Kubeli vs srelens
Kubeli
kubeli.dev
srelens
srelens.comSide by side
| Figure | Kubeli | 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 | 7.7 (#17) | 8.3 (#3) |
| Intended users | Kubeli is presented for Kubernetes users who want a desktop interface, with IDE querying and corporate proxy support also described. | The project describes srelens as built for engineers and AI agents, and its repository names SREs, platform engineers, and DevOps engineers as users. |
| Logs | It streams pod logs with search, timestamps, and error highlighting, and can pass logs to an AI assistant. | Pod and workload logs support streaming, previous-container output, timestamps, filtering and export. |
| Multi-cluster | It connects to multiple Kubernetes clusters simultaneously and lets users switch contexts with one click. | Users can load multiple kubeconfig files, preserve duplicate context names and switch clusters from a hotbar. |
| Port forwarding | It maps local ports to pods or services and can open forwarded ports in a browser. | Port forwards are created, inspected, copied and stopped in a dedicated view. |
| Purpose | Kubeli is a native desktop app for managing Kubernetes clusters. | srelens is a Kubernetes desktop workspace for browsing, inspecting, and operating clusters. |
| Support | The site links to GitHub Discussions, feature requests, and bug reports for support. | The documentation directs users to open a GitHub issue with safely shareable application log details for reproducible bugs. |
Plans
In their own words
Kubeli
Kubeli is a native desktop application for managing Kubernetes clusters on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It connects to multiple clusters simultaneously and supports one-click context switching. A topology view nests namespaces, deployments, and pods so cluster structure can be inspected graphically. Pod logs stream with search, timestamps, and error highlighting, and can be passed to a locally running AI assistant. Kubeli maps local ports to pods or services and can open forwarded ports in a browser. Its listed AI integrations include Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, and Droid. An included MCP server lets VS Code, Cursor, or Claude Code query cluster state. HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 proxy support addresses clusters behind corporate firewalls. The site lists macOS 10.15+, Windows 10/11, and Linux x64 downloads. Kubeli is free and MIT open source, requires no account or telemetry, and says it does not transfer information to other networked systems unless requested. Support is provided through GitHub Discussions, feature requests, and bug reports.
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.