is suited to images containing a single Go application without many OS base image dependencies. It supports multi-platform builds, produces SBOMs by default, and includes simple YAML templating for Kubernetes applications. It is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox project.

Used for

  • Building container images for Go applications
  • Running lightweight CI/CD workflows
  • Building multi-platform images
  • Producing SBOMs for images
  • Templating YAML for Kubernetes applications

From ko's own website, read 2026-10-23. How we build listings.

How to evaluate CI/CD & Build Automation

This is how the CIOPages Research Team evaluates this category. It is not an assessment of ko. It comes from our CI/CD Pipeline Platforms buyer guide.

25%
Pipeline-as-Code & Authoring
YAML/declarative pipeline definition, reusable components (GitLab CI/CD components, Actions reusable workflows, CircleCI orbs), matrix/parallel builds, DAG fan-out, templating and inheritance, dynamic pipelines, and how readable the config stays at scale
20%
Supply-Chain Security
Short-lived OIDC credentials to cloud (no long-lived keys), scoped/ephemeral secrets, SBOM generation, signed-artifact provenance and SLSA build levels (attestations, Sigstore/cosign), dependency and secret scanning, and tamper-resistant, immutable build logs
20%
Runner Model & Performance
Managed vs. self-hosted vs. hybrid runners, Linux/Windows/macOS and Arm/GPU support, build caching and artifact reuse, concurrency and queue behavior under load, autoscaling, and access to private networks and internal artifacts
15%
SCM & Ecosystem Integration
Depth of integration with your source-control platform, breadth of marketplace/plugin/orb ecosystem, container-registry and Kubernetes/Argo CD ties, API and webhook coverage, and how cleanly it spans multiple SCMs or clouds if your estate is mixed
10%
Governance, Compliance & Audit
RBAC and SSO/SAML/SCIM, environment approvals and protected deployments, policy-as-code and required checks, segregation of duties, audit logging and change history, and SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / FedRAMP coverage for regulated delivery
10%
Cost Model & Operations
Per-user vs. consumption/credit vs. self-hosted economics at your real build volume, billing transparency, observability into pipeline duration and flakiness, AI assist for failure triage and config, and the maintenance burden the platform imposes on your team

CIOPages put this listing together from public sources. It’s information, not an endorsement. How we build listings. Work here? Claim this listing or .

Quick Facts

ko.build
CategoryDevOps & Platform Engineering
SubcategoryCI/CD & Build Automation

We publish a detail only when we can point at the page it came from. Know when ko was founded or where it is based? Send it to us, free.

Keep reading

Buyer Guide
CI/CD Pipeline Platforms
Decision tool
Build vs. Buy Decision Tool

A structured 10-question framework to decide whether to build or purchase software.

Checklist
Engineering Manager Effectiveness Checklist

Self-assessment for engineering managers across people, delivery, and technical dimensions.