Welcome to our latest cost comparison blog post where we match up three Kubernetes giants to determine which provider comes out on top. With Kubernetes now widely used for cloud deployments, it's no surprise that there are plenty of managed Kubernetes services to choose from. We've taken three of the most popular: Amazon Web Services Elastic Kubernetes Service (AWS EKS), Google Cloud Platform Kubernetes Engine (GCP GKE), and Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (Azure AKS).
We understand that cost is a huge factor when considering choosing a managed Kubernetes service. Therefore, in this post, we will compare the costs of the three services to help you decide which is the most cost-effective.
AWS EKS vs GCP GKE vs Azure AKS: Cost Comparison
AWS EKS
AWS EKS offers two types of pricing options:
- Pay-as-you-go
- Savings plans
Under the pay-as-you-go plan, you will be charged only for the resources that you use, for example, nodes, requests, and storage. In contrast, Savings Plans provide you with the biggest discount (62%) on the on-demand rates by committing to a consistent amount of usage for a one or three year period.
GCP GKE
GCP GKE offers two billing options:
- Per-second billing
- Preemptible VMs
Per-second billing is the default billing method, meaning you will be billed per second for the usage of each consumed resource. Preemptible VMs are another option that provides a discount of up to 80% off the regular price, with the only caveat being that instances can be terminated at any time and typically have a lifetime of fewer than 24 hours.
Azure AKS
Azure AKS has the following pricing options:
- Basic
- Standard
Azure AKS Basic is free, but the nodes you run on the service will incur costs based on their configurations, including compute, storage, and network usage. On the other hand, Azure AKS Standard Tier starts at $0.10/hour for the Kubernetes control plane and at $0.06/hour for nodes while the burstable VMs, which allow fluctuating workloads, cost $0.04/hour.
Cost Comparison Summary
We have shortlisted the top three Kubernetes services and provided an overview of their pricing options. AWS EKS and GCP GKE offer pricing based on usage, while Azure AKS has both basic (free) and standard tiers. Although it may seem challenging to compare these pricing models side by side, we can roughly estimate the cost for a managed Kubernetes service provider for organizations with similar business functions and requirements.
Below is an estimated cost comparison of running a medium-sized Kubernetes cluster with 10 worker nodes, running on GCP GKE, AWS EKS, and Azure AKS.
| Provider | Estimated Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| AWS EKS | $725.05 |
| GCP GKE | $550.00 |
| Azure AKS | $635.40 |
These figures provide a rough idea of the cost comparisons and what to expect. However, it's important to note that the final cost depends on the business needs and usage of the service, and a real cost comparison would be more in-depth and personalized.
Conclusion
To sum it up, managed Kubernetes services are an excellent option for companies looking to deploy containerized workloads without needing to manage the underlying infrastructure. When considering pricing, AWS EKS and Azure AKS offer businesses a more consistent cost structure with their premium tiers, whereas GCP GKE offers an attractive option for organizations with rapidly fluctuating workloads.
Ultimately, when deciding which Kubernetes service to go with, it's essential to keep your business's functions, requirements, and budgets top of mind to make the right choice.
We hope this cost comparison post has been helpful!