groundcover Now Supports Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot has become the preferred way for many teams to run Kubernetes on Google Cloud. By managing infrastructure, node lifecycle, scaling, and security, Autopilot lets engineering teams focus on applications instead of cluster operations.

One tradeoff is that Autopilot tightly restricts workloads that require elevated privileges. This includes the eBPF-based agents used by modern observability platforms. To protect the security model of Autopilot, Google only allows approved partner workloads that have completed a formal review process.

Today, we're excited to announce that groundcover is now an approved GKE Autopilot partner, making it possible to deploy the groundcover eBPF sensor in GKE Autopilot clusters through Google's official allowlisting framework.

Why this matters

groundcover's observability platform is supercharged when you are able to use the groundcover eBPF sensor deployed on every Kubernetes node. Rather than solely relying on application instrumentation or sidecars, the sensor automatically captures telemetry across your cluster, including infrastructure, applications, Kubernetes workloads, and AI services.

With GKE Autopilot support, customers can now deploy the same zero-instrumentation architecture in fully managed Kubernetes environments.

That means you can:

• Deploy groundcover on GKE Autopilot without any change to your applications.
• Capture comprehensive telemetry with a single eBPF sensor.
• Maintain the operational simplicity of Autopilot while gaining full-stack observability.
• Deploy using Google's approved partner allowlisting mechanism for privileged workloads.

Built for modern Kubernetes

Organizations increasingly want the operational benefits of managed Kubernetes without sacrificing visibility into what's running inside their clusters.

By joining Google's GKE Autopilot partner program, groundcover enables teams to have both. Customers can continue using Autopilot's managed experience while deploying the privileged eBPF sensor required for complete, kernel-level observability.

Whether you're troubleshooting production incidents, monitoring AI workloads, or operating large-scale Kubernetes environments, groundcover delivers complete visibility without manual instrumentation or application changes.

Getting started

groundcover is now available as an approved partner workload for GKE Autopilot.

If you're deploying new Autopilot clusters or migrating existing workloads, you can install the groundcover eBPF sensor using Google's supported partner allowlisting process and start collecting full-fidelity telemetry in minutes. 

Watch this live in our upcoming “Full-Stack Observability on GKE Autopilot: What Google Locks Down, and How to See Through It Anyway” webinar. 

Learn more about groundcover at the Google Cloud Marketplace