You cannot run TKGS without a valid subscription key applied to vCenter Server. Evaluation mode expires after 60 days.
| Feature | TKGS under VCF | TKGS under VVF | |---------|----------------|----------------| | NSX Advanced Networking | ✅ Full (N/S + E/W, load balancer, ingress) | ❌ Only N-S load balancer (NSX ALB) – no pod-to-pod encryption | | Storage capabilities | vSAN, NFS, VMFS, iSCSI + volume snapshots | vSAN, NFS, VMFS (no snapshot restore via TKGS) | | Multi-tenancy (vSphere Namespaces) | Unlimited | Limited to 3 Namespaces per cluster | | Cluster lifecycle management | Full (scale, upgrade, repair) | Full | | Tanzu Mission Control integration | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | | TKG Service version | Latest (aligned with VCF) | Latest | | Direct control plane access | ✅ Supervisor API | ✅ Supervisor API | | Price (relative) | Higher | Lower | tanzu kubernetes grid service license
Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service (the tightly integrated, supervisor-cluster-based Kubernetes service on vSphere) is not licensed separately . Its license is bundled into broader VMware suites. This guide explains exactly which licenses grant you TKGS rights and how to track consumption. You cannot run TKGS without a valid subscription
There are two distinct consumption models. Your license determines which you can use. Its license is bundled into broader VMware suites