Riding the Wave: A Mid-Year Look at CNCF Project Momentum
At this point, it’s almost cliché to say Kubernetes is king in the cloud native world. But sometimes clichés exist for a reason — and the data doesn’t lie. The latest mid-year snapshot from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), based on contributions from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, confirms that Kubernetes remains firmly planted on the throne with more than 3,500 authors contributing across tens of thousands of PRs and issues.
But while Kubernetes may still be the gravitational center of CNCF, it’s not the only star burning bright. In fact, this year’s CNCF momentum chart (see image below) offers a fascinating look at the velocity and vitality of projects across the foundation’s massive open source ecosystem.
Let’s dig into what’s really moving the needle in cloud native right now.
OpenTelemetry: The Real Power Player?
While Kubernetes still reigns in sheer size, OpenTelemetry is arguably the breakout leader in momentum. With 1,884 authors contributing over the last year, this project has seen phenomenal growth. Its velocity — measured by pull requests (PRs) and issues — is second only to Kubernetes, and in some cases may be surpassing it when adjusted for scope.
That’s not a surprise for anyone paying attention to observability trends. As distributed systems grow increasingly complex, instrumentation is no longer optional — it’s foundational. OpenTelemetry provides a single framework for collecting metrics, logs and traces. The fact that it’s quickly becoming the lingua franca of observability speaks volumes about how mature the cloud native ecosystem has become.
Backstage, Platform Engineering, and the Rise of Internal Developer Portals
Another eye-catching riser is Backstage, the platform engineering darling originally developed by Spotify. With 649 unique contributors, it’s now one of the top projects by both author count and activity. Its presence in the top right quadrant of the chart is a loud and clear signal that internal developer platforms (IDPs) aren’t just a passing trend — they’re shaping the future of software delivery.
Backstage’s success also highlights a broader shift: organizations are investing in tools that serve developers directly. Platform engineering, which focuses on creating golden paths and reducing developer toil, is no longer the shiny new thing — it’s quickly becoming table stakes.
GitOps Keeps on Truckin’
While GitOps might not grab the headlines like AI or platform engineering, it’s quietly become the de facto standard for deploying and managing Kubernetes infrastructure. Two projects, Argo and Flux, continue to hold strong positions in the CNCF momentum landscape.
Argo, with over 860 contributors, remains a powerhouse, especially for progressive delivery and workflows. Flux, while smaller in contributor base (156 authors), continues to grow steadily and is widely used in production environments. Both prove that GitOps isn’t a niche — it’s a foundation of modern operations.
AI’s Fingerprints: Kubeflow and Beyond
It’s no secret that AI is the tech story of the decade. And it’s beginning to show in CNCF circles as well. Kubeflow — once seen as a fringe machine learning toolkit—is now solidly in the top 30 CNCF and Linux Foundation open source projects.
With 302 contributors and growing, Kubeflow’s momentum shows that organizations are serious about marrying AI workloads with their cloud native infrastructure. Whether you’re deploying models at the edge or managing complex pipelines, AI is now a cloud native workload, full stop.
A Glimpse Ahead to KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America
This fall in Atlanta, the Techstrong TV crew will once again be live from the show floor at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America. And you can bet we’ll be paying close attention to how these trends evolve between now and then.
Will OpenTelemetry continue its blistering pace? Will the Backstage ecosystem diversify into even more plugin-heavy use cases? Will GitOps finally get the mainstream love it deserves?
And what about the other ~200 projects under CNCF’s ever-growing umbrella? Projects like Cilium, Envoy, Meshery, OpenFeature and Dapr are all showing strong upward movement, proving there’s more to the story than just the headliners.
The Bigger Picture: DevOps, Cloud Native and the Expanding Lifecycle
The broader trend we’re seeing at Techstrong — and one we’ve been reporting on consistently — is the convergence of DevOps and cloud native. But now, the conversation is getting even richer.
Enter platform engineering, SRE and agentic AI.
We’re seeing the software lifecycle evolve from a loose collection of disciplines into a more mature and integrated ecosystem. Developers are no longer just writing code — they’re working within systems that abstract complexity, automate resilience and integrate security and observability from the start.
That’s not just cloud native. That’s next-gen software delivery.
Final Thoughts: Leaders to Watch, Projects to Follow
While this chart highlights the top ~30 projects, it’s worth remembering the CNCF hosts nearly 200 projects overall. From service meshes to secure runtimes to policy-as-code tools, the foundation’s ecosystem is as broad as it is deep.
But charts like this give us a way to take the pulse — who’s rising, who’s sustaining and where innovation is clustering.
And if history is any guide, the real breakout hit of 2026 might be a small project today, quietly trending upward from the lower-left of that momentum matrix.
As they say: Up and to the right.
📍 Techstrong will be broadcasting live from KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Atlanta — stay tuned for exclusive interviews, insights and real-time coverage. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the momentum and your ears to the ground. The cloud native story is far from over.
