kind vs srelens
kind
kind.sigs.k8s.io
srelens
srelens.comSide by side
| Figure | kind | srelens |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Local Kubernetes Tools | 8.7 (#1) | 8.3 (#3) |
| Intended users | Project priorities include supporting Kubernetes testing, Kubernetes application testing, and providing bootstrap clusters for Cluster API developers and users. | The project describes srelens as built for engineers and AI agents, and its repository names SREs, platform engineers, and DevOps engineers as users. |
| License | The kind GitHub repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. | The source repository and project documentation identify srelens as MIT licensed. |
| Purpose | kind runs local Kubernetes clusters using Docker container nodes and is designed primarily for Kubernetes testing, with local development and CI as other uses. | srelens is a Kubernetes desktop workspace for browsing, inspecting, and operating clusters. |
| Support | The project directs users to its Kubernetes Slack #kind channel, GitHub issue tracker, and SIG-Testing mailing list for help and issues. | The documentation directs users to open a GitHub issue with safely shareable application log details for reproducible bugs. |
Plans
In their own words
kind
kind runs local Kubernetes clusters with Docker container nodes, mainly for Kubernetes testing; local development and CI are also listed uses. It bootstraps cluster nodes with kubeadm and supports multi-node setups, including high availability. A configuration file can define worker and control-plane nodes, port mappings, and Kubernetes versions.
The tool can build Kubernetes release builds from source or use pre-published builds. It can detect Docker, Podman, or nerdctl as its container provider, including rootless providers subject to host and provider requirements. Users can load Docker images or an image archive into a cluster. Documentation covers ingress and Gateway API configuration with cloud-provider-kind, private registry workflows, and Kubernetes API audit logging.
srelens
srelens is a Kubernetes desktop workspace for browsing, inspecting, and operating clusters. It covers more than 40 resource kinds, including workloads, networking, storage, RBAC, admission, autoscaling, and custom resources. Investigation tools include live watches, log streaming, in-pod terminals, port forwarding, Helm release views, and a schema-aware YAML editor. CPU and memory metrics for nodes and pods come through Kubernetes Metrics Server. Users can scale or restart workloads and cordon, drain, or evict nodes; destructive actions require confirmation. The desktop app connects directly to Kubernetes API servers using local kubeconfig credentials, without an intermediary srelens cloud service. Available operations depend on the selected context’s credentials and RBAC permissions. Added kubeconfig files stay local, and pasted configs are stored in the application directory. Secret values are masked by default and revealed per key. The built-in MCP server connects to clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex. srelens is free, open source under the MIT license, and requires no account or license key.