Is KOTS any useful if I don't have a Replicated account?

Hello community,

I have a question based on the fact that KOTS is an open-source product.

Specifically, I was wondering if KOTS can have any actual purpose/functionality without someone also having a paid Replicated account.

As far as I understand, even though KOTS is open-source, it seems to be tightly bounded to Replicated, e.g.: Search · replicated.com · GitHub

I guess the actual question is can I use KOTS without paying for Replicated?
Is it possible to deploy an application that has not previously been packaged via the Vendor Portal, and manage it via the KOTS cli or Admin Console?
If so, what are the alternatives way of packaging the application?

Thank you all in advance,
Jenny

Correct. You will need a license from a Vendor (Paid, Trial, Community) to install an application using kots.