Compare managed Kubernetes services (EKS, AKS, GKE) features and pricing.
Last verified: April 2026
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes service | Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) |
| Control plane cost | $0.10/hr per cluster (~$73/mo) | Free tier available; Standard tier $0.10/hr per cluster | Free tier (1 zonal cluster); Standard tier $0.10/hr per cluster |
| Release channels | Extended support and standard support; manual version selection | Rapid, Stable, and Long-Term Support channels | Rapid, Regular, and Stable release channels |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Node autoscaling | Cluster Autoscaler; Karpenter (recommended) | Cluster Autoscaler (built-in) | Cluster Autoscaler; Node Auto-Provisioning (NAP) |
| Serverless pods | AWS Fargate profiles for serverless pod execution | Virtual Nodes (ACI-based); KEDA for event-driven scaling | GKE Autopilot mode (fully managed node infrastructure) |
| Max nodes per cluster | Up to 5,000 nodes per cluster (with quota increase) | Up to 5,000 nodes per cluster across node pools | Up to 15,000 nodes per cluster |
| Spot/preemptible nodes | Spot Instances via managed node groups or Karpenter | Spot VMs via Spot node pools with eviction policies | Spot VMs (preemptible) in node pools; Autopilot Spot Pods |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU support | NVIDIA GPU instances (P4, P5, G5); EKS GPU AMIs; device plugin | NVIDIA GPU VMs (NC, ND, NV series); AKS GPU node pools | NVIDIA GPU node pools (T4, A100, L4, H100); GKE GPU sharing |
| Windows containers | Windows node groups supported; Windows Server 2019/2022 AMIs | Windows node pools natively supported; Windows Server 2019/2022 | Windows Server node pools supported; Windows Server LTSC |
| Node pools | Managed node groups with launch templates; self-managed node groups | System and user node pools; multiple OS types per cluster | Node pools with auto-upgrade and auto-repair; surge upgrades |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network policies | Calico via EKS add-on; VPC CNI network policies | Azure Network Policies or Calico; Azure CNI overlay | Dataplane V2 (Cilium-based) with native network policy enforcement |
| Ingress controller | AWS Load Balancer Controller (ALB Ingress); NLB support | Application Gateway Ingress Controller (AGIC); Web App Routing | GKE Ingress (HTTP/S Load Balancer); Gateway API support |
| Service mesh integration | AWS App Mesh; Istio via EKS add-on | Istio-based service mesh add-on; Open Service Mesh (retired) | Anthos Service Mesh (managed Istio); Traffic Director |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | CloudWatch Container Insights; Prometheus via AMP | Azure Monitor Container Insights; Managed Prometheus and Grafana | Cloud Monitoring dashboards; Managed Prometheus; Cloud Logging |
| Managed add-ons | CoreDNS, kube-proxy, VPC CNI, EBS CSI as managed add-ons | CoreDNS, kube-proxy managed; monitoring and policy add-ons | CoreDNS, kube-proxy, GCE PD CSI, Config Connector as managed add-ons |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-cluster management | EKS Connector for external cluster registration; no native fleet management | Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes; Fleet Manager for multi-cluster orchestration | Anthos / GKE Fleet for multi-cluster management; Config Sync |
| Feature | AWS (EKS) | Azure (AKS) | GCP (GKE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RBAC integration | IAM roles for service accounts (IRSA); EKS Pod Identity; aws-auth ConfigMap | Azure AD (Entra ID) integration; Azure RBAC for Kubernetes authorization | IAM Workload Identity; Google Groups for RBAC; GKE RBAC |
| Secrets management | AWS Secrets Manager CSI driver; KMS envelope encryption for etcd | Azure Key Vault CSI driver; etcd encryption with customer-managed keys | Secret Manager CSI driver; application-layer secrets encryption with Cloud KMS |
{
"features": [
{
"feature": "Managed Kubernetes service",
"category": "Core Service",
"aws": "Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)",
"azure": "Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)",
"gcp": "Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)"
},
{
"feature": "Control plane cost",
"category": "Core Service",
"aws": "$0.10/hr per cluster (~$73/mo)",
"azure": "Free tier available; Standard tier $0.10/hr per cluster",
"gcp": "Free tier (1 zonal cluster); Standard tier $0.10/hr per cluster"
},
{
"feature": "Release channels",
"category": "Core Service",
"aws": "Extended support and standard support; manual version selection",
"azure": "Rapid, Stable, and Long-Term Support channels",
"gcp": "Rapid, Regular, and Stable release channels"
},
{
"feature": "Node autoscaling",
"category": "Scaling",
"aws": "Cluster Autoscaler; Karpenter (recommended)",
"azure": "Cluster Autoscaler (built-in)",
"gcp": "Cluster Autoscaler; Node Auto-Provisioning (NAP)"
},
{
"feature": "Serverless pods",
"category": "Scaling",
"aws": "AWS Fargate profiles for serverless pod execution",
"azure": "Virtual Nodes (ACI-based); KEDA for event-driven scaling",
"gcp": "GKE Autopilot mode (fully managed node infrastructure)"
},
{
"feature": "Max nodes per cluster",
"category": "Scaling",
"aws": "Up to 5,000 nodes per cluster (with quota increase)",
"azure": "Up to 5,000 nodes per cluster across node pools",
"gcp": "Up to 15,000 nodes per cluster"
},
{
"feature": "Spot/preemptible nodes",
"category": "Scaling",
"aws": "Spot Instances via managed node groups or Karpenter",
"azure": "Spot VMs via Spot node pools with eviction policies",
"gcp": "Spot VMs (preemptible) in node pools; Autopilot Spot Pods"
},
{
"feature": "GPU support",
"category": "Compute",
"aws": "NVIDIA GPU instances (P4, P5, G5); EKS GPU AMIs; device plugin",
"azure": "NVIDIA GPU VMs (NC, ND, NV series); AKS GPU node pools",
"gcp": "NVIDIA GPU node pools (T4, A100, L4, H100); GKE GPU sharing"
},
{
"feature": "Windows containers",
"category": "Compute",
"aws": "Windows node groups supported; Windows Server 2019/2022 AMIs",
"azure": "Windows node pools natively supported; Windows Server 2019/2022",
"gcp": "Windows Server node pools supported; Windows Server LTSC"
},
{
"feature": "Node pools",
"category": "Compute",
"aws": "Managed node groups with launch templates; self-managed node groups",
"azure": "System and user node pools; multiple OS types per cluster",
"gcp": "Node pools with auto-upgrade and auto-repair; surge upgrades"
},
{
"feature": "Network policies",
"category": "Networking",
"aws": "Calico via EKS add-on; VPC CNI network policies",
"azure": "Azure Network Policies or Calico; Azure CNI overlay",
"gcp": "Dataplane V2 (Cilium-based) with native network policy enforcement"
},
{
"feature": "Ingress controller",
"category": "Networking",
"aws": "AWS Load Balancer Controller (ALB Ingress); NLB support",
"azure": "Application Gateway Ingress Controller (AGIC); Web App Routing",
"gcp": "GKE Ingress (HTTP/S Load Balancer); Gateway API support"
},
{
"feature": "Service mesh integration",
"category": "Networking",
"aws": "AWS App Mesh; Istio via EKS add-on",
"azure": "Istio-based service mesh add-on; Open Service Mesh (retired)",
"gcp": "Anthos Service Mesh (managed Istio); Traffic Director"
},
{
"feature": "Monitoring",
"category": "Observability",
"aws": "CloudWatch Container Insights; Prometheus via AMP",
"azure": "Azure Monitor Container Insights; Managed Prometheus and Grafana",
"gcp": "Cloud Monitoring dashboards; Managed Prometheus; Cloud Logging"
},
{
"feature": "Managed add-ons",
"category": "Observability",
"aws": "CoreDNS, kube-proxy, VPC CNI, EBS CSI as managed add-ons",
"azure": "CoreDNS, kube-proxy managed; monitoring and policy add-ons",
"gcp": "CoreDNS, kube-proxy, GCE PD CSI, Config Connector as managed add-ons"
},
{
"feature": "Multi-cluster management",
"category": "Multi-Cluster",
"aws": "EKS Connector for external cluster registration; no native fleet management",
"azure": "Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes; Fleet Manager for multi-cluster orchestration",
"gcp": "Anthos / GKE Fleet for multi-cluster management; Config Sync"
},
{
"feature": "RBAC integration",
"category": "Security",
"aws": "IAM roles for service accounts (IRSA); EKS Pod Identity; aws-auth ConfigMap",
"azure": "Azure AD (Entra ID) integration; Azure RBAC for Kubernetes authorization",
"gcp": "IAM Workload Identity; Google Groups for RBAC; GKE RBAC"
},
{
"feature": "Secrets management",
"category": "Security",
"aws": "AWS Secrets Manager CSI driver; KMS envelope encryption for etcd",
"azure": "Azure Key Vault CSI driver; etcd encryption with customer-managed keys",
"gcp": "Secret Manager CSI driver; application-layer secrets encryption with Cloud KMS"
}
]
}The comparison engine maintains a curated dataset of EKS, AKS, and GKE capabilities organized into categories: control plane, node management, networking, autoscaling, security, and pricing. Each feature is mapped to its equivalent across providers with notes on implementation differences. The tool presents these in an aligned comparison table with filtering by category.
The Multi-Cloud Kubernetes Compare tool provides a comprehensive feature and pricing comparison of managed Kubernetes services across AWS (EKS), Azure (AKS), and GCP (GKE). It covers control plane pricing, node management modes, networking models, autoscaling capabilities, security features, and managed add-ons. This tool helps you evaluate which platform best fits your container orchestration needs.
Your platform team needs to recommend a managed Kubernetes service for the company's containerization initiative. You use the comparison to build a decision matrix. GKE Autopilot scores highest for operational simplicity but gets flagged for DaemonSet restrictions your monitoring agent needs. EKS wins on ecosystem maturity but the $73/cluster/month fee adds up across 15 dev clusters. You recommend AKS for dev/test (free control plane) and EKS for production (best ecosystem), saving $13,000/year in control plane fees.
AKS is the only major managed Kubernetes service with a free control plane tier. EKS charges $0.10/hour ($73/month) per cluster, and GKE charges for Autopilot management. If you are running many small clusters for dev/test, AKS saves significant control plane costs.
GKE Autopilot is the closest thing to serverless Kubernetes. It manages nodes entirely, bills per pod resource request, and enforces security best practices. But Autopilot restricts DaemonSets, privileged containers, and host networking. Evaluate these restrictions against your workload requirements before choosing it.
Networking model choice has massive implications for IP address consumption. EKS with VPC CNI assigns a VPC IP to every pod, potentially exhausting your subnet. AKS kubenet uses an overlay network consuming fewer IPs. GKE VPC-native uses alias IPs. Plan your subnet sizing based on maximum pod count, not just node count.
AKS offers a free control plane tier (without SLA). GKE offers one free zonal cluster per billing account. EKS charges $0.10/hour ($73/month) for every cluster. However, control plane cost is usually a small fraction of total cluster cost, which is dominated by node compute. Compare total cost including nodes, networking, and storage.
AWS offers Fargate profiles for serverless pods. Azure does not have a direct equivalent but AKS virtual nodes use Azure Container Instances. GKE Autopilot fully manages nodes based on pod resource requests. Each approach trades control for operational simplicity with different pricing models.
EKS uses the VPC CNI plugin (pods get VPC IPs) or alternative CNIs. AKS uses Azure CNI (VNet IPs) or kubenet (overlay). GKE uses VPC-native with alias IPs. Each model has different IP address consumption patterns, affecting subnet sizing and VPC planning. GKE's model is most closely integrated with the cloud networking stack.
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