How to Upgrade a Vultr Kubernetes Engine Cluster

1 min readUpdated 4 November 2026

Upgrade the Kubernetes version of a Vultr Kubernetes Engine cluster. Worker nodes are replaced, so node IPs change.

Upgrading a Vultr Kubernetes Engine (VKE) cluster moves the control plane and worker nodes to a newer Kubernetes version to add features, improvements, and security patches. The Vultr Console and API list only the versions that the cluster can upgrade to. When no newer version is available, the cluster already runs the latest available version.

Warning

VKE replaces non-Bare Metal worker nodes during an upgrade. Node IP addresses change, and data on the existing nodes is unrecoverable after replacement. VKE upgrades Bare Metal nodes in place. Update any dependencies that rely on static node IP addresses before you upgrade.

Follow this guide to upgrade a Vultr Kubernetes Engine cluster using the Vultr Console, API, CLI, or Terraform.

Navigate to Compute and click Kubernetes.
Click the target cluster to open its management page.
Click the Manage Upgrades tab.
Review the Current Version card, which displays the cluster's Kubernetes version and Current Status. The upgrade card displays No Available Upgrades and You have the latest available version. when no upgrade is available.
Click the Available Upgrades drop-down and select the target Kubernetes version, such as v1.37.1+2. The Upgrade Status field displays Upgrade not started. until you start the upgrade.
Click Start Upgrade to upgrade the cluster to the selected version. The upgrade can take several minutes.
Verify that the Current Version card displays the new version after the upgrade completes.

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