6 Best Weave Scope Alternatives for Kubernetes in 2026

Weave Scope provided real-time visualization of Kubernetes clusters with topology maps showing pods, services, and network connections. Its interactive UI let you explore container relationships, inspect resource metrics, and exec into containers directly from the browser without replacing your CNI or instrumenting applications.

However, Weave Scope is no longer actively maintained since Weaveworks shut down in early 2024. Teams relying on Weave Scope need modern alternatives that provide similar topology visualization, container inspection capabilities, and network observability—preferably with active development, security updates, and commercial support options.

Why Look for Weave Scope Alternatives?

Weave Scope's end of maintenance creates urgent needs for replacement solutions:

No security updates or bug fixes. An unmaintained tool accumulates vulnerabilities over time. Production Kubernetes clusters need observability solutions with active security patching and compatibility updates for new Kubernetes versions.

Missing support for modern Kubernetes features. Weave Scope doesn't understand newer Kubernetes resources like Gateway API, TopologySpreadConstraints, or advanced scheduling features introduced after its maintenance stopped.

No cloud-native platform integration. Modern observability needs integration with managed Kubernetes services (EKS, GKE, AKS), cloud provider networking, and platform-specific features that Weave Scope never supported.

Limited observability beyond topology. While Weave Scope excelled at visualization, it lacked distributed tracing, log aggregation, metrics storage, and alerting. Production monitoring requires unified platforms that correlate multiple telemetry types.

No vendor support or professional services. Teams running critical infrastructure need support contracts, SLAs, and escalation paths that unmaintained open-source projects can't provide.

Container runtime compatibility issues. As Docker runtime support declined in Kubernetes and containerd/CRI-O became standard, Weave Scope's container inspection features became less reliable.

The Best Weave Scope Alternatives in 2026

1. Lens (Kubernetes IDE)

Lens provides a desktop IDE for Kubernetes with real-time cluster visualization, resource inspection, and terminal access. Where Weave Scope ran as a web service, Lens is a native desktop application with deeper integration into your local development workflow.

Lens automatically discovers and connects to all your Kubernetes contexts. Switch between clusters, namespaces, and contexts from a unified interface. The real-time dashboard shows cluster health, resource utilization, and event streams without manual refresh.

Built-in terminal access, log streaming, and resource editing eliminate context switching. Click any pod to view logs, open a shell, or edit YAML manifests directly. The UI provides Kubernetes-native features like port forwarding, resource scaling, and kubectl command shortcuts.

Main Benefits:

Desktop application with native performance
Multi-cluster management from single interface
Built-in terminal and log streaming
Resource editing with validation
Prometheus metrics integration
Commercial support available with Lens Pro
Active development and regular updates

2. k9s

k9s provides a terminal-based UI for Kubernetes with real-time resource monitoring and management. Where Weave Scope offered a web interface, k9s delivers powerful cluster interaction through your terminal with vim-like navigation and keyboard shortcuts.

k9s continuously refreshes resource views showing live cluster state. Navigate pods, deployments, services, and any Kubernetes resource with fast keyboard commands. The UI updates in real-time showing resource changes, events, and metrics without manual refresh.

Built-in features eliminate the need for multiple kubectl commands. View logs, describe resources, edit YAML, delete objects, and exec into containers all from the k9s interface. The tool provides context-aware actions based on the selected resource type, making common operations instant.

Main Benefits:

Terminal-based UI with minimal resource usage
Real-time cluster monitoring
Fast keyboard-driven navigation
Built-in log viewing and container exec
Works over SSH and low-bandwidth connections
Plugin support for custom commands
Active open-source development
Extremely lightweight compared to web UIs

3. Headlamp

Headlamp offers a modern web-based Kubernetes UI with extensible architecture. Where Weave Scope focused on topology visualization, Headlamp provides comprehensive cluster management with plugin support for custom workflows, and is now the recommended replacement for the archived Kubernetes Dashboard.

Headlamp's plugin system enables custom extensions for specific needs. Develop plugins in JavaScript to add custom visualizations, integrate with internal tools, or extend resource management capabilities. The extensibility makes Headlamp adaptable to team-specific workflows that Weave Scope couldn't support.

Multiple deployment options support different architectures. Run Headlamp as a desktop application for local clusters, deploy it in-cluster for shared access, or use it as an authenticated web service with OIDC integration. This flexibility accommodates various security and access patterns.

Main Benefits:

Modern, responsive web interface
Plugin architecture for customization
RBAC integration for access control
Multiple authentication methods (OIDC, token, kubeconfig)
Desktop and in-cluster deployment modes
Now under CNCF sig-ui (official replacement for Kubernetes Dashboard)
Active development with regular updates

4. Pixie

Pixie provides automatic Kubernetes observability using eBPF with built-in service maps and protocol-level visibility. Where Weave Scope showed container topology, Pixie reveals application behavior through automatic instrumentation of network traffic.

Pixie's eBPF programs capture comprehensive telemetry without code changes. See HTTP requests, database queries, gRPC calls, and DNS lookups automatically. The service map shows actual communication patterns discovered from observed traffic rather than static topology.

Data stays on cluster nodes for instant queries and cost savings. Unlike Weave Scope's centralized architecture, Pixie's edge storage approach keeps data local. Query with PxL (Pixie Language) for subsecond results without data egress charges.

Main Benefits:

Automatic protocol detection (HTTP, gRPC, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Kafka)
Service maps from actual traffic patterns
Edge storage for fast queries
PxL query language familiar to Python developers
Live debugging with request inspection
Open-source with community edition
Acquired by New Relic with continued development

5. Cilium Hubble

Cilium Hubble provides network observability for Kubernetes using eBPF. Where Weave Scope showed static topology, Hubble visualizes real-time network flows with Layer 7 protocol visibility including HTTP, gRPC, Kafka, and DNS.

Hubble monitors network traffic at both packet and application level automatically. See which services communicate, what protocols they use, response codes, and latency without instrumenting applications. The Hubble UI provides interactive service maps derived from actual observed traffic.

Network policy debugging becomes straightforward with Hubble's flow logs. When pods can't communicate, Hubble shows exactly why—whether connections are dropped by network policy, DNS resolution fails, or packets get lost. This troubleshooting capability goes beyond Weave Scope's visualization.

Main Benefits:

Zero instrumentation network observability
Layer 7 protocol visibility (HTTP, gRPC, Kafka, DNS)
Real-time service dependency mapping from traffic
Network policy debugging with detailed flow logs
CNCF graduated project (as part of Cilium)
Can run standalone or with full Cilium CNI
Active development and strong community

6. Komodor

Komodor provides Kubernetes troubleshooting with deployment tracking, change correlation, and automated remediation suggestions. Where Weave Scope showed current state, Komodor focuses on understanding changes and their impact over time.

Komodor tracks every change in your cluster automatically. Deployments, config updates, scaling events, and infrastructure changes appear on a unified timeline. When incidents occur, correlate them with recent changes to identify root causes quickly.

Automated playbooks suggest remediation steps based on detected issues. The platform recognizes common failure patterns and recommends fixes, reducing mean time to resolution. This goes beyond Weave Scope's observation-only approach to provide actionable guidance.

Main Benefits:

Change tracking and correlation
Automated troubleshooting playbooks
Multi-cluster management
Deployment health monitoring
Integration with CI/CD pipelines
Commercial platform with professional support
Modern UI designed for reliability engineering

Commercial Kubernetes Observability Platforms

While open-source tools provide visualization and inspection capabilities, production observability requires platforms that unify multiple telemetry types with persistent storage, alerting, and team collaboration features.

Better Stack

Better Stack delivers unified Kubernetes observability through eBPF-based automatic instrumentation. Unlike Weave Scope's manual inspection approach, Better Stack continuously collects distributed traces, logs, and metrics across your entire cluster with persistent storage and intelligent alerting.

Deploy Better Stack's collector once to start capturing telemetry automatically. No application code changes, no CNI replacement, no SDK installation required. The eBPF collector instruments Kubernetes and Docker environments immediately, providing visibility that extends far beyond what Weave Scope offered.

Network-level instrumentation reveals application behavior without touching code. Capture HTTP requests with full latency and status information, database queries including parameters and execution times, gRPC service calls, message queue operations, and cache interactions. This works across any application—legacy systems, third-party services, compiled binaries—providing deeper insights than Weave Scope's container-focused view.

Service dependency maps emerge from real network traffic observations. See actual communication patterns between services with request volumes, latency percentiles, and error rates. These maps reflect live behavior rather than static configuration, helping identify undocumented dependencies and cascading failures as they occur.

Live Tail provides real-time log streaming with powerful filtering capabilities. Search by severity, filter on specific patterns, or follow user sessions across distributed requests in real-time.

Build custom dashboards through drag-and-drop interfaces or write SQL queries directly. The logs-to-metrics feature extracts structured metrics from log data automatically, eliminating manual instrumentation. Dashboards update continuously with real-time data, supporting trends, distributions, and anomaly detection that Weave Scope never provided.

In-kernel data aggregation through eBPF dramatically reduces storage costs. Combined with ClickHouse's columnar storage, Better Stack delivers distributed tracing at up to 30x lower cost than Datadog. Store complete traces without sampling, query billions of spans in subseconds using SQL or PromQL.

OpenTelemetry-native architecture prevents vendor lock-in. Combine eBPF's infrastructure-level automatic instrumentation with OpenTelemetry SDKs for application-specific context like user IDs or business metrics. Both telemetry sources integrate into unified query engines and dashboards, with the flexibility to export data to any OpenTelemetry-compatible system.

Anomaly detection alerts notify you when log patterns deviate from normal behavior. Configure unlimited phone and SMS alerts for critical events—system errors, resource exhaustion, security incidents—with automated detection that extends well beyond Weave Scope's observation-only model.

AI-powered root cause analysis accelerates incident resolution. The AI SRE correlates eBPF network traces, service dependencies, error patterns, and performance metrics during incidents to suggest probable causes. It understands your infrastructure through continuously updated service maps based on actual behavior rather than potentially stale configuration.

Main Benefits:

eBPF auto-instrumentation for Kubernetes and Docker
Automatic database monitoring without agents
Service maps generated from eBPF network traces
Unified platform for logs, metrics, and traces
30x cheaper than Datadog with predictable pricing
OpenTelemetry-native for vendor flexibility
SQL and PromQL queries with sub-second response times
ClickHouse storage for cost-effective retention
AI-powered root cause analysis
Integration with Better Stack Uptime for comprehensive observability
Available in 4 regions with custom deployments
SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 compliant
60-day money-back guarantee

Final thoughts

Weave Scope served the Kubernetes community well by making cluster visualization accessible and intuitive. Its unmaintained status creates urgency for teams to migrate, but also presents opportunity to adopt modern tools with richer capabilities.

For desktop-based cluster management, Lens provides the most comprehensive IDE experience. For terminal users, k9s offers fast keyboard-driven navigation with minimal overhead. For web-based administration, Headlamp provides modern UI with extensibility (now the official replacement for Kubernetes Dashboard). For network observability, Cilium Hubble delivers protocol-level visibility with flow debugging. For automatic observability with minimal configuration, Pixie and Better Stack use eBPF to capture comprehensive telemetry.

Start by evaluating which Weave Scope features your team relies on most. If visualization and inspection are primary needs, Lens or k9s provide excellent replacements. If network visibility matters, Cilium Hubble excels at flow monitoring and policy debugging. If you need comprehensive observability with alerting and team collaboration, managed platforms like Better Stack eliminate operational overhead while delivering richer insights.

Got an article suggestion? Let us know

Explore more

7 Best BCC Alternatives for eBPF Tracing in 2026

Compare the best BCC alternatives for eBPF tracing including bpftrace, Inspektor Gadget, Cilium, Pixie, and more for Kubernetes, profiling, and security.

7 Best bpftrace Alternatives for Linux Tracing in 2026

Compare the best bpftrace alternatives, including BCC, Inspektor Gadget, Parca, Pixie, and Cilium for Kubernetes, profiling, and automated observability.

7 Best Cilium Alternatives for Kubernetes in 2026

Discover alternatives to Cilium for Kubernetes networking. Compare Calico, Pixie, Istio, and managed platforms for network observability without CNI replacement.

8 Best Open-Source eBPF Tracing Tools in 2026

Discover the best open-source eBPF tracing tools for Linux observability. Compare BCC, bpftrace, Cilium, Pixie, and more for performance analysis and debugging.