Beta features are on-by-default starting from KubeVirt v1.9!

[Itamar Holder]

Hi all,

Starting with KubeVirt v1.9, all Beta feature gates are now enabled by default. This is a significant policy change - previously Beta features required explicit opt-in.

Why this matters:

- Every upstream developer and CI run now acts as a Beta tester by default.
- Beta features get cross-tested with one another early, catching interaction bugs before GA.
- GA promotion decisions are backed by much broader real-world exposure.

What downstream vendors should know:

Downstream vendors are encouraged to disable Beta features that haven't been validated for production. The disabledFeatureGates field (introduced in v1.8) makes this straightforward. Each v1.9+ release ships a JSON feature gate report that can be used to programmatically populate that list.

If you're upgrading, don't skip v1.8 - it's where disabledFeatureGates was introduced.

Full details in the blog post: https://kubevirt.io/2026/Beta-Features-On-By-Default-In-v1-9.html

BR,
Itamar