Top 7 Kubernetes GUI Tools in 2024

What Is Kubernetes? 

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that can automate the deployment, scaling, and operation of application containers. Developed by Google and now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Kubernetes helps manage clusters of hosts running Linux containers. 

Kubernetes enables developers to deploy applications in a predictable, repeatable manner. It abstracts the underlying infrastructure, allowing applications to run in various environments, whether on-premises, in public or private clouds, or in hybrid setups. Kubernetes simplifies the complexities of managing containers, handling tasks like load balancing, scaling, and resource allocation.

This is part of a series of articles about Kubernetes management

Complexity of Kubernetes Management and Why Graphic User Interfaces (GUIs) Are Important

Managing Kubernetes can be challenging due to its inherent complexity. Kubernetes involves a variety of components such as nodes, pods, services, and persistent storage, all of which require careful configuration and monitoring. Additionally, working with Kubernetes requires deep knowledge of YAML configuration files, command-line tools, and APIs. As environments scale and evolve, maintaining consistent performance, security, and resource efficiency becomes even more difficult.

GUI tools address these challenges by providing visual interfaces that simplify the management of Kubernetes clusters. They reduce the need for deep technical expertise, allowing users to interact with clusters more intuitively. GUIs enable real-time monitoring, troubleshooting, and configuration, reducing the risk of errors and accelerating workflows. For teams managing large or multi-cluster setups, GUIs offer centralized control and enhanced accessibility, making Kubernetes more manageable for developers, operators, and administrators alike.

Key Features of Kubernetes GUI Tools 

Kubernetes GUI tools typically include the following features:

• Cluster management: Offer a centralized interface for managing all aspects of a Kubernetes cluster, including node management, resource allocation, and health monitoring. Users can easily add or remove nodes, monitor node performance, and manage the distribution of workloads across the cluster. 
• Deployment and configuration: Provide intuitive interfaces for deploying applications, configuring services, and managing updates. They allow users to define and deploy complex applications using visual workflows, reducing the complexity associated with YAML configuration files. Users can easily manage deployments, rollbacks, and updates. 
• Monitoring and logging: Offer comprehensive monitoring and logging features that help users track the state of their clusters and diagnose issues. GUIs provide visual dashboards that display key metrics such as CPU usage, memory consumption, and network activity. They integrate with logging tools to offer insights into application logs.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Regulates access to resources based on user roles. Kubernetes GUI tools enhance RBAC management by providing a visual interface for defining and assigning roles and permissions. Administrators can easily create and manage roles, assign permissions to users or groups, and enforce security policies. 

Tips from the expert

Itiel Shwartz

Co-Founder & CTO

Itiel is the CTO and co-founder of Komodor. He’s a big believer in dev empowerment and moving fast, has worked at eBay, Forter and Rookout (as the founding engineer). Itiel is a backend and infra developer turned “DevOps”, an avid public speaker that loves talking about things such as cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, Python, observability, and R&D culture.

Here are a few tips that can help you make better use of Kubernetes GUIs:

Use role-based dashboards:

Customize dashboards for different user roles (e.g., developers, operators, admins) to ensure they have the specific views and controls they need. This improves efficiency and security by limiting access to only what is necessary for each role.

Automate repetitive tasks with templates:

Create and use templates for common configurations and deployments. This reduces manual errors and accelerates the setup of new services or applications within your cluster.

Customize and extend the GUI:

Take advantage of the plugin architectures provided by some Kubernetes GUIs to add custom functionalities or integrate with other tools specific to your workflow. This can greatly enhance productivity and usability.

Integrate cost monitoring into workflows:

For platforms like Komodor that offer cost optimization features, set up automated reports and alerts for resource usage anomalies. This helps teams maintain budgets and scale efficiently.

Develop multi-cluster best practices:

When using tools with multi-cluster support, standardize tagging and labeling across clusters for easier identification. This makes navigation and troubleshooting more efficient.

Notable Kubernetes GUIs Tools 

1. Komodor

Komodor is the solution for managing Kubernetes at scale. The platform continuously monitors, analyzes, and visualizes your Kubernetes environment, providing clear, actionable insights that simplify reliability maintenance, real-time troubleshooting, and cost optimization across complex, multi-cluster, and hybrid setups.

By bridging the Kubernetes knowledge gap, Komodor empowers infrastructure and application teams to move beyond firefighting and focus on operational efficiency, reducing MTTR, and accelerating development. With robust RBAC, SSO, and auditing capabilities, Komodor is the trusted platform for innovative enterprises throughout their Kubernetes journey, from migration to Day-2 operations.

Key features: 

• K8s Reliability management: Continuously identify risks, optimize performance, and address issues like node pressure or service degradation before they negatively impact the business
• K8s Troubleshooting: Guided troubleshooting experience which enables any engineer, regardless of expertise level, to independently detect, investigate, and remediate any K8s issue
• K8s Cost Optimization: view resource consumption trends over time and get suggestions for right-sizing workloads, eliminating idle resources, and applying the optimal strategy for each service with a single click
• K8s User Management: Leverage Komodor’s RBAC mechanism to provide teams of varying expertise with proper permissions and restrictions for accessing Kubernetes, while maintaining an audit trail of every change across the system

Learn more about Komodor

2. Kubernetes Dashboard

Kubernetes Dashboard is an open source web-based user interface, provided as part of the Kubernetes distribution, that makes it easier to manage and troubleshoot Kubernetes clusters. Users can deploy and manage containerized applications, monitor the state of various resources within the cluster, and manage the overall cluster configuration. The interface provides a graphical representation of applications running on the cluster, allowing users to create or modify Kubernetes resources. 

Key features:

• Deploy applications: Enables the deployment of containerized applications using a visual wizard.
• Resource management: Lets users create and modify resources like deployments, jobs, and DaemonSets.
• Cluster overview: Offers a unified view of applications running on the cluster.
• Monitoring: Visualizes the state of Kubernetes resources and helps track errors.
• Helm-based installation: Supports fast, efficient installation via Helm.
• RBAC configuration: Provides a minimal Role-Based Access Control setup for security.

Source: Kubernetes

3. Lens

Lens is a Kubernetes Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for developers and DevOps engineers. It offers a context-aware user interface that simplifies the management and troubleshooting of Kubernetes clusters. Lens is optimized for handling large-scale clusters. 

Key features:

• Real-time insights: Offers real-time monitoring of workloads and resources, allowing users to see performance metrics, resource utilization, and system health instantly.
• Multi-cluster connectivity: Supports connectivity to multiple Kubernetes clusters. Users can switch between clusters for centralized management.
• Resource navigation: Users can explore nodes, pods, services, and other resources with ease, providing a clear understanding of the cluster’s structure and state.

Source: Lens

4. Cyclops

Cyclops is a web-based tool for simplifying the management of distributed systems, with a focus on Kubernetes. It abstracts complex Kubernetes configurations into user-friendly web forms, allowing developers and IT teams to deploy and manage applications more efficiently. 

Key features:

• Dashboard: Provides an overview of the cluster’s health, performance, and resource utilization. Users can monitor key metrics and information about pods, nodes, deployments, and services.
• Deployment and scaling: Enables users to deploy and scale applications easily. Its interface allows for the creation, management, and updating of deployments, including adjusting the number of replicas and configuring rolling updates.
• YAML templates: Users can create templates of YAML configuration files with variables that can be assigned later. 
• Template versioning: Supports versioning of YAML templates, allowing users to track changes and updates over time. 

Source: Cyclops UI

5. Rancher

Rancher is a Kubernetes management platform that simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of Kubernetes clusters across different infrastructure. It supports multi-cloud, on-premise, and hybrid setups, giving organizations flexibility in their Kubernetes environments. 

Rancher enhances operational efficiency by offering centralized authentication, access control, and monitoring across all clusters, while maintaining compatibility with CNCF-certified Kubernetes distributions. It is available under the Apache 2.0 open-source license.

Key features:

• Multi-cluster management: Enables the management of multiple Kubernetes clusters across different environments from a single pane of glass. Users can provision, upgrade, and scale clusters across public clouds, private data centers, and edge locations.
• RBAC and access control: Provides centralized role-based access control across all clusters. 
• Application catalog: Integrates with Helm, allowing users to deploy applications from Helm charts, along with Rancher’s own curated application catalog.
• Integrated monitoring and alerts: Offers built-in monitoring and alerting with Prometheus and Grafana, enabling real-time insights into cluster health, resource utilization, and performance metrics.
• Security and governance: Improves security by implementing cluster-wide policies for network segmentation, security, and governance, ensuring that Kubernetes environments comply with organizational standards.
• Cluster provisioning: Supports provisioning and scaling of Kubernetes clusters across various infrastructures, including bare metal, VMware, and major public clouds like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Source: Rancher

6. Kubevious

Kubevious is a visual tool to simplify the management and troubleshooting of Kubernetes environments. It provides a web-based user interface that offers visibility into complex Kubernetes configurations, making it easier for users to detect and resolve misconfigurations.

Key features:

• Visual insights: Kubevious provides a graphical representation of Kubernetes objects and their relationships, making it easier to understand how different components are interconnected and configured within the cluster.
• Misconfiguration detection: Automatically detects and flags common configuration errors, such as resource limits, missing labels, or security vulnerabilities, helping users ensure that Kubernetes resources are set up properly.
• Policy enforcement: Allows users to define custom rules and policies that ensure compliance with organizational standards. Kubevious continuously monitors clusters to enforce these policies and prevent drift.
• Time Machine: Enables users to view the historical state of the cluster, allowing them to troubleshoot issues by comparing current configurations with previous ones.
• RBAC visibility: Provides detailed insights into RBAC configurations, helping administrators ensure that proper permissions are in place and no unintended access is granted.
• Human-readable YAML: Translates complex Kubernetes configurations into easily understandable, human-readable formats, making it easier for users to review and edit YAML files.

Source: Kubevious 

7. Kubernetes Web View

Kubernetes Web View is an open-source, read-only web-based interface for viewing and inspecting Kubernetes clusters. It provides users with a simplified way to explore cluster resources without allowing modifications, making it suitable for monitoring or auditing purposes. It is available under the GPL-3.0 license.

Key features:

• Read-only access: Offers a non-intrusive way to explore Kubernetes clusters, ensuring that users can inspect resources without the risk of making changes.
• Resource overview: Displays detailed information about Kubernetes resources such as pods, services, deployments, and nodes, giving users a clear snapshot of the cluster’s current state.
• Multi-cluster support: Supports viewing multiple Kubernetes clusters from a single interface, making it easier to monitor different environments.
• Minimal setup: Lightweight and easy to deploy, can be set up quickly, providing immediate visibility into clusters without heavy infrastructure requirements.
• Security focused: With its read-only design, limits access to viewing resources only, helping maintain strict security boundaries while allowing visibility into cluster operations.

Conclusion 

Kubernetes GUI tools play a vital role in simplifying the management and operation of Kubernetes clusters. They provide an intuitive and visual approach to deploying, monitoring, and managing applications, reducing the complexity associated with Kubernetes. By offering features such as real-time insights, multi-cluster management, and simplified configuration, these tools enhance productivity, improve operational efficiency, and make Kubernetes more accessible to a wider range of users, from developers to system administrators. 

Learn more about Komodor