Comparison
KubeGlance vs k9s
k9s is a free, open-source terminal UI for Kubernetes on Linux, macOS and Windows: fast keyboard navigation, editing, shells, port-forwards and plugins, switching between contexts with :ctx. KubeGlance is a native graphical dashboard for Mac, iPhone and iPad that merges several clusters into one view, adds charts, GitOps and capacity views, and is read-only by default. Many people use both: k9s to act, KubeGlance to watch.
Updated 25 September 2026
Choose KubeGlance if
- You want several clusters merged into one table, tagged by cluster
- You want charts, the Flux dependency chain, capacity and efficiency views
- You check clusters from an iPhone or iPad, or want widgets and alerts
Choose k9s if
- You live in the terminal and want keyboard-driven speed
- You edit, delete, exec or port-forward as part of the loop
- You want free, open-source software on Linux or Windows
At a glance
| KubeGlance | k9s | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Native graphical app | Terminal UI |
| Platforms | macOS, iPhone and iPad — one App Store listing | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Price & license | Free on Mac · iPhone and iPad: KubeGlance Pro subscription, 3-day free trial | Free, open source (Apache 2.0) |
| Changes to the cluster | Read-only by default — watches, streams, inspects | Edit, delete, shell and port-forward; a --readonly flag disables them |
| Several clusters | Enabled contexts merged into one view, every row tagged with its cluster | Switches between contexts with :ctx |
| Kubernetes platform views | Flux chain, Argo CD, HPA/KEDA, Flagger, cert-manager, Gateway API — shown when detected | YAML-defined plugins |
| Mobile | Full iPhone and iPad app | — |
Different jobs
k9s is the fastest way to act on a cluster from a terminal, and it is free and open source. KubeGlance is for the questions a list does not answer at a glance — where did the Flux deploy stop, can the cluster lose a node, which workloads reserve CPU they never use — and for asking them on a phone.
Read-only by default
k9s can edit and delete, and offers a --readonly flag to turn that off. KubeGlance starts read-only, so it is safe to leave open against production or to hand to someone who only needs to look.
Questions
Is there a GUI like k9s for Mac?
KubeGlance is a native Mac app with the same everyday loop — pods, workloads, logs, events — plus charts, GitOps and capacity views, and a matching iPhone and iPad app. It is read-only by default; for editing and shells, k9s remains the better fit.
KubeGlance is free on the Mac, with a 3-day free trial on iPhone and iPad. No account, nothing installed in your cluster.
Download on theApp StoreAlso compare: vs Lens vs Headlamp vs Aptakube Kubernetes on iPhone
Checked against each tool's own site, docs or repository on 25 September 2026: k9s repository and README · k9s releases. Both products change; tell us at hello@kubeglance.com if something here is out of date.