# K9s vs Spectro Cloud Palette

| Attribute | K9s | Spectro Cloud Palette |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 51.8 (21% (low)) | 39.7 (47% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 30 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 4 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 34,445 | - |
| deployment.options | - | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"air_gapped":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Helps users view and manage Kubernetes clusters through a command-line interface, with real-time resource tracking and interactive management capabilities. | A centralized management platform that simplifies deployment, governance, and scaling of Kubernetes clusters, virtual machines, and AI infrastructure across multiple cloud providers, on-premises data centers, and edge locations, with built-in security, compliance, and cost controls. |
| integrations.count | - | 50 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"vSphere"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault"},{"name":"ClearML"},{"name":"Run:ai"},{"name":"MAAS"},{"name":"Rancher RKE2"},{"name":"KubeVirt"},{"name":"Velero"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US","GB"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free, open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://k9scli.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-20T12:20:04.345Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Palette","summary":"Per-node pricing. Discounts available for annual and multi-year commitments up to 5 years.","features":["Multi-cluster management","VM and container co-orchestration","Multi-cloud and on-premises support","Edge environment management","Policy and access control enforcement","Compliance and governance","Cost management","Observability and monitoring","Backup and disaster recovery","Multiple deployment options (SaaS, self-hosted)"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Multi-environment Kubernetes and VM infrastructure management","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"PaletteAI","summary":"Flat fee per GPU in managed infrastructure.","features":["Pre-configured and validated AI/ML stacks","ClearML integration","Run:ai integration","Self-hosted deployment","Full-lifecycle AI workload management"],"description":"AI and machine learning workload deployment and management","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"VerteX","summary":"Contact sales. For government and highly regulated industries requiring air-gapped and classified environment capabilities.","features":["Air-gapped and disconnected environment support","FIPS 140-3 validation","FedRAMP authorization","AWS and Azure GovCloud support","STIG-compliant OS support","Classified environment operation","Full-stack management for restricted deployments"],"description":"Government and highly regulated industry deployment with enhanced security and compliance","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Contact sales for exact pricing. Palette uses per-node metering; PaletteAI uses per-GPU fees. No minimum spend. Discounts available for annual and multi-year commitments up to 5 years.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://www.spectrocloud.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T13:47:10.152Z","billingPeriods":["year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | open_source | quote |
| pricing.price_level | free | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 5 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.51.0","date":"2026-06-06T14:13:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.51.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.18","date":"2026-01-11T20:19:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.17","date":"2026-01-11T19:44:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.16","date":"2025-10-19T16:01:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.15","date":"2025-10-07T13:34:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.14","date":"2025-10-07T00:33:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.13","date":"2025-09-27T15:44:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.12","date":"2025-09-19T14:53:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.11","date":"2025-09-18T15:43:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.10","date":"2025-09-17T23:13:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.9","date":"2025-07-19T15:42:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.8","date":"2025-07-15T15:10:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.7","date":"2025-07-05T17:49:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.6","date":"2025-05-12T05:30:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.5","date":"2025-05-08T05:42:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.4","date":"2025-04-19T18:27:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.3","date":"2025-04-14T00:36:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.2","date":"2025-04-10T15:47:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.1","date":"2025-04-10T06:13:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.50.0","date":"2025-04-09T06:01:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.50.0"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.9 |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 4.6 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fderailed%2Fk9s&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Kubernetes Management)

| Capability | K9s | Spectro Cloud Palette |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Deployment model | - | - |
| Eks gke aks lifecycle | - | - |
| Bare metal vsphere provisioning | - | - |
| Centralized SSO RBAC | - | - |
| Multi cluster config sync | - | - |
| Bundled observability stack | - | - |
| Bundled service mesh | - | - |
| Edge iot scale capable | - | - |
| Cost management module | - | - |
| CLI shell access | - | - |
| SOC2 type ii | - | - |
| ISO 27001 | - | - |
| Pricing model | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:31:33.419Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*