GKE charges a cluster management fee: Standard clusters are free for the first cluster in each billing account (then $0.10/hour), and Autopilot clusters charge $0.10/hour per cluster. You pay separately for compute resources (nodes in Standard, pod resources in Autopilot). GKE Enterprise adds per-vCPU charges.

What is the difference between Standard and Autopilot mode?

Standard mode gives you full control over node configuration, machine types, and scaling policies. Autopilot is a fully managed mode where Google provisions and scales nodes based on pod resource requests. Autopilot charges per pod vCPU/memory-second and eliminates node management overhead.

How can I reduce GKE costs?

Use Spot VMs for fault-tolerant workloads, right-size pod resource requests, enable cluster autoscaler and vertical pod autoscaler, use committed-use discounts for baseline capacity, and consider Autopilot to eliminate over-provisioned node overhead.

GKE Cost Estimator

ComputeGCP

Estimate monthly Google Kubernetes Engine costs for Standard and Autopilot clusters.

GKE Cluster Configuration

Cluster Mode

Machine Type

Nodes Per Zone

Zone Count (1-3)

Persistent Disk Type

Persistent Disk (GB)

Network Egress (GB)

Internet egress. First 1 GB free, then $0.12/GB.

Raw Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

The GKE Cost Estimator calculates monthly costs for Google Kubernetes Engine clusters in both Standard and Autopilot modes. It covers cluster management fees, node pool compute costs, and GKE-specific features like GKE Enterprise. The tool compares Standard (self-managed nodes) vs. Autopilot (Google-managed nodes) pricing to help you choose the right mode.

When to Use This Tool

•Estimating total monthly GKE costs for a production Standard cluster with multiple node pools.
•Comparing GKE Standard vs. Autopilot pricing for a specific workload's resource requests.
•Calculating the cost impact of enabling GKE Enterprise features like multi-cluster management.
•Modeling node pool autoscaling costs based on minimum and maximum node counts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GKE free?: GKE charges a cluster management fee: Standard clusters are free for the first cluster in each billing account (then $0.10/hour), and Autopilot clusters charge $0.10/hour per cluster. You pay separately for compute resources (nodes in Standard, pod resources in Autopilot). GKE Enterprise adds per-vCPU charges.
What is the difference between Standard and Autopilot mode?: Standard mode gives you full control over node configuration, machine types, and scaling policies. Autopilot is a fully managed mode where Google provisions and scales nodes based on pod resource requests. Autopilot charges per pod vCPU/memory-second and eliminates node management overhead.
How can I reduce GKE costs?: Use Spot VMs for fault-tolerant workloads, right-size pod resource requests, enable cluster autoscaler and vertical pod autoscaler, use committed-use discounts for baseline capacity, and consider Autopilot to eliminate over-provisioned node overhead.

Related Learning Guides

GKE vs Cloud Run Decision24 min read
Cost Optimization Guide24 min read
Kubernetes Comparison: EKS vs AKS vs GKE25 min read

Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.