KubeStellar vs Portainer
KubeStellar
kubestellar.io
Portainer
portainer.ioSide by side
| Figure | KubeStellar | Portainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $12.92/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 7 |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Management Platforms | 7.5 (#17) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Access control | The site describes team and organization access with role-based permissions and configurable controls. | Business Edition features include role-based access control, LDAP and OAuth authentication, Active Directory user sync, and SSO provider templates. |
| Integrations | The maker lists ArgoCD, FluxCD, Kyverno, MVI, OpenZiti, and Turbonomic among its partners. | The product pages identify Talos Omni integration for provisioning Kubernetes clusters and support deployment from Helm charts. |
| Purpose | KubeStellar Console is an AI-powered dashboard for managing multiple Kubernetes clusters. | Portainer is a centralized multi-cluster management platform for managing Kubernetes clusters and container environments. |
| Support | The maker offers direct email support at [email protected] and community support through Slack. | The Scale plan includes 9x5 next business day support, while Enterprise offers prioritized 9x5 support with a 24/7 option. |
Plans
Portainer
- Business Edition free tierFree
- Home & Student$155 a year
- Starter$1,045 a year
- Starter$1,045 a year
- Scale$2,095 a year
- Scale$2,095 a year
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
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.