Glauco vs Freelens
Freelens is a free and open-source Kubernetes IDE with a graphical interface for managing and monitoring clusters, maintained by the community.[1],[2] Glauco is a desktop Kubernetes client for macOS, Windows and Linux that is read-first: it lets you browse and watch everything, and asks before every change. This page compares the two, with a source for every fact about Freelens.
At a glance
| Topic | Glauco | Freelens |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Glauco:A 14-day trial with every feature, for any use. Then free mode: one cluster, read-only, for personal, non-commercial use. Personal €29 or $29 a year. Team €39 or $39 per seat a year, minimum 3 seats. Enterprise on request. | Freelens:Free.[1] |
| Platforms | Glauco:macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel. Windows 10 or later on x64. Linux on x64, as .deb and .rpm. Updates are automatic on macOS and Windows, and come through apt and dnf on Linux. | Freelens:macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows (x64 and Arm) and Linux (x64 and Arm), as AppImage, .deb, .rpm, Flatpak and Snap.[1],[3] |
| Account or login | Glauco:No account. The trial and free mode need no key; a paid license is a key plus the seat's email. | Freelens:No account or login is mentioned on its website or in its README. |
| Telemetry | Glauco:None. Glauco contacts us only to check your license and for updates. Cluster data and credentials never leave your machine. | Freelens:The inactive Sentry error-reporting code and its telemetry setting were removed in March 2025.[5] |
| Open source | Glauco:No | Freelens:Yes.[2] |
| Licence | Glauco:Proprietary (Glauco terms) | Freelens:MIT.[2] |
| Read-only by default | Glauco:Read-first: every change asks first, and confirmation dialogs focus Cancel. Free mode is read-only. | Freelens:Not documented. |
Where Freelens is ahead
- Free for any use, also at work, and open source under the MIT licence. Glauco's free mode is for personal, non-commercial use.[2]
- Builds for Windows and Linux on Arm, plus AppImage, Flatpak and Snap packages.[1],[3]
- Extensions: anyone can write them, and many OpenLens extensions have been converted.[2]
- Helm chart install, with kubectl and Helm bundled in the app.[3],[4]
- A custom time range for metrics charts, next to predefined windows such as 1 hour to 7 days. Glauco's Metrics tab has fixed ranges from 15 minutes to 30 days, and drag to zoom.[4]
Where Glauco is different
- Glauco is a separate app with its own interface, not a fork of Lens.
- No account and no sign-up. You download the app and connect to your clusters.
- No telemetry. Nothing about your clusters, contexts or credentials leaves your machine.
- Every change asks first: edit, apply, delete, scale, restart, cordon, drain, Helm rollback and uninstall. Confirmation dialogs focus Cancel and show destructive actions in red.
- Your kubeconfig stays read-only: Glauco never writes to ~/.kube/config.
- Reading Helm releases needs no helm binary: they come straight from their Secrets. Rollback and uninstall use the helm CLI on your PATH.
When to choose Freelens instead
Sources
Every source was checked October 2026. We make Glauco, so we are not neutral: if a fact here is wrong or out of date, write to support@glauco.app and we will fix it.
- 1.Freelens: website, checked October 2026. Used for: what Freelens is, community maintained, free, install options
- 2.GitHub: freelensapp/freelens (README and licence), checked October 2026. Used for: free and open source, MIT licence, extensions
- 3.GitHub: Freelens v1.10.3 release files, checked October 2026. Used for: platforms and processor types, bundled kubectl and Helm (7 July 2026)
- 4.GitHub: Freelens v1.10.0 release notes, checked October 2026. Used for: time range selector for metrics charts, installing Helm charts
- 5.GitHub: freelensapp/freelens pull request 234, remove Sentry and telemetry setting, checked October 2026. Used for: telemetry setting and inactive Sentry code removed (merged 7 March 2025)