| Steerglass | Lens | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for up to 3 clusters. Every cluster free with an account during the open beta. | Personal: free with a Lens ID for individuals and companies under $10M revenue or funding. Plus $25/month, Pro $25/seat/month (billed annually). |
| Account | Not needed for the Free plan; an email sign-in unlocks every cluster. | A Lens ID is needed, including for the free Personal plan. |
| Several clusters in one table | Yes: pick clusters and their resources merge into one live table with a Cluster column. | Each cluster has its own view; you switch between them. |
| App engine | Native Rust core with the system web view. | Electron. |
| Logs, shell, port-forward, YAML editing | Yes | Yes |
| CPU and memory charts | Per-pod charts with up to 24 hours of history; current usage per node. | Yes, with metrics from the cluster. |
| Helm releases | Not yet. | Yes, in every plan. |
| Extensions | No. | Lens Extensions, in paid plans. |
| AI assistant | No. | Ask AI, in paid plans. |
| Source code | Proprietary. | Proprietary. Open-source forks exist (Freelens). |
| 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 Something out of date or wrong?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 Lens if…
- you need Helm releases, extensions or an AI assistant today
- your company wants an established vendor with team and enterprise plans
- you mostly work in one cluster at a time
Choose Steerglass if…
- you work with many clusters at once and want them side by side in one live table
- speed matters: big clusters load in about a second and stay live
- you want production clusters clearly marked, with typed confirmation before deleting there
- you don’t want to create an account just to try it
Switching from Lens
There’s nothing to migrate: Steerglass reads the same kubeconfig files as kubectl and Lens (~/.kube/config, $KUBECONFIG and the other files in ~/.kube), including credential plugins such as gcloud, aws and kubelogin. Install it and your clusters are already there.