MicroShift vs srelens
MicroShift
microshift.io
srelens
srelens.comSide by side
| Figure | MicroShift | srelens |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Local Kubernetes Tools | 7.9 (#14) | 8.3 (#3) |
| Architecture | MicroShift runs as a single systemd service with a minimal OpenShift control plane and worker node. | The application uses Tauri v2, React and a pure-Rust core built around kube-rs and tokio. |
| Documentation | The upstream repository links documentation for building, versioning, host deployment, Bootc deployment, and GitHub workflows. | Official documentation includes quick-start, usage, terminal UI, MCP, security, architecture, installation and SRE troubleshooting guides. |
| License | The repository lists an Apache-2.0 license. | The source repository and project documentation identify srelens as MIT licensed. |
| Purpose | MicroShift optimizes OpenShift Kubernetes for small form factor and edge computing. | srelens is a Kubernetes desktop workspace for browsing, inspecting, and operating clusters. |
Plans
In their own words
MicroShift
MicroShift is a small-footprint OpenShift Kubernetes platform designed for edge computing. It aims to conserve CPU, memory, network, and storage resources and tolerate severe networking constraints. It runs as a single systemd service with a minimal OpenShift control plane and worker node. Included infrastructure services are DNS, an ingress router, service CA, OVN-Kubernetes CNI, and LVMS storage; optional components such as OLM, Gateway API, cert-manager, and SR-IOV come as separate RPM packages. The upstream build is for development and testing and runs without Red Hat subscriptions or pull secrets. Its listed operating-system options include CentOS 9 and 10, Fedora, Ubuntu, and macOS, with macOS using Podman machine in rootful mode. Minimum requirements include x86_64 or aarch64, Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Extended Update Support, 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, and 2GB free root storage. Production deployment can use bare metal or hypervisors supported and certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. The upstream build is free; pricing for other use is on request.
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.