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CNCF End Users

Proven performance in production by the organizations running cloud native at scale

Welcome to the home of the CNCF End User Community — the practitioners, architects, and organizations running cloud native technologies in production.

Work with proven leaders

Maximize what open source can do for your business, alongside the organizations already doing it at scale.

Stay ahead of change

CNCF projects move at high velocity — end users keep their organizations in the know on modern infrastructure.

Sustain open source

Pool resources with your peers to support the sustainable development of the projects you depend on.

Elevate your platform teams

A supportive, knowledge-focused community where teamwork and empathy help your teams succeed.

SNCF Groupe representatives accepting the 2026 Top End User Award on the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon keynote stage

SNCF Groupe accepting the 2026 Top End User Award at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe.

Start here​

  • Reference Architectures — real-world architectures from organizations running cloud native at scale, reviewed by the End User TAB
  • Community — the End User Technical Advisory Board, End User Groups, and how to get involved
  • Awards — the organizations recognized for advancing cloud native as end users
  • Metrics — a transparent snapshot of ecosystem and end-user activity
  • Events — where the community gathers at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon

Member proof and recognition​

The End User Community is where production experience gets recognized. Recent Top End User Award winners include SNCF, Michelin, ANT Group, Adobe, and CERN — organizations that have shared architectures, case studies, and operational lessons with the wider community.

Production becomes open source

Lead the way, set the industry standard

These projects prove that cloud native end users are at the leading edge of innovation. They started as production solutions inside organizations like Lyft, Uber, Spotify, YouTube, and Intuit — then became part of the foundation the whole ecosystem builds on.

EnvoyBorn at LyftOriginally built at Lyft before becoming a CNCF project.Visit project JaegerBorn at UberOpen sourced by Uber to make distributed tracing practical.Visit project BackstageBorn at SpotifyCreated at Spotify to help teams build and operate software catalogs.Visit project VitessBorn at YouTubeFirst developed at YouTube to scale MySQL for production workloads.Visit project ArgoBorn at IntuitDonated to CNCF by Intuit after growing from an internal tool.Visit project

Running something your peers would benefit from? Talk to the End User TAB about sharing projects and architectures.

Find your path​

For practitioners and engineers

Compare how peers solve the same problems in reference architectures, join an End User Group in your industry, and ask questions in #enduser on CNCF Slack.

Join the Slack conversation

For architects

Submit your organization's architecture for peer and TAB review, or browse the catalog for vetted patterns, trade-offs, and lessons learned.

Start a reference architecture

For engineering leaders

Bring your organization into the CNCF End User Community to connect with fellow leaders, influence project direction, and recognize your team's work.

Learn about membership

For organizations considering CNCF

Explore CNCF case studies, the End User Technology Radar, and the Cloud Native Maturity Model to see how peers adopt and scale cloud native.

Read case studies

Networking and events​

Connect with peers through the channels and events built for end users:

  • KubeCon + CloudNativeCon End User Summit — a practitioner-focused forum for operational experience and architecture lessons. See End User Events for the latest.
  • End User Reception — networking for CNCF End User Community members during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon.
  • End User Groups — industry-focused groups for financial services, research, public sector, telecom, and transportation. Browse groups.
  • CNCF Slack — real-time conversation in #enduser, #tab, and group channels. Join Slack.

Start contributing: a low-friction ladder​

You do not need to be a maintainer or write code to contribute. Every step below adds value and helps the next adopter.

1

Listen and connect

Join #enduser on CNCF Slack and subscribe to the End User mailing list.

2

Show up

Attend the public TAB meeting or an End User Group call to learn how peers work.

3

Share what you know

Answer questions, recommend a tool, or point someone to a case study from your experience.

4

Contribute a reference architecture

Document a real-world design through the reference architecture submission process.

5

Help shape direction

Join an End User Group or the End User TAB to advise on priorities, review architectures, and represent end-user needs.

Get involved​