A viewer and a platform, built for different jobs
Both connect to your Kubernetes clusters. The real question is whether you need to look at a cluster, or to run what goes into it.
OpenLens is the open-source build of Lens Desktop: a free desktop app that shows clusters, workloads, logs and resources in real time, with a built-in terminal, using your own kubeconfig.
It is observation-first and personal: each engineer runs it locally with their own credentials. Its builds stopped receiving updates after Lens closed its source, and many users have moved to Lens Desktop, the commercial product from Mirantis, or to the community fork Freelens.
- Observes and inspects, doesn't deploy
- No updates since Lens closed its source
- Per-laptop, per-kubeconfig access
- No shared audit trail
Atmosly is an internal developer platform for Kubernetes. It provisions clusters and cloud resources through guardrails, ships code with visual CI/CD and GitOps, and gives developers governed environments without a ticket.
It shows every service with its owner, pipeline, environments and deploy status, and gives engineers scoped kubectl from the browser, recorded and reviewable. It is fully managed, and SquareOps can implement and run it for you.
- Visual CI/CD and native GitOps
- Preview environments per pull request
- Audited web terminal with scoped kubectl
- Fully managed, zero upgrade toil
OpenLens shows the cluster. Atmosly runs it.
Keep a desktop viewer for ad-hoc inspection if you like it. Atmosly is the platform that ships code to the cluster, gives developers environments, and keeps access governed.
Environments developers open themselves
In OpenLens you install a chart by hand into whatever cluster your kubeconfig points at. Atmosly gives every pull request its own governed environment, clones full stacks on demand, and installs vetted Helm charts with your defaults.
- Preview environment per PR, auto-expires on merge
- Clone services, config and datastores in one step
- 200+ signed, version-pinned Helm charts
Deploy through a pipeline, not a right-click edit
Editing a manifest in a desktop app changes the cluster with no review and no history. Atmosly ships through GitOps with approval gates, drift detection and one-click rollback.
- Visual editor or YAML, same engine
- Drift detection against Git
- Coexists with ArgoCD, Jenkins and GitHub Actions
Cluster access your platform team can review
Every OpenLens user connects with their own kubeconfig and leaves no shared record. Atmosly gives scoped kubectl from the browser, with RBAC per team and environment, and one audit trail.
- Fine-grained RBAC and SAML SSO
- Audited web terminal, recorded and reviewable
- Every deploy, approval and session in one trail
OpenLens vs Atmosly, capability by capability
We kept OpenLens's genuine wins in the table. They're marked so you can see them at a glance.
OpenLens is a quick, free way to look at a cluster, and it asks nothing of the cluster itself. Atmosly's case is everything after looking: provisioning, shipping and governing, fully managed.
Which one is right for your team?
It depends on scope, and on who you want running the platform.
- You want a free desktop cluster viewer
- Inspecting and debugging by eye is the need
- Delivery and operations are covered elsewhere
- You'd rather install nothing in the cluster
- Each engineer using their own kubeconfig is fine
- You want a platform that ships, not only shows
- Clusters and databases should come from a governed catalog
- Cluster access needs RBAC and an audit trail
- Developers need preview environments without tickets
- You'd like a partner (SquareOps) to implement and run it
If a free desktop viewer for ad-hoc inspection is what you need, OpenLens, or a maintained option like Lens Desktop or Freelens, does the job. If you want a platform that provisions and ships what you are looking at, and governs who can change it, that's Atmosly.
Connect a cluster freeFrom OpenLens to Atmosly in an afternoon
Nothing to migrate. Keep any desktop viewer you like, connect a cluster read-only, and adopt Atmosly one capability at a time.
Rather not do it yourself? The SquareOps services team can run the migration and day-2 operations for you.
Managed Kubernetes servicesWhat teams comparing OpenLens ask
Not covered? An engineer replies within one business day.
consult@squareops.comOpenLens is a free desktop app for viewing and inspecting Kubernetes clusters. Atmosly is a managed internal developer platform that provisions clusters, ships code through CI/CD and GitOps, and gives developers preview environments with audited access.
Not really. OpenLens was built from the open-source Lens code, and its builds stopped receiving updates after Lens closed its source. Teams that want a desktop viewer now tend to use Lens Desktop, the commercial product from Mirantis, or the community fork Freelens.
OpenLens was the open-source build of Lens, without the proprietary sign-in and extensions. Lens Desktop is the commercial product, and larger organizations need a paid subscription to use it. Both are cluster viewers; neither provisions or deploys, which is where Atmosly comes in.
Yes. Many engineers keep a desktop viewer for ad-hoc inspection while Atmosly runs delivery, environments and access. Atmosly also includes an audited web terminal, so you may reach for the desktop app less.
There is nothing to migrate, because OpenLens holds no state of its own. Connect a cluster read-only, ship one workload through an Atmosly pipeline, then adopt environments and guardrails at your own pace. The SquareOps services team can help.
Any conformant Kubernetes cluster: EKS, GKE, AKS, on-prem or bare-metal, public or private. You import the cluster you already run, read-only, in minutes.
No. It runs on your own clusters on standard Kubernetes, Helm and Git, so what you build stays portable.
It is fully managed and agent-based, so there is no server or desktop app for you to patch or upgrade. The Enterprise tier can run the control plane inside your own VPC if you need that.