Kube Inspector vs srelens
Kube Inspector
kubeinspector.com
srelens
srelens.comSide by side
| Figure | Kube Inspector | 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 |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Local Kubernetes Tools | 7.8 (#15) | 8.3 (#3) |
| Multi-cluster | Users can add multiple clusters, and each open panel stays pinned to the cluster it was opened with. | Users can load multiple kubeconfig files, preserve duplicate context names and switch clusters from a hotbar. |
| Support | There is no support desk; the project directs users to its issue tracker and does not guarantee response times. | The documentation directs users to open a GitHub issue with safely shareable application log details for reproducible bugs. |
| What it does | Kube Inspector is a visual desktop client for viewing and managing Kubernetes clusters. | srelens is a Kubernetes workspace for investigating, analyzing and operating clusters through a desktop GUI, terminal UI or MCP server. |
Plans
In their own words
Kube Inspector
Kube Inspector is a free visual desktop client for viewing and managing Kubernetes clusters on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It handles Pods, Deployments, StatefulSets, Jobs, and CronJobs, and includes a Monaco YAML editor with schema validation for applying changes. The interface shows CPU and memory readings over time for clusters, nodes, pods, and workloads when metrics-server is installed. Security tools include an interactive RBAC graph and Trivy image vulnerability scanning. Existing kubeconfig files work with conformant local and managed clusters, including kind, minikube, k3s, EKS, GKE, and AKS. Multiple clusters can be opened while panels remain pinned to their original cluster. A separate kube-inspector-cli offers the same features for terminal and SSH use. The project states that it sends no telemetry, analytics, crash reports, or usage statistics. An optional AI assistant uses a configured Ollama host. The release is beta, and no support desk is provided.
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.