---
title: Prerequisites and compatibility for Kubernetes observability with Elastic OpenTelemetry
description: Prerequisites and compatibility information for monitoring Kubernetes with {{edot}}.
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4302/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/use-cases/kubernetes/prerequisites-compatibility
products:
  - Elastic Agent
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Documentation
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Serverless Observability projects: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
  - Elastic Agent: Generally available
---

# Prerequisites and compatibility for Kubernetes observability with Elastic OpenTelemetry
Before setting up observability for Kubernetes, make sure you have the following:
- Elastic Stack (self-managed or [Elastic Cloud](https://www.elastic.co/cloud)) version 8.16.0 or higher, or an [Elasticsearch Serverless](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4302/solutions/search) project.
- A Kubernetes version supported by the OpenTelemetry Operator. Refer to the operator's [compatibility matrix](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/blob/main/docs/getting-started/compatibility.md#compatibility-matrix) for more details.
- If you opt for automatic certificate generation and renewal on the OpenTelemetry Operator, install [cert-manager](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/) in the Kubernetes cluster. By default, the operator uses a self-signed certificate and doesn't require cert-manager.


## Compatibility matrix

The minimum supported version of the Elastic Stack for OpenTelemetry-based monitoring on Kubernetes is `8.16.0`. Different Elastic Stack releases support specific versions of the [kube-stack Helm chart](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-helm-charts/tree/main/charts/opentelemetry-kube-stack).
Use the values file and installation instructions for your deployment mode:

| Deployment mode                                             | Values file                           | Installation instructions                                                                                                                                                                            |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Direct ingestion into Elasticsearch                         | `kube-stack/values.yaml`              | [Deploy Elastic OpenTelemetry for Kubernetes observability](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4302/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/use-cases/kubernetes/deployment) |
| Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint on Elastic Cloud Hosted | `kube-stack/managed_otlp/values.yaml` | [Quickstart for Kubernetes on Elastic Cloud Hosted](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4302/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/quickstart/ech/k8s)                      |
| Elastic Cloud Managed OTLP Endpoint on Serverless           | `kube-stack/managed_otlp/values.yaml` | [Quickstart for Kubernetes on Elastic Cloud Serverless](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4302/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/quickstart/serverless/k8s)           |

<important>
  For Elastic Stack `8.16.0`, use the [values file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/opentelemetry/refs/heads/8.16/resources/kubernetes/operator/helm/values.yaml) from the `elastic/opentelemetry` repository instead.
</important>

The latest supported kube-stack Helm chart version is 0.16.0.