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🔧 Open Policy Agent (OPA) / Gatekeeper

Open Policy Agent (OPA) / Gatekeeper

Policy-based control for cloud native environments.

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Overview

Open Policy Agent (OPA) is a powerful, open-source, general-purpose policy engine that unifies policy enforcement across different technologies and systems. For Kubernetes, OPA is most commonly used with Gatekeeper, which provides a Kubernetes-native admission controller to enforce policies written in OPA's declarative language, Rego. This combination allows for fine-grained, context-aware policies for admission control, auditing, and more.

✨ Key Features

  • General-purpose policy engine (not limited to Kubernetes)
  • Declarative policy language (Rego)
  • Context-aware policies
  • Decouples policy from application logic
  • Auditing capabilities
  • Validating and Mutating admission control

🎯 Key Differentiators

  • General-purpose engine applicable beyond Kubernetes
  • Powerful and flexible Rego language for complex policies
  • Graduated CNCF project with a large ecosystem

Unique Value: A single tool and language to enforce policy across your entire cloud-native stack.

🎯 Use Cases (5)

Kubernetes admission control API authorization Infrastructure as Code (IaC) validation Data filtering and protection Consistent policy enforcement across multiple platforms

✅ Best For

  • Enforcing complex security and compliance policies in Kubernetes
  • Centralized authorization for microservices

💡 Check With Vendor

Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:

  • Teams wanting a simple, Kubernetes-only solution without learning a new language

🏆 Alternatives

Kyverno Styra

More powerful and flexible than Kubernetes-specific tools, but requires learning the Rego language.

💻 Platforms

API

🔌 Integrations

Kubernetes Envoy Terraform Kafka Microservices CI/CD pipelines

🛟 Support Options

  • ✓ Live Chat
  • ✓ Dedicated Support (Enterprise (via vendors like Styra) tier)

💰 Pricing

Contact for pricing
Free Tier Available

Free tier: Fully open source and free.

Visit Open Policy Agent (OPA) / Gatekeeper Website →

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