CloudCostCompareEKS vs AKS vs GKE vs OKE: managed Kubernetes cost
Short answer: all four clouds sell a managed Kubernetes control plane for a small fixed fee per cluster hour, and you pay for the worker nodes separately as ordinary virtual machines. For most clusters the nodes are the bill, so the clouds differ more in node prices, load balancers and data out than in the cluster fee. The free levels are real but are not equivalent to the paid ones.
Key points
- The cluster fee is per cluster per hour, the same for a 3-node and a 300-node cluster.
- Worker nodes, load balancers, volumes and data out are separate lines.
- Azure Free tier and Oracle Basic cluster have no fee and no uptime commitment. Amazon and Google have no such level.
- Compare the level with an uptime commitment across clouds, not a free level against a paid one.
- Pod-billed modes (Fargate, Autopilot, Container Instances) are a different product. See pod-billed vs node-billed.
Which services are equivalent?
| Cloud | Service | Level compared | Vendor page |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | Amazon EKS | Standard support (the one cluster rate) | EKS pricing |
| Azure | Azure Kubernetes Service | Standard tier (uptime SLA) | AKS pricing |
| Google Cloud | Google Kubernetes Engine | Regional Standard cluster | GKE pricing |
| Oracle | Oracle Kubernetes Engine | Enhanced cluster | OKE pricing |
They are equivalent as managed control planes with an uptime commitment. Our Kubernetes estimator uses these levels, with a switch for the free level where the cloud sells one, and shows the vendor SKU behind every price.
What does a worked example look like?
Made-up round numbers to show the method, not real prices. A cluster needs 5 nodes of 4 vCPU and 16 GB, runs all month (730 hours), and has 200 GB of volumes and 500 GB of data out.
| Line | Calculation (made up) | Cloud X | Cloud Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cluster fee | 730 h x rate | 730 x 0.10 = 73.00 | 730 x 0.10 = 73.00 |
| Nodes | 5 x 730 h x node rate | 5 x 730 x 0.20 = 730.00 | 5 x 730 x 0.17 = 620.50 |
| Load balancer | hours plus traffic | 30.00 | 25.00 |
| Volumes | 200 GB x rate | 200 x 0.08 = 16.00 | 200 x 0.10 = 20.00 |
| Data out | 500 GB x rate | 45.00 | 40.00 |
| Total | 894.00 | 778.50 |
The cluster fee is identical here and plays no part in the difference. All of the gap comes from node price. Now take a tiny cluster of 3 small nodes at 0.05 per hour: nodes cost 109.50 and the 73.00 cluster fee is 40 percent of the bill. The fee matters most for small clusters, and a free level can then change the order. That is the one place where comparing free levels is tempting, and where it is least fair.
What changes the answer?
- Node price and node count. The largest line. See Kubernetes node sizing and overhead.
- Minimum nodes. Three nodes for resilience sets a floor under every cluster.
- Fee level. Free levels remove 73.00 in this example but also remove the uptime commitment.
- Version support. EKS charges more for clusters left on old Kubernetes versions.
- Networking. One load balancer per ingress, plus NAT gateways if nodes are private. See load balancer costs.
- Data out. Often larger than the cluster fee.
Which mistakes are common?
- Comparing AKS Free against EKS Standard, which compares an unprotected tier with a protected one.
- Ignoring the three-node floor when estimating a small cluster.
- Forgetting load balancers and volumes.
- Leaving a test cluster on an old version and paying extended-support rates.
Decision checklist
- Same fee level on every cloud?
- Same node size and architecture? See VM instance equivalents.
- Minimum nodes set for resilience?
- Load balancers, volumes and data out counted?
- Pod-billed mode considered for spiky workloads?
Next steps
Price your own cluster in the Kubernetes estimator, and read containers and Kubernetes: what a cluster really costs for the cost layers.
Frequently asked questions
Which managed Kubernetes service is cheapest?
It depends on how many nodes you run. The cluster fee is a small fixed amount on all four clouds, and the nodes are usually most of the bill, so compare node cost first, then the cluster fee, then load balancers, volumes and data out.
Is the Kubernetes control plane free?
Only on some levels. Azure has a Free tier and Oracle has a Basic cluster with no cluster fee and no uptime commitment. Amazon and Google charge a cluster fee on every cluster, although Google credits one cluster's fee each month per billing account.
What is the difference between a free level and the standard level?
The standard level carries an uptime commitment backed by a service credit. The free levels do not, so they suit tests and development, not production.
Do I pay for the nodes separately?
Yes. Worker nodes are ordinary virtual machines billed by the hour. The cluster fee covers only the control plane.
Does extended Kubernetes version support cost extra?
On EKS it does: a cluster on a version in extended support pays a higher cluster rate. Upgrading to a version in standard support returns the cluster to the standard rate.