# Intro to KEDA

[**KEDA (Kubernetes Event-Driven Autoscaling)**](https://keda.sh/) is a lightweight component that enables Kubernetes workloads to scale based on external events and metrics, beyond the traditional CPU and memory usage. KEDA acts as a Kubernetes Metrics Server and a custom controller, allowing applications to scale out or in based on events from sources like message queues, databases, and custom APIs.

Info

Read our [**introductory blog**](https://docs.rafay.co/blog/2025/05/20/comparing-hpa-and-keda-choosing-the-right-tool-for-kubernetes-autoscaling/) comparing KEDA and HPA for a deeper dive.

KEDA integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes and supports both standard Horizontal Pod Autoscalers and its own ScaledObjects and ScaledJobs. This flexibility

- Makes it ideal for event-driven architectures, burst workloads, and cost-efficient microservices.
- Empowers engineering teams to build reactive systems that respond precisely to real-time demand.