Kubernetes Cost Calculator

GKE vs EKS vs AKS. Compare node, disk, management, and load balancer costs for your cluster configuration across all three managed Kubernetes services.

GKEEKSAKSGCPAWSAzureNode poolsManaged K8s

Node size

Node count

Disk per node

Load balancers

Region

💡

AKS (Azure) is the cheapest option at $626/mo

Save up to $115/mo vs the most expensive option for this configuration.

AKS (Azure)

Cheapest

$626

per month

Nodes$591

Mgmt fee$0.00

Disk$14

Load balancer$20

GKE (GCP)

$649

per month

Nodes$552

Mgmt fee$73

Disk$6.00

Load balancer$18

+$23/mo vs cheapest

EKS (AWS)

$741

per month

Nodes$631

Mgmt fee$73

Disk$15

Load balancer$22

+$115/mo vs cheapest

Configuration summary

Node size

4 vCPU / 16 GB RAM

Nodes

3 nodes

Disk

50 GB/node (150 GB total)

Region

On-demand pricing, no reserved instances. Node costs use comparable general-purpose instance types: e2-standard (GKE), m5 (EKS), Dsv3 (AKS). GKE waives management fee for the first zonal cluster. EKS charges $0.10/hr always. AKS has no management fee. Disk uses SSD persistent disk (GKE), gp3 EBS (EKS), and Premium SSD (AKS). Reserved/committed use reduces node costs by 30-60%.

How it works

Set your cluster size

Choose a node size (2-16 vCPU) and node count. Three nodes is the minimum recommended for high availability. More nodes spread your workload and reduce blast radius.

Add disk and load balancers

Each node gets persistent disk for storage. Load balancers expose services externally. Both add meaningful cost: EBS (AWS) and Premium SSD (Azure) cost more than GCP persistent disk.

Compare GKE, EKS, and AKS

See the total monthly cost side by side. GKE is usually cheapest: no management fee for your first cluster, lower compute rates, and cheaper SSD storage.

What the data shows

EKS charges $0.10/hr always

That is $73/month just for the control plane, before a single node. AKS has no control plane fee. GKE waives the fee for one zonal cluster per account.

Disk costs add up fast

EBS gp3 (EKS) and Azure Premium SSD cost roughly 2.5x more per GB than GCP persistent SSD. A 10-node cluster with 100 GB each: $100/mo on GKE vs $250/mo on EKS.

GKE is typically 10-20% cheaper

Lower compute prices, free zonal cluster management, and cheaper disk storage make GKE the cost leader for most Kubernetes workloads.

Reserved instances cut costs 30-60%

All three providers offer committed use discounts. A 3-year committed GKE cluster can be 55% cheaper than on-demand. Use on-demand pricing to plan, committed use to actually run.

Full cloud cost breakdown

Add database, bandwidth, HA, and 12-month growth projections to your estimate.

Cloud Cost Estimator

Multi-region pricing

See how cluster costs change across US, EU, and APAC regions.

Multi-Region Cost Comparison