Kubernetes Cloud Services Complete Comparison: EKS vs GKE vs AKS [2026 Update]

Running Kubernetes yourself is complicated. Most enterprises choose to use cloud managed services.

But AWS, Google, and Azure all have their own Kubernetes services. Which should you choose?

This article will comprehensively compare the three major cloud Kubernetes services to help you make the right choice.

For a basic introduction to Kubernetes, see Kubernetes Complete Guide.

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Overview of Three Major Cloud Services

Let's first introduce the three services:

Cloud	Service Name	Full Name
AWS	EKS	Elastic Kubernetes Service
Google Cloud	GKE	Google Kubernetes Engine
Azure	AKS	Azure Kubernetes Service

Why Use Managed Services?

Running Kubernetes yourself means handling:

Item	Self-managed	Managed Service
Control Plane maintenance	Your job	Cloud handles it
etcd backup	Your job	Automatic
Version upgrades	Your job	Semi-automatic/automatic
HA setup	Your job	Built-in
Security patches	Your job	Automatic

Conclusion: Unless you have special requirements, managed services save time and effort.

Market Share

According to 2024 surveys:

Service	Market Share
AWS EKS	~45%
Google GKE	~25%
Azure AKS	~20%
Others	~10%

EKS has the largest share, but this is mainly because AWS has higher overall market share. GKE leads in Kubernetes purity and features.

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AWS EKS Detailed Overview

Basic Introduction

EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) is AWS's managed Kubernetes service.

Features:

Feature	Description
AWS integration	Deep integration with IAM, VPC, ALB, and other services
Stability	AWS SLA guarantee
Ecosystem	Largest cloud ecosystem

Advantages

1. AWS Ecosystem Integration

If you're already heavily using AWS, EKS integration is very convenient:

Integrated Service	Purpose
IAM	Authentication and authorization
VPC	Network isolation
ALB/NLB	Load balancing
ECR	Container image registry
CloudWatch	Monitoring and logging
Secrets Manager	Secrets management

2. EKS Anywhere

Can run EKS in on-premises data centers for hybrid cloud.

3. Fargate Support

Serverless option, no need to manage Nodes:

# Using Fargate Profile
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: my-app
  namespace: fargate-namespace  # Namespace matching Fargate Profile
spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: my-app:1.0

Disadvantages

1. Control Plane Charges

$73 per month per cluster, whether you use it or not.

2. Learning Curve

AWS's IAM and VPC setup is already complex; adding EKS makes it more so.

3. Slow Version Updates

EKS's Kubernetes version is usually several months behind upstream.

Pricing Structure

Item	Cost
Control Plane	$0.10/hour (~$73/month)
Worker Nodes	Per EC2 instance pricing
Fargate	Per vCPU and memory
Network traffic	Per AWS standard rates

Example estimate (small cluster):

• Control Plane: $73/month
• 3 t3.medium Nodes: ~$90/month
• Total: ~$163/month

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Google GKE Detailed Overview

Basic Introduction

GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) is Google Cloud's managed Kubernetes service.

Kubernetes itself was developed by Google, so GKE typically leads technologically.

Features:

Feature	Description
Technology leader	Fastest support for latest K8s features
High automation	Auto-upgrade, auto-repair
Autopilot mode	Fully managed, don't even manage Nodes

Advantages

1. Technology and Feature Leadership (Important update: the control plane is no longer free)

GKE's biggest selling point used to be "free control plane in Standard mode." That is no longer true. Since 2023, both GKE Standard and Autopilot charge a $0.10/hour (~$73/month) cluster management fee, the same as EKS.

Google keeps one cushion: each billing account gets a $74.40/month free credit, just enough to offset the management fee for exactly one zonal cluster. So a single small test cluster is effectively still near-free, but a second cluster or a regional cluster pays the full $0.10/hour.

The reason to pick GKE today is therefore no longer "saving on the control plane," but its continued lead in new Kubernetes feature support, automation, and Autopilot maturity.

2. Autopilot Mode

No need to manage Nodes at all, just deploy Pods:

Item	Standard	Autopilot
Node management	You manage	Google manages
Resource allocation	You configure	Auto-optimized
Security patches	Semi-automatic	Fully automatic
Billing method	Per Node	Per Pod resources

3. Fast Version Updates

GKE usually supports new Kubernetes versions very quickly after release.

4. Strong Automation Features

Feature	Description
Auto-upgrade	Can set maintenance windows for automatic upgrades
Auto-repair	Nodes automatically repaired when abnormal
Auto-scaling	Both cluster and Pod scaling supported

Disadvantages

1. Smaller Google Cloud Ecosystem

Compared to AWS, Google Cloud's overall services and market are smaller.

2. Regional Limitations

Some regions have fewer availability zones.

3. Autopilot Limitations

• Can't use DaemonSet
• Some advanced features are limited
• Longer cold start time

Pricing Structure

Item	Standard	Autopilot
Control Plane	$0.10/hour (~$73/month)	$0.10/hour (~$73/month)
Worker Nodes	Per GCE pricing	N/A
Pod resources	N/A	Per vCPU/memory

Free credit: each billing account gets $74.40/month, enough to cover the management fee of exactly one zonal cluster. Beyond one cluster, or for regional clusters, you pay the full $0.10/hour.

Example estimate (small cluster, Standard):

• Control Plane: ~$73/month (if it's the first zonal cluster in the account, the free credit can offset it to near $0)
• 3 e2-medium Nodes: ~$75/month
• Total: ~$148/month (about $75/month once a single cluster uses the free credit)

The control plane fee is now identical to EKS; the difference comes down to node choice and the free credit.

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Azure AKS Detailed Overview

Basic Introduction

AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) is Microsoft Azure's managed Kubernetes service.

Features:

Feature	Description
Enterprise integration	Deep Active Directory integration
Windows containers	Best Windows container support
Hybrid cloud	Azure Arc support

Advantages

1. The only one that still offers a genuinely free control plane (Free tier)

Among the three, only AKS still offers a truly free control plane. It comes in two tiers:

• Free tier: $0 management fee, but no financially-backed uptime SLA — suitable for dev, test, or non-critical environments.
• Standard tier: $0.10/hour (~$73/month), which buys a formal uptime SLA — suitable for production.

In other words, if you can live without an SLA, AKS has the lowest control plane cost of the three; if you need a production-grade SLA, the cost is the same as EKS and GKE.

2. Azure AD Integration

If your company uses Microsoft 365 or Azure AD, integration is very convenient:

# Login to AKS with Azure AD
az aks get-credentials --resource-group myRG --name myAKS
# Will automatically use Azure AD identity

3. Best Windows Container Support

Need to run Windows containers? AKS is the best choice:

Feature	AKS	EKS	GKE
Windows Node	✅ Native support	✅ Supported	✅ Supported
Integration level	Best	Medium	Medium
.NET optimization	✅	❌	❌

4. Azure Arc

Can use Azure to manage Kubernetes anywhere:

• On-premises data centers
• Other clouds
• Edge devices

Disadvantages

1. Complex Interface

Azure Portal operations are more cumbersome.

2. Documentation Quality

Compared to AWS and GCP, Azure documentation is sometimes unclear.

3. Some Features Delayed

New Kubernetes features sometimes supported later than GKE.

Pricing Structure

Item	Cost
Control Plane (Free tier)	Free (no financially-backed SLA)
Control Plane (Standard tier)	$0.10/hour (~$73/month, includes SLA)
Worker Nodes	Per Azure VM pricing

Example estimate (small cluster):

• Control Plane: $0 (Free tier, no SLA) / ~$73 (Standard tier, includes SLA)
• 3 Standard_D2s_v3 Nodes: ~$85/month
• Total: ~$85/month (Free tier) to ~$158/month (Standard tier)

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Complete Feature Comparison

Core Features

Feature	EKS	GKE	AKS
Control Plane cost	$0.10/hr (~$73/mo)	$0.10/hr (~$73/mo; free credit for first zonal cluster)	Free tier $0 (no SLA) / Standard $0.10/hr
Latest K8s version	Slower	Fastest	Medium
Auto-upgrade	Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto-repair	Yes	Yes	Yes
Multi-cluster management	Needs additional tools	Anthos	Azure Arc

Compute Options

Option	EKS	GKE	AKS
Standard VMs	✅	✅	✅
Spot/Preemptible	✅	✅	✅
ARM architecture	✅ Graviton	✅ Tau T2A	✅
Serverless	Fargate	Autopilot	Virtual Nodes
GPU	✅	✅	✅
Windows	✅	✅	✅ Best

Network Features

Feature	EKS	GKE	AKS
CNI options	VPC CNI	GKE CNI/Calico	Azure CNI/Kubenet
Network Policy	✅	✅	✅
Service Mesh	App Mesh	Anthos Service Mesh	Open Service Mesh
Ingress	ALB Controller	GKE Ingress	AGIC

Security Features

Feature	EKS	GKE	AKS
Authentication	IAM	Google IAM	Azure AD
Secrets management	Secrets Manager	Secret Manager	Key Vault
Image scanning	ECR scanning	Artifact Registry	ACR scanning
Workload identity	IRSA	Workload Identity	Workload Identity

Monitoring and Logging

Feature	EKS	GKE	AKS
Built-in monitoring	CloudWatch	Cloud Monitoring	Azure Monitor
Built-in logging	CloudWatch Logs	Cloud Logging	Log Analytics
Cost analysis	Cost Explorer	Billing reports	Cost Management

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Detailed Pricing Comparison

Pricing is an important selection factor. Let's look at detailed comparisons.

Control Plane Costs (2026, updated)

Service	Monthly cost per cluster	Notes
EKS	~$73 ($0.10/hr)	No free option
GKE Standard	~$73 ($0.10/hr)	$74.40/month credit per billing account covers one zonal cluster
GKE Autopilot	~$73 ($0.10/hr)	Same free credit
AKS Free tier	$0	No financially-backed SLA
AKS Standard tier	~$73 ($0.10/hr)	Includes uptime SLA

Key change: all three control planes now cost the same $0.10/hour. The old "GKE is free" price advantage is gone; the only ways to reach $0 are GKE's free credit (first zonal cluster only) and AKS's Free tier (giving up the SLA). For multi-cluster or production environments, the management-fee gap between the three is minimal.

Node and network figures below are rough estimates ($0.10/hr ≈ $73/month, in USD). Always verify against each cloud's official pricing calculator.

Example Scenario Cost Estimates

Scenario 1: Small Development Environment

3 Nodes, 2 vCPU / 4GB RAM each

Service	Monthly Estimate
EKS	$73 + $90 = $163
GKE	$73 + $75 = $148 (about $75 once the first zonal cluster uses the free credit)
AKS	Free tier $0 + $85 = $85 (no SLA) / Standard $73 + $85 = $158 (with SLA)

Scenario 2: Medium Production Environment

10 Nodes, 4 vCPU / 16GB RAM each, plus load balancing (for production, use a regional cluster on GKE and the Standard tier on AKS to get an SLA)

Service	Monthly Estimate
EKS	$73 + $800 + $20 = $893
GKE	$73 + $700 + $18 = $791
AKS	$73 + $750 + $18 = $841 (Standard tier / with SLA)

Scenario 3: Large Multi-Cluster

5 clusters, 20 Nodes each

Service	Monthly Estimate
EKS	$365 + $8,000 = $8,365
GKE	$365 + $7,000 = $7,365 (one zonal cluster can use the free credit, ~$7,292)
AKS	$365 + $7,500 = $7,865 (Standard tier / with SLA)

This table used to show "GKE/AKS control plane at $0, EKS more expensive." Now the three management fees are essentially tied, and the cost difference comes mainly from node choice and each provider's discount options — not the control plane.

Hidden Costs

Don't just look at Control Plane—consider these too:

Item	Description
Network traffic	Cross-region and outbound traffic charged
Load balancers	Each LoadBalancer Service costs money
Storage	PersistentVolume costs
Logs/Monitoring	Expensive when data volume is large

Cost optimization suggestions:

Suggestion	Estimated Savings
Use Spot/preemptible instances	60-80%
Properly set resource requests/limits	20-30%
Use Cluster Autoscaler	10-20%
Consolidate small clusters	Reduce Control Plane costs

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How to Choose?

Decision Flow

Start
  │
  ▼
Already heavily using a cloud?
  │
  ├─ AWS → Consider EKS first
  ├─ GCP → Consider GKE first
  ├─ Azure → Consider AKS first
  │
  └─ None → Continue evaluating
              │
              ▼
            Need Windows containers?
              │
              ├─ Yes → AKS
              │
              └─ No → Continue evaluating
                      │
                      ▼
                    Budget priority?
                      │
                      ├─ Yes → GKE or AKS
                      │
                      └─ No → Look at other factors

Scenario Recommendations

Scenario	Recommendation	Reason
Heavy AWS usage	EKS	Best integration
Heavy GCP usage	GKE	Best integration
Heavy Azure usage	AKS	Best integration
Startup, single small cluster	GKE or AKS Free tier	GKE's first zonal cluster has a free credit; AKS Free tier saves the management fee (but no SLA)
Enterprise, using AD	AKS	Azure AD integration
Need latest K8s features	GKE	Newest version
Windows containers	AKS	Best support
Serverless priority	GKE Autopilot	Most mature
Hybrid cloud needs	Depends on existing environment	All have solutions

Considerations by Role

Developers:

Consideration	Recommendation
Quick start	GKE (Autopilot is simplest)
Local development integration	About the same
CI/CD integration	Depends on existing tools

Operations/SRE:

Consideration	Recommendation
Automation level	GKE
Monitoring integration	Depends on existing tools
Troubleshooting	All have complete tools

Finance/Management:

Consideration	Recommendation
Cost control	Management fees are equal across all three; focus on node discounts (Spot/reserved/savings plans) and existing cloud discounts
Enterprise contracts	Depends on existing contracts
Compliance requirements	All have certifications

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Migration Considerations

Already using one service and want to switch to another?

Migration Difficulty

From → To	Difficulty	Notes
EKS → GKE	Medium	Mainly IAM and networking
EKS → AKS	Medium	Mainly IAM and networking
GKE → EKS	Medium	Need to set up IAM
GKE → AKS	Medium	Need to set up Azure AD
AKS → EKS	Medium	Need to set up IAM
AKS → GKE	Medium	Relatively simpler

Migration Focus Points

Needs adjustment:

Item	Description
Authentication	IAM / Google IAM / Azure AD
Network configuration	VPC / Subnet / Security Group
Storage	StorageClass definitions
Load balancing	Ingress Controller, Annotations
Secrets management	Each cloud's Secret integration

Doesn't need changes:

Item	Description
Deployment	Standard K8s objects
Service (ClusterIP)	Doesn't involve cloud-specific features
ConfigMap	Standard K8s objects
Application code	Containers themselves don't change

Migration Recommendations

Recommendation	Description
Use Terraform	Infrastructure as code, easy to recreate
Avoid over-binding	Reduce use of cloud-specific features
Test environment first	Build test cluster in new environment first
Gradual migration	Don't move everything at once

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FAQ: Common Questions

Q1: Haven't used any cloud, which should I choose?

Recommend GKE — but no longer because it's "free."

Reasons:

• Autopilot is the easiest to get started with, ideal for beginners
• Most advanced technology, fastest support for new K8s versions
• Clear documentation
• The first zonal cluster in your account has a free credit, keeping learning costs low

If you can accept no uptime SLA, AKS's Free tier is also a good way to save on control plane cost.

Q2: Which provider's control plane is still free in 2026?

This is where old articles mislead people most. The 2026 reality: both EKS and GKE charge $0.10/hour (~$73/month) for the control plane, and GKE Standard is no longer free.

The only two ways to still reach $0:

Option	Condition	Limitation
GKE free credit	The "first" zonal cluster in the billing account	Offsets one cluster only, and it must be zonal
AKS Free tier	Choose the Free tier	No financially-backed uptime SLA

So for multi-cluster or SLA-requiring production environments, all three cost nearly the same — stop using "GKE is free" as a selection reason.

Q3: GKE Autopilot vs EKS Fargate—which is better?

Item	GKE Autopilot	EKS Fargate
Maturity	More mature	Mature
Pricing	Lower	Higher
Limitations	Fewer	More
Cold start	Yes	Yes

Overall, GKE Autopilot is better.

Q4: Can I do multi-cloud?

Yes, but it adds complexity.

Multi-cloud solutions:

• Anthos (Google): Manage any K8s
• Azure Arc (Microsoft): Manage any K8s
• EKS Anywhere (AWS): Only EKS-compatible clusters

Recommendation: Unless there's a clear need, focus on a single cloud first.

Q5: Are there cheaper options than these three?

Yes.

Service	Features
DigitalOcean DOKS	Cheaper, good for small projects
Linode LKE	Cheaper, good for small projects
Vultr VKE	Cheaper, good for small projects
Civo	K3s-based, cheap and fast

But these services don't have the ecosystem and enterprise features of the three major clouds.

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Next Steps

After choosing your cloud service, you can:

Goal	Action
Hands-on practice	Read Kubernetes Getting Started Tutorial
Learn tools	Read Kubernetes Tool Ecosystem Guide
Understand architecture	Read Kubernetes Architecture Complete Guide
Deep dive networking	Read Kubernetes Network Architecture Guide

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Further Reading

• Kubernetes Complete Guide - K8s introduction overview
• Kubernetes Getting Started Tutorial - Start from scratch
• Kubernetes Tool Ecosystem Guide - Helm, monitoring, CI/CD
• Kubernetes Architecture Complete Guide - Control Plane and Nodes
• Kubernetes Network Architecture Guide - CNI, Service, Ingress

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References

• AWS EKS Official Documentation
• Google GKE Official Documentation
• Azure AKS Official Documentation
• AWS EKS Pricing
• Google GKE Pricing
• Azure AKS Pricing