Lens K8S IDE vs Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
Lens K8S IDE
lenshq.io
Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
docs.mirantis.comSide by side
| Figure | Lens K8S IDE | Mirantis Kubernetes Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $25/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Management Software | 9.0 (#2) | 8.1 (#10) |
| Purpose | Lens K8S IDE is a desktop workspace for understanding, debugging, and operating Kubernetes clusters. | MKE 4 is an enterprise Kubernetes platform built on the open-source k0s distribution. |
| Security | Lens states that it uses standard kubeconfigs with Kubernetes RBAC, requires no privileged agents and is SOC 2-ready. | Mirantis describes MKE 4 as secure by default and says its default components are FIPS-validated. |
| Support | Personal includes community support, while commercial tiers provide commercial support; the repository states Pro and Enterprise receive 24/5 support. | Mirantis offers a choice of 24/7 proactive support or managed services for MKE 4. |
Plans
In their own words
Lens K8S IDE
Lens K8S IDE is a desktop workspace for developers, DevOps engineers, and SREs managing Kubernetes. It brings workloads, logs, metrics, and events into a shared view across clusters, with resource visualization, Helm management, and a cluster-aware Smart Terminal. Ask AI connects Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, or Gemini to live cluster context. Lens can display Flux and Argo CD reconciliation alongside affected resources, and supports AWS EKS discovery and Azure AKS sign-in and discovery. It is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Lens says it uses standard kubeconfigs with RBAC enforcement and runs on the user's desktop without privileged agents. Personal is free for students, hobbyists, and engineers at small organizations; organizations exceeding $10 million in annual revenue or funding need a paid subscription, though evaluation is allowed for up to 30 days. Plus and Pro are each $25 per user or seat per month with annual billing, charged $300 upfront; monthly billing is $30. Enterprise is $50 per seat per month annually, billed $600 upfront, or $60 monthly.
Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE 4) is a self-hosted enterprise Kubernetes platform built on the open-source k0s distribution. It supports deployment across public and private clouds, multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, and bare-metal infrastructure. Teams manage cluster lifecycle with the mkectl command-line tool and a declarative mke4.yaml configuration file; standardized APIs and GitOps-based lifecycle management are also listed. A cluster combines k0s, a container network interface, the MKE control plane, system services, and user services. Calico is installed by default, with other network interface options supported. The web dashboard manages Kubernetes resources in an MKE-managed cluster. Backup and restore are supported, and the CLI upgrade process includes automated backups. Authentication through Dex supports OIDC, SAML, and LDAP, but not MFA. MKE 4 requires x86_64 and Linux manager/control-plane nodes; supported operating systems include specified Ubuntu, RHEL, and Rocky Linux versions, plus Windows Server worker nodes. A valid license is required, and a trial license is available on request. Mirantis offers 24/7 proactive support or managed services.