Comparison
PodSteer vs Headlamp
The Kubernetes SIG UI project, in-cluster or on the desktop.
What Headlamp is
Headlamp is an extensible Kubernetes web UI under the kubernetes-sigs organisation, Apache-2.0 licensed, which runs either inside the cluster as a shared dashboard or locally as a desktop application. Being a Kubernetes SIG project gives it governance that an independent tool cannot claim, and that matters to some organisations more than any feature.
Side by side
The differences that matter.
| Aspect | Headlamp | PodSteer |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Governance | A Kubernetes SIG UI project | Independent, under Cloudresty |
| Deployment | In-cluster web UI or a desktop application | Desktop only |
| Account | None; it uses your kubeconfig and RBAC | None; it uses your kubeconfig and RBAC |
| Extensions | A plugin system | None today |
| Opening view | A cluster dashboard you navigate | A ranked assessment of the cluster |
Every claim about Headlamp above was checked against the Headlamp repository in August 2026. Projects change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Be honest
When Headlamp is the better choice.
Choose Headlamp when you want one dashboard the whole team reaches over a URL, with access governed centrally — PodSteer cannot do that at all, because it runs on your machine and reads your kubeconfig. Choose it too when CNCF-aligned governance is a procurement requirement.
The other way round
When PodSteer fits.
PodSteer fits the individual engineer debugging their own clusters, where a local application with no deployment and nothing to host is simply less work. They are not really substitutes: one is shared infrastructure, the other is a tool on your laptop.