# Kubernetes v1.37: Memory QoS Graduates to Beta

DevFeed: [Kubernetes v1.37: Memory QoS Graduates to Beta](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/kubernetes-v1-37-memory-qos-graduates-to-beta-20863.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://kubernetes.io/blog/2026/09/14/kubernetes-v1-37-memory-qos-graduates-to-beta/>)

Author: Qi Wang; Sohan Kunkerkar

Published: 2026-09-14T18:30:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Kubernetes Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/kubernetes-blog.md>)

Topics: [Kubernetes](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kubernetes.md>), [releases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/releases.md>), [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/configuration.md>), [Linux](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux.md>), [Kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kernel.md>)

Tags: [clusters](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/clusters.md>), [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/configuration.md>), [container](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/container.md>), [kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kernel.md>), [kubernetes](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kubernetes.md>), [linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux.md>), [memory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/memory.md>), [qos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/qos.md>), [releases](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/releases.md>), [upgrade](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/upgrade.md>), [v1](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/v1.md>)

## AI overview

Kubernetes v1.37 promotes Memory QoS to Beta and enables it by default on Linux nodes using cgroup v2. The article explains the updated defaults, configuration options for memory throttling and tiered memory protection, and upgrade behavior intended to preserve existing runtime behavior.

## Source excerpt

Memory QoS has graduated to Beta in Kubernetes v1.37 and is now enabled by default. On Linux nodes running cgroup v2, the feature uses the memory controller to give the kernel better guidance on how to treat container memory. It was first introduced as Alpha in v1.22, and expanded in v1.36 with tiered memory reservation. This post covers what changed in v1.37, what the Beta promotion means for cluster operators, and how to configure the feature. What changed in v1.37Memory QoS is Beta and enabled by default The MemoryQoS feature gate is now Beta in v1.37. This means every v1.37 kubelet has the feature gate turned on without any configuration change. Turning on the feature by default is safe because the default kubelet configuration does not enable memory throttling or memory reservation. No memory.high, memory.min, or memory.low values are written to cgroups unless you explicitly configure them. You can opt into specific behaviors through kubelet configuration fields: Set memoryThrottlingFactor (for example, 0.9) to enable memory.high throttling on Burstable and BestEffort containers. The default is null, which means no throttling. Set memoryReservationPolicy to TieredReservation to enable tiered memory protection via memory.min and memory.low. The default is None, which means no memory reservation. Default memoryThrottlingFactor changed to null In earlier Alpha releases, memoryThrottlingFactor defaulted to 0.9, which meant enabling the feature gate caused the kubelet to set memory.high on containers. In v1.37, the default is null, so the kubelet does not set memory.high unless you configure a value. This change was made because, with the feature gate now on by default, an automatic memory.high could throttle workloads that were previously running without throttling. Making it null ensures that upgrading to v1.37 does not change runtime behavior for existing clusters. If your kubelet configuration file already contains an explicit memoryThrottlingFactor value, that