Kubernetes Deployment Strategies for Small Businesses on Hetzner Cloud: k3s Takes the Lead

This article compares four Kubernetes deployment options on Hetzner Cloud: k3s, MicroK8s, Minikube, and Docker Swarm. For resource-constrained small businesses, k3s stands out due to its lightweight nature (40MB binary, 512MB RAM baseline), high availability support (embedded etcd), and easy deployment (single command installation). Performance benchmarks show k3s clusters achieve production-grade performance and stability on Hetzner, outperforming other options in cost and scalability. While Docker Swarm offers simplicity, it lacks the features and scalability of k3s. For deployments exceeding 100 nodes, a hybrid approach combining k3s worker pools with Hetzner's managed Kubernetes service is recommended.