k9sAlpha

[immanuelfodor]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Related to the k9sAlpha announcement: https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/tag/v0.24.2

Describe the solution you'd like
First, this seems to be a huge step in the project's life, congratulations for the bavery to make a bold move. However, I'd like to know more, and this issue could function as a discussion about the details of the upcoming release. Also about what happens to the free version.

Describe alternatives you've considered
There is no discussion forum here and releases are not commentable, so here is this issue :)

Additional context
Although my work is related to software development, I'm using k9s for quick overview and pod management of my home cluster, and it is an awesome tool, thank you for maintaining it. Self-hosting enthusiasm for home usage is what makes me a bit sad about the separation of features and the need for licensing and all.

_Edit: some typos and clear sentences, typing on mobile_

[derailed]

@immanuelfodor First off, thank you for opening this issue and voicing your opinions!

K9s is and will remain free for all of us to use!
For your home cluster, likely this will be ok. You just won't have access to K9sAlpha's features and enhancements.

[immanuelfodor]

I'm particularly interested in a possible feature list or comparison about what would I miss. Do you plan such? A simple table with checkboxes could work as MVP in the readme.

Would the feature freeze for free version mean only patch releases in the future? Or would it be more like Gitlab's approach to bubble up/down (depends on point of view) paid features to the free core later on? So the paid version could unlock feature A earlier but then everyone could access feature A a couple of releases later when feature B is only available in the paid version. It would be sad if some generally useful and desired future feature would be locked behind a wall forever. _(BTW anything can be done with kubectl commands and flags right now, even more what is available now in k9s, it just makes things quicker and easy to access, provides more visibility and also beautiful to the eye.)_

[ScubaDrew]

Thanks, @derailed !

I have been a sponsor for quite some time now. I get more use and functionality out of your software than many other paid programs. It is a no-brainer to support you. I introduced your software to everyone in the industry I meet and get excellent feedback.

Recently I was working with a SADA support engineer, introduced to him, and he has spread it to the whole team at one of Google's biggest support partners. :)

One thought I had to keep this simple would be to limit the number of pods/deployment the tool will display - and put up a big banner when that limit is crossed "To manage more than X Deployments/Pods/Configmaps upgrade to k9sAlpha".

This would allow most home, startup, local dev users to function but if you are managing larger clusters, you'll need a license. This would allow everyone to enjoy all the features (and get'em hooked on them) and not complicate explaining what is and is not included in each version.

Thanks again for a great tool,
Drew

[derailed]

@ScubaDrew Thank you so much Drew for your feedback, your kind words and for evangelizing K9s!!

That could indeed be a simple and effective way to proceed. It could provide a good update path and allow us to vet features at a larger scale...

[ScubaDrew]

Yep, yep. I'm happy whatever way you decide - I did not think it through in great depth, but just wanted to offer as an alternative to consider.

Thanks again,
Drew

[immanuelfodor]

What is considered a larger cluster in the industry as of now? As many apps use the microservices design pattern, even my home cluster contains about a hundred pods on three nodes. But I can imagine companies running thousands of pods, so that could mean access to all features for me. I'm all in 😃

[lucasteligioridis]

Hi @derailed!

First of all thanks for creating k9s, great product and absolutely love it 👍

My only concern with the new k9salpha is the price tag, I'd love contribute to this tool in a more official manner, not so much for extra features but to show my support more than anything. But $10/month feels a bit steep, although maybe it would help to understand how this figure has been chosen? Is this price tag fixed and non-negotiable for the moment?

Or better yet, would you consider a more fixed model? What will it look like with team licenses?

But anyway, this is more to open the dialogue of this topic more than anything to see your thoughts around it.

(if you'd prefer I create this in a separate issue, let me know, happy to oblige)

[exolab]

Hi there,

I only discovered k9s a few days ago but it has already become my favourite Kubernetes tool. Great work! That being said I would very much prefer either a one-off license fee or at least an annual model. Invoicing is a nuisance on both ends of the process.

Cheers
Toby

[derailed]

@lucasteligioridis Thank you for your candor and for sharing your thoughts!
Everything here is up for discussion! The license tiers are not set as of yet.
We thought $10/mo was sensible to budget for features, development cost and infrastructure.
The pertinent question is:
Does k9s save your cluster admins say an hour a month? If so, is $10 too steep then?

As for fixed price and team licenses, we are not there yet! Initially licenses are going to be slated on a per user basis further enhancement will derive from there.
Does this make sense?

[derailed]

@exolab Thank you for the support and for sharing your thoughts Toby!! Right, for the reasons you've mentioned licenses are currently slated on a yearly renewal scheme. Based on feedback, we will scope out one-off licenses.

[immanuelfodor]

A related topic: https://github.com/derailed/k9s/issues/987 (cross-post just for reference counting)

[immanuelfodor]

By the way, could you please look at the two questions here, there were no reaction to that: https://github.com/derailed/k9s/issues/986#issuecomment-738972136