Clusternet vs KubeStellar
Clusternet
clusternet.ioKubeStellar
kubestellar.ioSide by side
| Figure | Clusternet | KubeStellar |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 8.8 (#4) | 7.5 (#17) |
| Access control | Clusternet supports dynamic RBAC rules for visiting managed clusters. | The site describes team and organization access with role-based permissions and configurable controls. |
| Integrations | The documentation lists integration with Submariner and support for installing Helm charts from a private registry. | The maker lists ArgoCD, FluxCD, Kyverno, MVI, OpenZiti, and Turbonomic among its partners. |
| Purpose | Clusternet is an open-source add-on for managing Kubernetes clusters across public, private, hybrid, and edge environments. | KubeStellar Console is an AI-powered dashboard for managing multiple Kubernetes clusters. |
| Support | The contribution guide says users can ask for help through the project mailing list, CNCF Slack channel, Google Group, or a GitHub issue. | The maker offers direct email support at [email protected] and community support through Slack. |
Plans
In their own words
Clusternet
Clusternet is a free, open-source add-on for managing Kubernetes clusters across public and private cloud, hybrid, on-premises, and edge environments. It lets operators manage member clusters from a parent cluster and access them as though they were local. It deploys Kubernetes resources, custom resource definitions, and Helm charts, with configuration tailored to individual clusters. Application scheduling can replicate workloads or distribute them by cluster weight or available capacity. Clusternet supports clusters from AWS, Google Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud, along with on-premises systems, k3s, and edge clusters. It can discover and register clusters created by Cluster API and configure network tunnels for clusters in VPC networks, at the edge, or behind a firewall. Dynamic RBAC rules control access to managed clusters, and Submariner integration can connect workloads across clusters. Installation options include Helm and manual setup. A kubectl plugin is available through Krew or as a binary. Linux builds are listed for several architectures. Clusternet is a CNCF Sandbox project.
KubeStellar
KubeStellar Console is a free dashboard for managing workloads and operations across Kubernetes clusters. It shows real-time cluster health, cross-cluster resources, workloads, and mission progress, with cluster groups and customizable layouts. Clusters can be discovered through a user’s kubeconfig; examples include OpenShift, EKS, GKE, kind, and k3s. AI Missions accept natural-language requests to investigate issues, troubleshoot, repair, upgrade, or deploy across clusters. Users can approve or reject suggested actions. The Console also supports cluster provisioning and policy enforcement, and its security dashboard includes CIS, NSA, and PCI compliance scoring, RBAC analysis, and privileged-container detection. Documentation lists 20+ dashboards, 110+ card types, and 93+ stats blocks; custom cards can be built with AI, JSON definitions, or TSX code. The marketplace offers community dashboards, card presets, and themes. Licensed under Apache 2.0, it runs on Linux and macOS and can be self-hosted or used on the web. AI Missions require an optional Anthropic API key.