Cloud Kubernetes Cost Comparison Calculator

Enter one shared workload and up to three provider plans. The shared workload includes cluster count, monthly running hours, worker nodes, node capacity, requested pod resources, persistent storage, load balancers, NAT gateways, transfer, observability, backups, and a monthly budget.

Each plan can use its own provider, region, Kubernetes service, version-support tier, billing model, machine name, control-plane fee, compute price, management premium, storage price, network price, observability price, backup price, discount, fixed monthly cost, and migration cost.

Configured plans are ranked by monthly planning cost. The result also shows first-year cost, cost per cluster, cost per workload vCPU, budget position, and the possible saving against the lowest configured plan.

Standard Kubernetes clusters commonly bill worker capacity through cloud virtual machines. Enter the full hourly worker node price and any separate automatic-management premium. The calculator multiplies that amount by worker nodes, clusters, and running hours.

Automatic, pod-based, and serverless modes can charge for requested vCPU, memory, and ephemeral storage. Select requested-resource billing and enter the exact unit prices from the provider. A complete monthly option is also available for custom quotes or bundled plans.

Do not enter both node-based and requested-resource prices for the same plan. The selected billing model determines which compute fields are included.

Amazon EKS charges a per-cluster hourly fee based on the Kubernetes version-support tier. Azure AKS offers Free, Standard SLA, Premium LTS, and Automatic choices with different management and support structures. GKE applies a cluster-management fee and supports an account-level free tier credit for eligible clusters.

Enter the effective cluster fee for the selected tier and version. Use the optional monthly cluster-fee credit for an eligible free tier or account credit. The calculator never assumes that a credit applies to every cluster.

Extended version support can materially increase cluster fees. Check the current Kubernetes version lifecycle before leaving a production cluster on an older minor version.

Persistent storage is calculated from the total provisioned storage per cluster. Load balancers and NAT gateways use separate hourly infrastructure and per-GB processing rates. Internet or cross-region transfer is calculated separately from load-balancer and NAT processing.

This separation is important because one GB can create more than one network charge. For example, traffic can pass through a load balancer, a NAT gateway, and an internet egress route. Enter each charge only when it applies to the planned architecture.

Observability ingestion, backup management, and backup storage are also separate. This helps compare clusters that use different logging retention, namespace backup, or disaster-recovery designs.

Product names, operating modes, cluster-fee structures, version-support tiers, and billing guidance were checked on June 25, 2026. Prices remain blank because actual rates depend on region, worker type, purchase option, support tier, networking, storage, currency, and account agreement.

Use each provider pricing page or account calculator to enter the current effective rates for the exact configuration. This prevents one regional example from being presented as a universal price.

• Compare Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE using one workload.
• Compare standard worker nodes with automatic or pod-based billing.
• Measure control-plane, SLA, and extended-support fees.
• Include worker-management premiums and compute discounts.
• Add persistent storage, load balancers, and NAT gateways.
• Include network processing and internet data transfer.
• Add logging, backup management, and backup storage.
• Measure monthly operating and first-year migration cost.
• Check each Kubernetes plan against a monthly budget.

The result does not automatically include taxes, premium cloud support, public IPv4 addresses, private connectivity, service mesh, security products, container registry, artifact storage, DNS, secrets, certificate management, cross-zone traffic, cross-region replication, engineering labour, or services not entered.

Similar vCPU and memory values do not guarantee similar Kubernetes performance. Processor generation, allocatable capacity, pod density, CNI limits, storage latency, autoscaling, spot interruption, control-plane limits, and managed features differ. Test a representative workload before choosing a provider.