<p>So Google Kubernetes is a Docker container cluster management solution that helps deploy, scale, schedule and maintenance sets of containers simple.</p>

<p>Apache Mesos is a work scheduler that figures out where jobs (e.g. deploying a Docker container, some batch processing job, etc.) should run.</p>

<p>Kubernetes can be "raw" and run stadalone, or there is the <em>Kubernetes on Mesos</em> option where Kubernetes is deployed as a Mesos framework and runs on top of your Mesos cluster.</p>

<p><strong>I'm wondering what benefits, if any, there are to running Kubernetes on Mesos, as opposed to "raw" Kubernetes?</strong></p>

<p>Mesos can do non-Docker work: it can run Java/Python/Ruby/etc. apps on normal Linux VMs. It can run scripts. It's just a general work engine. So at first glance, it seems that the only advantage <em>Kubernetes on Mesos</em> offers is that it places your Kubernetes cluster onto Mesos, where you can run other jobs that aren't Dockerized.</p>

<p>I'm sure I'm not seeing the "forest through the trees" here, but if I already know I'm going to use Docker and Kubernetes, why might I consider running Kubernetes on Mesos?</p>

<p>I recently gave a presentation at the London Mesos User Group, addressing exactly this question: <a href="https://speakerdeck.com/mhausenblas/can-i-have-mesos-and-kubernetes" rel="noreferrer">Can I have Mesos and Kubernetes?</a> with a demo available <a href="https://gist.github.com/mhausenblas/07c03d4230a5e6ec3b46" rel="noreferrer">here</a>. Bottom-line: it is all about hybrid workloads.</p>

<p>If you can and want to go all in concerning Docker, that is, you containerize <em>all</em> your workloads, then nothing (or <a href="http://www.theplatform.net/2015/09/15/kubernetes-has-a-ways-to-go-to-scale-like-google-mesos/" rel="noreferrer">little</a>) speaks against Kubernetes standalone.</p>
