--- title: Kubernetes v1.37: Scale Workloads to Zero with... description: Kubernetes v1.37 promotes scale-to-zero support for HorizontalPodAutoscaler to Beta, enabled by default. HPAs using object or external metrics (like a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-v1-37-scale-workloads-to-zero-with-horizontalpodautoscaler-ceh4hobrh twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Kubernetes v1.37: Scale Workloads to Zero with HorizontalPodAutoscaler | daily.dev og:description: Kubernetes v1.37 promotes scale-to-zero support for HorizontalPodAutoscaler to Beta, enabled by default. HPAs using object or external metrics (like a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-v1-37-scale-workloads-to-zero-with-horizontalpodautoscaler-ceh4hobrh og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ceH4hoBRH.png og:image:alt: Kubernetes v1.37: Scale Workloads to Zero with HorizontalPodAutoscaler og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Kubernetes v1.37: Scale Workloads to Zero with HorizontalPodAutoscaler **[Kubernetes](https://daily.dev/sources/k8s)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Kubernetes v1.37 promotes scale-to-zero support for HorizontalPodAutoscaler to Beta, enabled by default. HPAs using object or external metrics (like a Prometheus queue length) can now scale workloads down to zero replicas and back up without needing an add-on or the previous Alpha feature gate. A new ScaledToZero status condition distinguishes an automatic scale-down from a manual pause. The feature works best for queue consumers and batch jobs rather than request-driven HTTP services, since Kubernetes Services don't buffer requests when no Pods are ready. Configuration details, upgrade/downgrade caveats, and the feature gate name (HPAScaleToZero) are covered. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I configure a Kubernetes HorizontalPodAutoscaler to scale a deployment down to zero replicas in v1.37? Set minReplicas to 0 on the HPA and use at least one object or external metric, such as a Prometheus queue length exposed through the External Metrics API via the Prometheus Adapter. The API server rejects HPAs relying only on CPU or memory metrics for scale-to-zero, since those metrics require running Pods to measure. This feature, HPAScaleToZero, is Beta and enabled by default in Kubernetes v1.37. _Track Kubernetes autoscaling changes like this on daily.dev before rolling out scale-to-zero in production._ ### How does Kubernetes distinguish an HPA-scaled-to-zero workload from one that was manually paused? Kubernetes v1.37 uses a ScaledToZero status condition on the HorizontalPodAutoscaler. When the controller scales a workload down to zero itself, it sets ScaledToZero=True, signaling later reconciliation loops to keep evaluating metrics; a workload at zero without that condition is treated as manually paused and won't be woken automatically. _Engineers debugging autoscaler behavior can follow Kubernetes HPA internals like this on daily.dev._ ### What should I check before upgrading or downgrading a Kubernetes cluster that uses HPA scale-to-zero? Before disabling the HPAScaleToZero feature gate or downgrading, set affected HPAs' minReplicas to 1 or higher and scale any workload currently at zero back up to at least one replica. During a version-skewed control plane upgrade, wait until both kube-apiserver and kube-controller-manager support and enable the feature, since a controller manager without it treats replicas:0 as a manual pause. _Ops teams planning Kubernetes control-plane upgrades keep tabs on gotchas like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How hosted control planes are getting smarter about resource management](https://daily.dev/posts/how-hosted-control-planes-are-getting-smarter-about-resource-management-9kolpyan2) · Red Hat Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amazon EKS Provisioned Control Plane now delivers faster pod autoscaling](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-eks-provisioned-control-plane-now-delivers-faster-pod-autoscaling-ejywcyynj) · AWS · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [3 Keys for Successful Autoscaling Kubernetes](https://daily.dev/posts/3-keys-for-successful-autoscaling-kubernetes-bejc9mgq7) · Container Journal · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cloud](https://daily.dev/tags/cloud), [#kubernetes](https://daily.dev/tags/kubernetes), [#prometheus](https://daily.dev/tags/prometheus) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-v1-37-scale-workloads-to-zero-with-horizontalpodautoscaler-ceh4hobrh) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Kubernetes v1.37: Scale Workloads to Zero with HorizontalPodAutoscaler","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-v1-37-scale-workloads-to-zero-with-horizontalpodautoscaler-ceh4hobrh","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-v1-37-scale-workloads-to-zero-with-horizontalpodautoscaler-ceh4hobrh"},"datePublished":"2026-09-03T01:01:27.653Z","dateModified":"2026-09-11T00:58:07.547Z","description":"Kubernetes v1.37 promotes scale-to-zero support for HorizontalPodAutoscaler to Beta, enabled by default. 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