| Steerglass | k9s | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Desktop app: keyboard shortcuts and a command palette, plus the mouse. | Terminal UI, driven by the keyboard. |
| Price and license | Free for up to 3 clusters; every cluster free with an account during the open beta. Proprietary. | Free and open source (Apache 2.0). |
| Several clusters at once | Yes: resources of many clusters in one live table. | One context at a time; switch with :ctx. |
| Works over SSH and on servers | No: it’s a desktop app. | Yes, anywhere a terminal runs. |
| Logs, shell, port-forward, YAML editing | Yes | Yes |
| CPU and memory | Per-pod columns and charts with up to 24 hours of history. | Current usage columns and a pulses view. |
| Plugins and skins | No. | Yes. |
| Production safety | Production clusters are tagged and coloured; deleting there asks you to type the name. | Read-only mode available. |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
Compared on November 1, 2026, from each project’s own website and documentation. Something out of date or wrong? Write to [email protected] and we’ll fix it.
Which one fits you
Choose k9s if…
- you live in the terminal or work on remote machines over SSH
- you want a free, open-source tool you can extend with plugins
- you work in one cluster at a time and know its key bindings by heart
Choose Steerglass if…
- you want to see many clusters side by side, not switch between them
- you prefer seeing logs, YAML, charts and a shell next to the table, with the mouse when it’s handy
- you onboard teammates who aren’t at home in a terminal UI
- you want history charts of CPU and memory without installing anything else
Using both
They read the same kubeconfig, so there’s no setup to share: keep k9s for SSH sessions and quick terminal checks, and Steerglass for the big picture across clusters.