10 Best Kubernetes Tools to Use in 2024

Kubernetes has a large rapidly growing ecosystem. It is a type of open-source platform for automating tasks, deployments, and management of containerized applications. Kubernetes is an extensible, portable tool that is used for managing workloads and services that facilitate both declarative automation and configuration.

Multiple businesses use Kubernetes to federate and manage passwords, tokens, and many more. Therefore in this article, comprehensive knowledge has been provided about Kubernetes and the top 10 Kubernetes tools that will be used in 2024.

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is mainly known as K8s which is used to manage the containerized apps all across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments. Kubernetes primarily offers a robust set of features of container orchestration such as self-healing, rolling updates, and automatic scaling. The main purpose of using Kubernetes is to automate the operational task of container management. Various organization uses Kubernetes to manage microservice architectures.

10 Best Kubernetes tools to use in 2024

Multiple Kubernetes tools are used to do various things like managing passwords, tokens, microservice architecture, and so on. Therefore some of the 10 best Kubernetes tools which be used in 2024 are mentioned below:

1. kubespray

kubespray is a well-known open-source Kubernetes tool that is used for deploying and managing the Kubernetes clusters it provides a balance of implementation flexibility and it also provides an additional Ansible playbook that administrators that can manage the clusters. It also consists of built-in support for provisioning and managing highly available clusters.

Key Features:

• Kubespray is particularly used for deploying and managing the Kubernetes clusters.
• It supports multiple platforms such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
• Kubespray helps to simplify the upgrading of self-managed Kubernetes clusters.

2. kubecost

kubecost is a popular Kubernetes tool that is used to track the Kubernetes costs across multiple cloud providers including the Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and so on. The main advantage of kubecost is it allows the users to see allocated spending all across the native Kubernetes concepts.

Key Features:

• kubecost mainly provides real-time cost visibility and information for the team which is using Kubernetes.
• This tool helps to continuously reduce cloud costs.
• It also provides the right sizing recommendation to quickly target and optimize the over-provisioned resources.

3. Prometheus

Prometheus is another famous open-source monitoring tool that mainly generates alerts and notifications which makes it suitable for monitoring the applications which are running on the Kubernetes clusters. This tool offers a configuration option for the notifications and provides a high visibility all across the APIs, and other resources.

Key Features:

• Prometheus is used to identify irregular traffic clusters and patterns.
• It can collect, and store metrics as time series data, recording information with a time stamp.
• This tool also helps in collecting and recording the labels, it also provides monitoring and alerting functionality.

4. K9s-Kubernetes terminal UI

K9 terminal is particularly based on the UI which helps to view, interact, and manage the clusters. It is a type of open-source tool that makes it easier to navigate, manage, and observe the deployed applications in the wild. The users can run this tool in macOS, windows, and Linux. This tool is also used to provide a real-time view of the Kubernetes clusters.

Key Features:

• Kubernetes offers corresponding commands for interacting with the observed resources.
• It also provides standard cluster management commands such as logs, restarts, and port forwards.
• It also provides a terminal UI to interact with the Kubernetes clusters.

5. Helm

Helm is a type of kubernetes application that is used for deployment purposes by offering a package manager for managing the Helm Charts. The charts are packages of pre-configured Kubernetes resources. These Helm charts mainly consist of pre-configured Kubernetes resources which enable reproducible builds and easy management of Kubernetes.

Key Features:

• Helm provides an ability to search through a large collection of charts which are stored in the chart repository.
• It helps in automating the development, configuration, and packaging of Kubernetes applications.
• This tool is used for easily managing deployment of complex microservice-based applications.

6. Kubewatch

Kubewatch is a famous Kubernetes tool which is also known as Kubernetes Watcher. It helps in monitoring the Kubernetes clusters to detect resource changes. It also helps in tracking the Kubernetes events. It mainly runs the k8s cluster for monitoring the resource changes and event notifications. Kubewatch is a Kubernetes watcher which currently publishes notifications to Slack

Key Features:

• Kubewatch is used to send notifications to multiple channels such as Slack, Hipchat, and so on.
• It is used to monitor a large range of Kubernetes events, service updates, and many more.
• It can simply integrate into the existing communication channels.

7. Loft Labs

Loft Labs is another popular platform mainly used for cost monitoring with auto-stopping. It operates on top of existing Kubernetes clusters, allowing for self-service and multi-tenancy deployments. This tool automatically identifies old or unused namespaces. Loft Labs integrates its platform with Ranching for virtual Kubernetes clusters, simplifying management of physical and virtual clusters.

Key Features:

• When sleep mode is activated, the system automatically puts such namespaces to sleep after a specified period of inactivity.
• It offers enterprise-grade multi-tenant access control and full security.
• Users can define quotas for each team member’s account within the tool.

8. kubectl

kubectl is a command-line utility specifically used for managing the resources of Kubernetes. Users employ kubectl to deploy applications, inspect and manage cluster resources, and view logs. This tool enables communication and control over Kubernetes clusters. Therefore, kubectl is a client-side tool allowing teams to develop and manage isolated virtual Kubernetes clusters within a single host cluster.

Key Features:

• It provides an intuitive interface for cluster interaction, facilitating development.
• Users can grasp the foundational elements of its syntax and commands through kubectl.
• It assists in managing and toggling between kubectl contexts.

9. Grafana

Grafana is another renowned data visualization tool that aids in crafting tailored dashboards and charts for Kubernetes metrics. It bestows important and valuable information into Kubernetes resources to ensure optimal performance. Grafana is used to proactively monitor the Kubernetes fleet to achieve optimal resource utilization.

Key Features:

• It offers a user-friendly interface for custom alerts and notifications.
• Grafana includes features such as resource monitoring, application performance tracking, and more.
• It provides an array of pre-configured visualizations and dashboards for various data sources.

10. Kustomize

Kustomize is a popular tool primarily used to customize Kubernetes resources. It empowers developers to manage configuration files for Kubernetes applications without altering the original YAML files manually. Customize also generates resources such as ConfigMaps and secrets from other representations.

Key Features:

• It can handle Kubernetes manifests as code.
• Kustomize can generate resources such as ConfigMaps and secrets from other representations.
• It enables customization of untemplated YAML files while leaving the original files untouched.

Conclusion

Day by day Kubernetes is becoming popular in multiple organizations and industries due to various features. The main purpose of using Kubernetes is to manage the services and workloads. It also includes built-in commands for deploying the applications. Therefore in this article, a detailed explanation has been provided about Kubernetes and the top 10 Kubernetes tools that are being used in 2024.

FAQs on 10 Best Kubernetes Tools to use in 2024

What are the benefits of Kubernetes?

Kubernetes mainly helps the DevOps team to work more effectively and the DevOps engineers can develop, and test the microservice applications in a similar platform. It also benefits in scaling the applications up and down to fit the changing needs.

What are advantage of using Kubernetes tools?

Kubernetes tools help in cluster management, better troubleshooting, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. The Kubernetes tools are extensible, portable, and widely available all over the world and help in both declarative configuration and automation.

Name some of the kubernetes tools which are used in 2024?

One of the top Kubernetes tools that are being used by the DevOps team to perform multiple functions is- Helm. Kubewatch, kubespray, kubecost, K9s, Loft Labs and so on.