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Developer Tools · head to head

Okteto vs Teleport

Okteto logo

Okteto

Developer Tools

Runs production-like development environments on your own Kubernetes cluster

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Teleport logo

Teleport

Cybersecurity

Certificate-based access to servers, Kubernetes, databases and apps, replacing shared credentials and VPNs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Okteto has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Okteto two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.; Teleport pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • They diverge on capability: Okteto covers Cluster development environments, Teleport covers Short-lived certificates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Okteto and Teleport actually diverge.

Attributes where Okteto and Teleport differ
AttributeOktetoTeleport
Starting priceFreeOn request
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, WebLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: pricing model (quote), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Okteto

  • Cluster development environments
  • File synchronisation
  • Development containers
  • Environment catalogue
  • Preview environments
  • Bring your own cloud

Only in Teleport

  • Short-lived certificates
  • Protocol coverage
  • Session recording and replay
  • Access Requests
  • Device Trust
  • Identity provider integration
  • Machine identity
  • FIPS and FedRAMP builds

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Okteto

  • A microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptopnot Teleport
  • Giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describenot Teleport
  • Letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocksnot Teleport
  • Removing a fleet of local Kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test resultsnot Teleport

Teleport

  • Removing long-lived SSH keys and shared database passwords so that offboarding an engineer takes one action in the identity providernot Okteto
  • Producing session recordings and per-user database audit trails as direct evidence for SOC 2 or FedRAMPnot Okteto
  • Giving contractors or on-call engineers time-boxed, approved access to production instead of standing admin rightsnot Okteto
  • Replacing a flat VPN with per-resource authorisation across servers, Kubernetes and internal web appsnot Okteto

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Okteto

  • Two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.
  • The Apache-2.0 CLI is restricted to the development section of the manifest, so build services, user management and observability all require the commercial platform and the open licence provides very little continuity insurance.
  • The last disclosed funding round is a 15 million US dollar Series A from February 2022 with nothing announced since, and the contributor base is dominated by company employees, which is concentrated risk for something embedded in every developer daily loop.
  • You must bring and pay for the Kubernetes cluster, so node cost, capacity planning and version upgrades stay with your platform team on top of the licence fee.
  • The 2026 repositioning towards AI agents means the classic developer inner loop is no longer what the marketing leads with, so a buyer purchasing that use case should confirm roadmap commitment rather than assume it.

Teleport

  • Pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • The proxy is a hard dependency on reaching production, so it needs its own high availability deployment and a tested break-glass path or an outage in Teleport becomes an outage in your ability to respond to outages.
  • The open source Community Edition omits Access Requests, Device Trust and the FIPS builds, which are exactly the controls an auditor asks about, so the free tier rarely survives a compliance review.
  • Self-hosting means running and upgrading a certificate authority and its backing store, and Teleport releases frequently enough that upgrade work becomes a standing operational commitment.
  • Coverage across protocols is uneven in depth, so teams with legacy systems, unusual databases or bespoke network appliances find gaps that still require the old VPN to remain in place alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Okteto

Free
  • StarterFree
    • 5 seats included
    • Self-hosted deployment into your own cluster
    • Community support
  • Scale$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price, currency or billing period published
    • More seats and environments than Starter
    • Self-hosted deployment
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price published
    • Bring your own cloud deployment
    • Available through Google Cloud and AWS marketplaces

Teleport

On request
  • Teleport Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Open source, self-hosted
    • SSH, Kubernetes, database and app access
    • Session recording
  • Teleport Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Cloud-hosted or self-hosted
    • Access Requests and approval workflow
    • Device Trust and hardware key enforcement

Which should you pick?

Choose Okteto if

  • You need cluster development environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want file synchronisation.
Okteto review

Choose Teleport if

  • You need short-lived certificates.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want protocol coverage.
Teleport review

Questions people ask

Is Okteto or Teleport better?
Neither clearly leads. Okteto starts at Free and Teleport at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Okteto or Teleport?
Okteto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Okteto and On request for Teleport.
Does Okteto or Teleport run on more platforms?
Okteto runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web. Teleport runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Okteto for free?
Yes. Okteto has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Teleport starts at On request.
What is Okteto best used for?
Okteto is most often used for a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop, giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe, letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocks, removing a fleet of local kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test results. Of those, a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop and giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe are not what Teleport is typically brought in for.
What can Okteto do that Teleport cannot?
Okteto covers Cluster development environments, File synchronisation, Development containers, Environment catalogue. Teleport covers Short-lived certificates, Protocol coverage, Session recording and replay, Access Requests.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Okteto: Is Okteto open source?

The CLI is Apache-2.0, but the README states it supports only the development section of the manifest. Everything operationally interesting, including builds, user management and observability, is in the commercial platform.

Teleport: Is the open source edition usable in production?

Yes, but it lacks Access Requests, Device Trust and FIPS builds, which most compliance programmes end up requiring.

Okteto: What does it cost?

Only the free Starter tier with five seats is published. Scale and Enterprise are both contact sales, with no price, currency or billing period disclosed on the pricing page.

Teleport: How is it priced?

Not publicly. The vendor prices on active users and protected resources and provides a quote after a sales conversation.

Okteto: Do I need my own Kubernetes cluster?

Yes. Okteto installs into a cluster you provide and pay for, so capacity, upgrades and node costs remain your responsibility in addition to the licence.

Teleport: What happens if Teleport goes down?

Nobody reaches the resources behind it, so you need a highly available deployment and a documented break-glass procedure.

Okteto: How is this different from running Kubernetes locally?

Environments run against the same managed databases, queues and service mesh as production, so a class of failures that only appears in a real cluster is caught before merge rather than after deploy.

Teleport: Does it replace our VPN?

For anything you put behind it, yes. Legacy systems and appliances it does not support will keep the VPN alive.

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