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Radar

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Open-source Kubernetes UI and MCP server for your laptop or cluster

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Tracked since2026
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The Bottom Line

Entry price

Free plan available, paid tiers above

Biggest pro

Full OSS engine is actually free, not a teaser binary

Biggest con

Team offers paid tiers starting at $149 per cluster / month, which adds up on a large fleet

TL;DR - Radar

  • OSS is Apache 2.0 and $0 forever: unlimited clusters on your laptop or in-cluster. No account.
  • Radar Cloud Free is $0 for up to 3 hosted clusters. Team offers paid tiers. Enterprise is $299 per cluster / month.
  • Cloud is priced per cluster, not per seat. Annual is 20% off. Trial period on paid Cloud.
Pricing: Free plan available
Best for: Growing teams

What is Radar?

Editorial review
Radar (radarhq.io, GitHub skyhook-io/radar) is an open-source Kubernetes UI and MCP server. Official site: the OSS binary is Apache 2.0, no account, free forever, run on your laptop or in-cluster. Official pricing (radarhq.io/pricing): Cloud Free $0 with up to 3 clusters; Team offers paid tiers starting at $149 per cluster / month; Enterprise $299 per cluster / month; Custom is conversation. Annual Cloud is 20% off. Paid Cloud plans include a trial period. Pricing is per cluster, never per seat. Cloud adds fleet view, longer retention, alerts, and SSO. OSS keeps topology, Helm, GitOps, image filesystem, audit, and MCP.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Full OSS engine is actually free, not a teaser binary
  • Cloud Free covers 3 clusters with unlimited users
  • Per-cluster pricing so extra viewers do not add seats
  • MCP server is in OSS, not locked behind Cloud

Cons

  • Team offers paid tiers starting at $149 per cluster / month, which adds up on a large fleet
  • Cloud Free keeps only 24 hours of timeline
  • SSO / SCIM is Enterprise ($299 per cluster)
  • Name collision with other products called Radar

Preview

Key Features

Open-source Kubernetes UI (Apache 2.0)Topology, events, Helm, GitOps, image filesystem, 36 audit checksMCP server for AI agentsCloud Free: 3 clusters, Google / GitHub loginTeam: $149/cluster/mo, RBAC, 3-day timeline, PagerDuty / TeamsEnterprise: $299/cluster/mo, SAML / OIDC / SCIM, 30-day timeline

Pricing Plans

Free Trial

Pricing checked Aug 27, 2026

OSS (self-host)

Free

Run it yourself. Free forever.

  • Apache 2.0
  • Unlimited clusters on your infra
  • MCP, topology, Helm, audit

Cloud Free

Free

Hosted, no card.

  • Up to 3 clusters
  • Unlimited users
  • 24-hour timeline
  • Slack + built-in alerts
Most Popular

Team

$149/month

$149 per cluster / month.

  • Per cluster / month, starting price
  • Unlimited clusters
  • RBAC, 3-day timeline, 30-day audit
  • PagerDuty / Teams / webhooks

Enterprise

$299/month

$299 per cluster / month.

  • Per cluster / month
  • SAML / OIDC / SCIM
  • 30-day timeline, 1-year audit
  • BYOC / self-hosted Cloud

Custom

null

Annual conversation.

  • Volume pricing
  • Air-gap, 99.9% SLA
  • Custom retention and IdP

Is Radar worth the price?

80/100

Run OSS if one team can live without hosted fleet SSO.

Cloud Free is enough for up to 3 clusters. Team at $149 per cluster is the first real bill and it scales with cluster count, not headcount.

Enterprise at $299 is the SSO / SCIM / long-retention seat.

Hidden Costs & Gotchas

$149 times cluster count.

Annual discount is 20%, not more.

Cloud Free timeline is 24 hours.

How Radar Compares to Competitors

Lens went paid for many users; k9s stays in the terminal. Radar OSS is the free GUI alternative. Cloud is what you pay when you want fleet + SSO, not when you want the core UI.

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Radar FAQ

How does Radar help DevOps teams manage Kubernetes clusters?

Radar provides an open-source Kubernetes UI and MCP server that can run on a laptop or in-cluster, offering topology views, Helm management, GitOps integration, image filesystem inspection, audit logs, and MCP server capabilities. This makes it suitable for DevOps teams needing a free, self-hosted tool for cluster visualization and management.

How does Radar compare to Lens for Kubernetes management?

Unlike Lens, which is a desktop application, Radar offers both an open-source binary that runs on your laptop or in-cluster and a cloud service with per-cluster pricing. Radar's OSS engine is fully free with no account required, and its Cloud Free tier supports up to 3 clusters with unlimited users, while Lens has different licensing.

What are the main trade-offs when using Radar's free tier?

Radar's Cloud Free tier retains only 24 hours of timeline data, and advanced features like SSO and SCIM are reserved for the Enterprise tier at $299 per cluster per month. For teams with many clusters, the Team tier's per-cluster pricing can add up, making it more expensive for large fleets.

Which teams benefit most from using Radar's open-source version?

Teams that want a free, self-hosted Kubernetes UI without any account or subscription benefit most from Radar's open-source version. It includes topology, Helm, GitOps, image filesystem, audit, and MCP server capabilities, making it ideal for small teams or individual developers managing clusters on their laptop.

How is Radar priced for cloud users?

Radar offers a Cloud Free tier that covers up to 3 clusters at no cost, with paid Team and Enterprise plans starting at $149 and $299 per cluster per month respectively. Pricing is per cluster, not per user, so adding viewers does not increase cost, and annual plans offer a 20% discount.

Does Radar include an MCP server in its open-source version?

Yes, Radar's open-source version includes the MCP server, which is not locked behind a cloud subscription. This allows users to run the MCP server on their laptop or in-cluster for free.

Can Radar be used to manage Helm charts and GitOps workflows?

Radar's open-source version includes support for Helm management and GitOps integration, allowing teams to visualize and manage deployments directly from the UI. These features are part of the OSS binary and do not require a cloud account.

Source: radarhq.io

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