A DaemonSet is a Kubernetes API object that replicates identical Pods across the Nodes in a cluster, ensuring complete coverage by running a Pod on every Node. They are ideal for running long-lived background services such as Node monitoring systems and log collection agents. DaemonSets differ from other workload types because they have unique scheduling behavior, guaranteeing that every Node runs a replica of the Pod. They can be used in various real-world use cases like running Node monitoring agents, collecting logs from Nodes, backing up Node data, and more.