K9s vs Skaffold: What are the differences?

Key Differences between K9s and Skaffold

1. Purpose: K9s is a terminal-based UI for Kubernetes, primarily focusing on providing a convenient way to interact with clusters and resources, while Skaffold is a tool designed for automating Kubernetes development workflows, including building, pushing, and deploying applications.

2. User Interface: K9s offers a rich, interactive terminal-based user interface with features like cluster navigation, resource management, logs viewing, and more, while Skaffold provides a command-line interface (CLI) for configuring deployments, setting up build pipelines, and managing the development process.

3. Functionality: K9s excels in monitoring, troubleshooting, and managing Kubernetes resources through its intuitive interface, whereas Skaffold specializes in automating the build and deployment process of containerized applications, streamlining the development workflow.

4. Flexibility: K9s offers greater flexibility in terms of resource visualization, real-time monitoring, quick debugging, and efficient resource management within Kubernetes clusters, whereas Skaffold focuses more on automating repetitive tasks, such as rebuilding and redeploying applications during the development cycle.

5. Integration: K9s integrates well with Kubernetes clusters for efficient cluster management and monitoring, while Skaffold integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, container registries, and other development tools to streamline the deployment process.

In Summary, the key differences between K9s and Skaffold lie in their primary purpose, user interface, functionality, flexibility, and integration capabilities within Kubernetes development workflows.