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KubeGlass

KubeGlass vs Kubernetes Dashboard

Kubernetes Dashboard is the web UI the Kubernetes project used to offer, installed in a cluster with a Helm chart. KubeGlass is a web console that runs as one binary on your computer or in a cluster.

Kubernetes Dashboard is archived

Section titled “Kubernetes Dashboard is archived”

The Dashboard repository on GitHub is archived. Its README says:

This project is now archived and no longer maintained due to lack of active maintainers and contributors.

It suggests Headlamp instead. SIG UI’s annual report for 2025 says its leaders “decided to discontinue Kubernetes Dashboard” in late December 2025, “resulting in the archiving of the project in early 2026”. The page on kubernetes.io now opens with “Kubernetes Dashboard is deprecated and unmaintained” and, for new installations, also suggests Headlamp.

The last release is Helm chart 7.14.0, from 30 October 2025. Existing installs keep running, but an archived repository takes no changes, so they will get no more fixes, security fixes included.

At a glance

Section titled “At a glance”
KubeGlass Kubernetes Dashboard
Status Maintained Archived, last release 30 October 2025
License AGPL-3.0 Apache-2.0
Runs as A binary that opens the UI in your browser, a container, or a Helm chart in a cluster A Helm chart in a cluster, with a Kong gateway in front of its API, auth, web and metrics containers
Sign-in An auth proxy such as OAuth2 Proxy, or an OIDC token the proxy passes on; every request runs as the person A bearer token on the login page, or an Authorization header from a proxy
Clusters Installed in a cluster, that cluster only; run from a kubeconfig, every context in one list One cluster per install
Updates Live, over watches Refreshes every 10 seconds by default
Logs One container, all of a pod’s containers, or merged across a workload’s pods One container at a time
Shell Pod exec, and node shells if you turn them on Pod exec
Port forward Pods and Services, when KubeGlass runs on your computer No
YAML Edit with a server-side dry run and a diff; create from YAML Edit as YAML or JSON; create from YAML, a file or a form
Helm Releases, history, upgrade, rollback, chart catalog No
Argo CD and Flux Yes No
Custom resources Yes Yes
Metrics CPU and memory from metrics-server or Prometheus, PromQL, Alertmanager alerts CPU and memory graphs from metrics-server, through its metrics scraper
Access An access matrix and who can do something Lists of roles and bindings
Change history Yes, with revert No
Keyboard k9s-style keys and a command palette No shortcuts
UI languages 8 9

Choose Headlamp or KubeGlass

Section titled “Choose Headlamp or KubeGlass”

The Kubernetes project points Dashboard users to Headlamp, which runs in a cluster the same way and is maintained by the same SIG. Choose Headlamp if you want that recommendation, a desktop app as well as the in-cluster install, plugins, built-in OIDC sign-in, or one install that shows several clusters. KubeGlass vs Headlamp goes through the differences.

Choose KubeGlass if you want Helm, Argo CD and Flux in the same UI, change history with revert, access reviews, or k9s-style keys.

Moving from Kubernetes Dashboard

Section titled “Moving from Kubernetes Dashboard”

  1. Install KubeGlass in the cluster with its Helm chart. Like Dashboard, KubeGlass in a cluster shows only that cluster, so install it in each one. To see several clusters in one place, run KubeGlass from a kubeconfig on your computer instead (see Clusters).

  2. Sign-in. If people pasted ServiceAccount tokens into Dashboard’s login page, give them their own identities instead: put KubeGlass behind an auth proxy (impersonation mode) so each request runs as the signed-in person. If a proxy already passes Authorization: Bearer <token> to Dashboard, KubeGlass’s oidc mode reads the same header, checks the token against your issuer and acts as that user. See Running for a team.

  3. Remove Dashboard. If you installed it with the command from its README, that is:

    Terminal window
    helm uninstall kubernetes-dashboard --namespace kubernetes-dashboard

    If you followed its guide to create a sample user, also delete the admin-user ServiceAccount and ClusterRoleBinding it made. That ServiceAccount is bound to cluster-admin.

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Checked on 5 October 2026.