Skip to content
KubeGlass

KubeGlass vs Octant

Octant was a web UI for Kubernetes from VMware. You ran it on your own computer; it read your kubeconfig and opened the UI in your browser on 127.0.0.1:7777. KubeGlass works the same way on your computer, opening on localhost:8090, and can also run in a cluster for a team.

Octant is archived

Section titled “Octant is archived”
  • Octant’s README starts with “VMware has ended active development of this project, this repository will no longer be updated.” That notice was its last commit, on 19 January 2023, and GitHub shows the repository as archived the same day. It moved from vmware-tanzu to vmware-archive/octant.
  • The last release is v0.25.1, from 24 February 2022.
  • That release is built with the Kubernetes 1.21 client libraries, and the README says Octant supports the Kubernetes version of its client plus or minus one, as kubectl does. Kubernetes releases since then are outside that range.
  • The README names no successor.

At a glance

Section titled “At a glance”
Feature KubeGlass Octant
Status Maintained Archived on 19 January 2023; last release v0.25.1, 24 February 2022
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 binary that opened the UI in your browser; from v0.17 also an Electron desktop build
Several clusters Every kubeconfig context in one list with its problems; lists and search can cover several clusters at once Switching between contexts, from one or several kubeconfig files
How objects relate A map of a namespace, application or project that marks the chain leading to a broken object Resource Viewer: a graph of how objects relate, colored by status
An object’s state The server works out each object’s status and problem, and the Overview lists every problem, errors first and then the newest Summary View: status and configuration on one page
Logs One container, all of a pod’s, or a workload’s pods merged, with the run before a restart Log streams of a pod’s containers
Port forward Pods and Services, when KubeGlass runs on your computer Pods, with several at once across namespaces
Filtering Text and label terms in every list, such as app=web or !canary Label filters
Extending it An extensions file for actions, keys, links, panels and columns; no plugin API Plugins over gRPC that add components to its views
Helm, Argo CD, Flux Built in Not documented in its README
Change history Changes recorded field by field, and the rollouts and Helm releases from before KubeGlass ran, with revert after a dry run. It lists those kinds, and Secrets for Helm, with KubeGlass’s own credentials: in every namespace, or in up to 25 namespaces when the credentials allow only some No
Access review An access matrix for any user, group or ServiceAccount, and who can do something Not documented in its README

Where Octant’s features are in KubeGlass

Section titled “Where Octant’s features are in KubeGlass”
In Octant In KubeGlass
Resource Viewer Applications › Map, and the Map tab of an application or a project
Summary View An object’s page, whose Overview tab leads with what is wrong and why
Port Forward Shift F on a pod or Service in a list, or Port forward on its page; Clusters › Port forwards lists them. See Port forwards
Log Stream The Logs tab of a pod or workload. See Logs
Label Filter / in any list, then terms such as app=web or tier!=db
Cluster Navigation The cluster picker in the top bar, or @ in the command palette (⌘K)
Plugin System The extensions file: links and commands on objects, Grafana panels, list columns and palette names. Octant plugins don’t run in KubeGlass

Moving from Octant

Section titled “Moving from Octant”

  1. Install KubeGlass and start it. Like Octant, it reads ~/.kube/config, or the files in KUBECONFIG, and opens in your browser:

    Terminal window
    brew install kubeglass/tap/kubeglass
    kubeglass

    The other ways to install it, a release binary for Linux, macOS or Windows and a Docker image among them, are in Installation.

  2. To share one UI with a team, install KubeGlass in the cluster with its Helm chart and let people sign in; see Running for a team.

  3. Uninstall Octant the way you installed it, for example brew uninstall octant.

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Checked on 6 October 2026.

Section titled “Related”
KubeGlass compared with other tools
KubeGlass vs Headlamp