Argo CD vs Flux

GitOps continuous delivery tools for Kubernetes compared.

Overview

What is being compared

Argo CD and Flux are the two dominant GitOps tools for Kubernetes. Both are CNCF projects, and both reconcile a cluster against a Git repository that serves as the source of truth.

Model — Application-centric — Composable controllers
Primary interface — Rich web UI — CLI-first
Architecture — Centralized server — Pure pull-based controllers in the cluster
Source of truth — Git — Git
Governance — CNCF project — CNCF project

How Argo CD reconciles

One Argo CD server tracks each Application, compares Git with the live cluster and syncs the difference, with the status shown in its UI.

How Flux reconciles

Flux splits the job across controllers that run in the cluster and pull from Git themselves: source-controller fetches the repository, and kustomize-controller and helm-controller apply what it fetched.

What each one gives you

Green cells are built into the tool, yellow cells are done another way, and grey cells name the job.

> [!TIP] Both reconcilers side by side, a rollback done each way, and the choice between them play step by step in Visual Explanation below.