kOps vs KubeStellar
kOps
kops.sigs.k8s.ioKubeStellar
kubestellar.ioSide by side
| Figure | kOps | KubeStellar |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 7.8 (#12) | 7.5 (#17) |
| License | The kubernetes/kops repository lists the Apache-2.0 license. | The site states that KubeStellar Console is licensed under Apache 2.0. |
| Purpose | kOps creates, destroys, upgrades, and maintains production grade, highly available Kubernetes clusters and provisions the required cloud infrastructure. | KubeStellar Console is an AI-powered dashboard for managing multiple Kubernetes clusters. |
| Support | kOps maintainers hold public office hours for developers and users, and the project points users to Kubernetes Slack channels for help. | The maker offers direct email support at [email protected] and community support through Slack. |
Plans
In their own words
kOps
kOps is a free, open-source tool for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and destroying production-grade, highly available Kubernetes clusters. It also provisions the cloud infrastructure those clusters require, with the control plane managed by the customer. AWS and Google Cloud are officially supported; DigitalOcean, Hetzner, and OpenStack are in beta, while Azure is in alpha.
Configuration uses a YAML manifest-based API with templating and dry-run modes. State synchronization supports dry runs and automatic idempotency, and kOps can generate Terraform. It offers popular CNI networking providers out of the box and supports ARM64 architectures. kOps runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; kubectl is required to install and use it. SSH access to masters and nodes is allowed from any address by default, although no public key is installed by default. SSH sources can be restricted in cluster configuration or with a command option. The security documentation says Pods can access the underlying instance IAM role and describes its permission scope as broad. The project points users to public office hours and Kubernetes Slack channels for support.
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.