Kubernetes
Practical
By Samson Tanimawo, PhD
Published Apr 1, 2026
4 min read
Rolling Update vs Recreate
Two deployment strategies. When to use each.
Live workflow · 3 working · 1 queuedLive
Signal · gather Working
Decide · pick action Working
Apply · with verify Working
Learn · update playbook Queued
RollingUpdate
Default. Replace pods one at a time.
Zero downtime; slow.
Recreate
All down; all up. Fast but causes outage.
Use only when rolling cannot work.
When recreate
Stateful migrations that cannot have mixed versions.
Rare; default to rolling.