Direct answer: at published list prices, 730 hours/month and control plane only, managed Kubernetes cluster management in 2026 costs about: EKS 0.10/cluster/hour (73/month), GKE 0.10/cluster/hour (73/month, but a 74.40/month credit per billing account makes one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster effectively 0), AKS Standard 0.10/cluster/hour (73/month), AKS Free 0 (no SLA). At 1/3/10 clusters: EKS 73/219/730; GKE net 0/144.60/655.60; AKS Standard 73/219/730; AKS Free 0/0/0 (but the Azure Retail Prices API has listed a 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost since 1 October 2026 — about 36.50/month per cluster — which the pricing page has not reflected; confirm on the bill). Extended version support is about 0.60/cluster/hour (438/month) at all three. The control plane is a small fixed line; nodes, load balancers, NAT, egress and logs usually dominate.
This guide is for architecture, SRE, platform engineering and procurement teams running containers on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. Data cut-off: 7 November 2026; prices come from the official EKS, GKE and AKS pricing pages and the Azure Retail Prices API, in USD, excluding tax; all TCOs are editorial calculations, not vendor quotes. “Cluster/control plane/node/Pod” billing boundaries differ, so official facts, editorial assumptions and non-comparable items are kept separate.
EKS, GKE and AKS Standard all charge 0.10/cluster/hour for the standard control plane, about 73/month; AKS Free is 0 but has no SLA. GKE gives a 74.40/month credit per billing account, only for one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster; regional and compute charges are excluded. Once an old Kubernetes version enters extended support, EKS/GKE charge 0.60/cluster/hour (438/month), 6× standard; confirm the AKS LTS 0.60 meter separately. Beyond the control plane, nodes and networking are the main bill.
Three control-plane meters: per cluster-hour, free credits, SLA tiers
EKS: standard Kubernetes version support 0.10/cluster/hour; extended version support 0.60/cluster/hour (inclusive of the 0.10 standard fee); Provisioned Control Plane is additional to the standard fee — XL 1.65, 2XL 3.40, 4XL 6.90, 8XL 13.90/cluster/hour; EKS Auto Mode bills by EC2 instance duration and type plus a per-vCPU-hour Auto Mode fee, with the standard cluster fee still charged. GKE: a flat 0.10/cluster/hour for all clusters, billed per second; 74.40/month credit per billing account, only for one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster; extended-period total 0.60/cluster/hour (0.10 + 0.50); Autopilot Pods bill vCPU at 0.0445/hour and memory at 0.0049225/GiB-hour (US example; varies by region/discount). AKS: Free control plane 0, no SLA, node limit 1,000 (not recommended above 10 nodes); Standard 0.10/cluster/hour with API server uptime and pod readiness SLA; Premium 0.60/cluster/hour with SLA + 24-month LTS; Automatic has a separate 0.16/hour hosted control-plane meter plus Pod compute.
| Platform/tier | Billing unit | Published price (USD) | Monthly at 730h | Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EKS standard version | Per cluster-hour | 0.10 | 73.00 | Standard Kubernetes version support |
| EKS extended version | Per cluster-hour | 0.60 | 438.00 | Includes the 0.10 standard fee |
| EKS Provisioned XL | Per cluster-hour | 1.65 + 0.10 | 1,277.50 | Higher control-plane capacity, standard fee additional |
| GKE cluster management | Per cluster-hour | 0.10 | 73.00 | All modes/sizes/topologies; per-second billing |
| GKE extended period | Per cluster-hour | 0.60 | 438.00 | 0.10 + 0.50 |
| AKS Free | Per cluster-hour | 0 | 0 | No SLA; node limit 1,000 |
| AKS Standard | Per cluster-hour | 0.10 | 73.00 | Uptime/pod readiness SLA |
| AKS Premium (LTS) | Per cluster-hour | 0.60 | 438.00 | LTS only for Standard clusters |
| AKS Automatic hosted control plane | Per cluster-hour | 0.16 | 116.80 | Plus Pod compute |
Sources: AWS EKS Pricing, Google Kubernetes Engine Pricing, Azure AKS Pricing and the Azure Retail Prices API (US East/USD, accessed 7 November 2026). Excludes tax, discounts, commitments and regional differences; the AKS 0.10/0.60/0.16 figures come from the Azure Retail Prices API (eastus, pay-as-you-go) because the AKS pricing page renders prices dynamically; how AKS Premium/LTS and Automatic stack is subject to the calculator/bill.
Three tiers: 73 for one, 219 for three, 730 for ten
At 730 hours/month and control plane only: one cluster — EKS 73, GKE gross 73 (net 0, credit uses 73, the remaining 1.40 does not roll over), AKS Standard 73, AKS Free 0; three clusters — EKS 219, GKE gross 219 (net 144.60), AKS Standard 219, AKS Free 0; ten clusters — EKS 730, GKE gross 730 (net 655.60), AKS Standard 730, AKS Free 0. Annual at one cluster: EKS 876, GKE net 0, AKS Standard 876; at ten: EKS 8,760, GKE net 7,867.20, AKS Standard 8,760. GKE’s credit applies only to zonal Standard or Autopilot; regional clusters and compute cannot use it, so a production regional Standard cluster for HA also pays 73/month/cluster. AKS Free’s 0 is the pricing-page/docs position; the Azure Retail Prices API has listed a 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost since 1 October 2026 (36.50/month/cluster), and if that is actually billed, Free is no longer zero.
| Clusters | EKS | GKE (net, with credit) | AKS Free | AKS Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 73.00 | 0 | 0 (or 36.50*) | 73.00 |
| 3 | 219.00 | 144.60 | 0 (or 109.50*) | 219.00 |
| 10 | 730.00 | 655.60 | 0 (or 365.00*) | 730.00 |
Editorial calculation, not a quote. 730 hours/month, published list prices, control plane only; EKS/AKS Standard 0.10, AKS Free 0, GKE 0.10 with a 74.40/month credit per billing account (only one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster fee; not regional or compute). * The AKS Free parenthetical is the 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost listed by the Azure Retail Prices API since 1 October 2026 (36.50/month/cluster); the AKS pricing page and docs still say Free; whether it is actually billed depends on the bill/calculator. Excludes nodes, load balancers, NAT, egress, logs, support and tax.
Free credits and SLAs: who can really reach zero
EKS has no free control plane; standard starts at 0.10. GKE’s 74.40/month is a credit for “one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster”, not cash, does not roll over, and cannot be used for regional clusters or compute. AKS Free’s control plane is 0 but has no financially backed SLA, a 1,000-node limit (not recommended above 10 nodes), and is positioned for development/test/evaluation; AKS Standard 0.10 buys the API server uptime and pod readiness SLA, which production usually needs. GKE SLAs: 99.95% for Autopilot and regional Standard control planes, 99.5% for zonal Standard, 99.9% for Autopilot Pods across zones. Bottom line: for one cluster that can be zonal and wants free, GKE’s credit is the most concrete; for production with an SLA and no objection to 0.10, EKS/GKE/AKS Standard are the same price; for pure dev/test without an SLA, AKS Free is cheapest (mind the new 0.05 meter).
| Platform | Free control plane | Free credit/conditions | SLA | Production fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EKS | No | None | Commercial SLA (per terms/contract) | Yes |
| GKE | Yes (credit) | 74.40/month/account; one zonal Standard or Autopilot; not regional/compute | 99.95% Autopilot/regional Standard; 99.5% zonal Standard; 99.9% Autopilot Pods | Yes |
| AKS Free | Yes (0) | No SLA; 1,000-node limit (not recommended >10) | None | Dev/test |
| AKS Standard | No (0.10/h) | None | API server uptime + pod readiness SLA | Yes |
Sources: the three official pricing pages and AKS docs (accessed 7 November 2026). EKS SLA percentages are not expanded on the pricing page; confirm in the service terms. GKE 99.95%/99.5%/99.9% come from the GKE pricing page. The AKS Free 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost is from the Azure Retail Prices API and is not reflected on the pricing page.
Old versions and special control planes: the 0.60 extended tier
EKS: standard version support 0.10, extended version support 0.60 (inclusive); the official example is 14 months standard + 12 months extended, averaging 0.33/hour over 26 months. Provisioned Control Plane is additional to the standard fee, from XL 1.65, for very large clusters/bursts. GKE: extended-period total 0.60 (0.10 + 0.50); Autopilot drops the fixed cluster fee model and bills Pod vCPU/memory hours, fitting teams that do not want to manage nodes but accept request-based billing. AKS: Free 0, Standard 0.10, Premium 0.60 (SLA + 24-month LTS); the Retail Prices API “Standard Long Term Support” meter is 0.60/hour, LTS applies only to Standard clusters, and whether it stacks on or replaces the Standard fee is subject to the calculator; Automatic’s hosted control-plane meter is 0.16/hour plus Pod compute. Common point: the control-plane unit price is not the expensive part; staying on an old version and pre-provisioning for peaks are.
| Scenario | EKS | GKE | AKS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard control plane | 0.10/cluster/h | 0.10/cluster/h | Standard 0.10; Free 0 |
| Old-version extended support | 0.60/cluster/h (inclusive) | 0.60/cluster/h (inclusive) | LTS 0.60/h meter |
| Higher control-plane capacity | Provisioned XL 1.65+ (standard fee additional) | Autopilot per Pod vCPU/memory | Automatic 0.16/h (Pod additional) |
| Free allowance | None | 74.40/month, one zonal/Autopilot | Free 0, no SLA |
| Billing granularity | Hourly | Per second | Hourly |
Sources: the three official pricing pages, AKS docs and the Azure Retail Prices API (accessed 7 November 2026). The EKS 14+12 months is the official example; the GKE 0.60 extended total is on the pricing page; AKS LTS stacking and the Automatic control-plane/compute boundary are subject to the calculator and bill.
Beyond the control plane: nodes and networking usually dominate
The 73/month/cluster control plane is only a fixed line. What makes the bill grow: worker nodes (EC2/GCE VM/Azure VM, or Fargate/Autopilot/Automatic Pod compute), load balancers (potentially one per Service/Ingress), NAT gateways (private subnets pulling images/reaching the internet), cross-AZ/regional traffic (control plane to nodes, Pod to Pod), control-plane logs/metrics/APM, support plans and tax. For a small 3-node cluster, node cost is usually already several times the control plane; at ten clusters the control plane is 730/month while nodes and networking can be thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. The saving order is not “swap the control plane”; it is consolidating clusters, using Spot/RI/Savings Plans, sampling logs, and planning NAT/egress and cross-AZ traffic.
| Cost item | Included in control plane? | Typical trigger | Check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Node compute | No | Each worker node/Pod | Instance price, Spot/RI/Savings Plans |
| Load balancing | No | Each Service/Ingress | LB count, rules, hourly fee |
| NAT/egress | No | Private subnets pulling images/reaching out | NAT hourly + traffic |
| Cross-AZ/regional traffic | No | Control plane↔nodes, Pod to Pod | Per-GB price |
| Logs/monitoring | No | Control-plane logs, metrics, APM | Per GB/per series |
| Version upgrades | Partly | Old version enters extended support | 0.60 vs 0.10 |
Editorial summary, not a quote. These are common charges outside the control plane; exact prices, free allowances, regional differences and discounts vary and need each cloud’s calculator/bill.
Which option fits which scenario?
One cluster, dev/test, no SLA: AKS Free (0, mind the new 0.05 meter) or GKE zonal/Autopilot (0 after credit). One production cluster with SLA: EKS 73, GKE zonal Standard 0 after credit, AKS Standard 73; if regional HA is mandatory, GKE also charges 73 and all three converge. 3–10 clusters across teams/environments: EKS 219–730, GKE net 144.60–655.60, AKS Standard 219–730; GKE’s credit saves only one cluster, so its share shrinks with scale. Old versions/long support: EKS/GKE extended 438/month/cluster, AKS Premium 438/month/cluster; upgrade early if you can. Very large single clusters/predictable control plane: EKS Provisioned from 1.65; managed nodes/automation: EKS Auto Mode, GKE Autopilot, AKS Automatic each have usage-based models — do not compare only the 0.10.
| Scenario | First choice | Control-plane monthly | Check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dev/test, no SLA | AKS Free or GKE credit | 0 (AKS mind the 0.05/h meter) | Node limit, region, bill |
| One production cluster, SLA | EKS / GKE / AKS Standard | 73; GKE zonal net 0 | Zonal vs regional, SLA scope |
| 3–10 clusters | Choose by cloud; GKE slightly lower | EKS/AKS 219–730; GKE 144.60–655.60 | Credit covers one cluster |
| Old versions/long support | Upgrade early, else extended support | 438/cluster | Upgrade window, LTS stacking |
| Very large single cluster | EKS Provisioned | From 1,277.50 | Capacity tier, real need |
| No node management | Autopilot / Automatic / Auto Mode | Per Pod/instance + control plane | Usage model, limits |
Editorial decision matrix, not vendor advice. Control-plane monthly figures use 730 hours and published list prices; excludes nodes, networking, logs, support and tax.
What should procurement and acceptance specify?
At least ten things: cluster count and environments (dev/staging/prod), zonal/regional, SLA requirements, node size/count, autoscaling, load balancing/NAT/egress, logs/monitoring, old-version upgrade windows, support plan, migration/exit. Run a 2–4 week POC on real workloads and record control-plane fees, node fees, LB/NAT/traffic, log fees, upgrade downtime and the bill; do not compare only “0.10/hour”.
- Clusters: count, environments, regions, zonal/regional; multi-cluster/multi-tenant.
- SLA: API server uptime, pod readiness, credits; whether Free is acceptable.
- Nodes: instance family/size/count, Spot/RI/Savings Plans, Autopilot/Automatic/Auto Mode.
- Network: LB count, NAT, cross-AZ/regional, egress, PrivateLink/Private Service Connect.
- Logs: control-plane logs, metrics, APM, retention, sampling.
- Version: current Kubernetes version, upgrade window, extended support/LTS cost.
- Control plane: standard vs Provisioned/Automatic, capacity tier, peaks.
- Support: vendor support plan, response times, whether included.
- Contract: usage/commitment, discounts, renewal uplift, exit/migration.
- POC: 2–4 weeks of real load; control plane, nodes, network, logs and bill.
FAQ
Which control plane is cheapest?
One cluster that can be zonal/Autopilot: GKE 0 after credit; dev/test without SLA: AKS Free 0 (but the Azure Retail Prices API lists a 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost — confirm the bill). For one production cluster with SLA, EKS/GKE/AKS Standard are all 73/month.
What does one cluster cost per month?
Control plane only: EKS 73, GKE gross 73 (net 0, credit uses 73, the remaining 1.40 does not roll over), AKS Standard 73, AKS Free 0. Annual: EKS/AKS Standard 876, GKE zonal net 0.
What about ten clusters?
EKS 730, GKE gross 730 (net 655.60), AKS Standard 730, AKS Free 0 (or 365 if the 0.05/hour meter is billed). GKE’s 74.40 covers only one cluster, so its share shrinks as clusters grow.
How does GKE’s 74.40 work?
It is a 74.40/month credit per billing account, equivalent to one zonal Standard or Autopilot cluster fee; it applies only to the cluster fee, not regional clusters or compute, and does not roll over. With one cluster, the cluster fee is 0.
Can AKS Free run production?
Microsoft positions it for development/test/evaluation: no financially backed SLA, 1,000-node limit (not recommended above 10 nodes). Use Standard for production with an SLA (0.10/hour, 73/month); Premium for LTS (0.60/hour).
Why is the bill much higher than 73?
73 is only the control plane. Nodes, load balancers, NAT, cross-AZ/regional traffic, control-plane logs/metrics/APM, support and tax are excluded. A small 3-node cluster’s node cost is usually several times the control plane; check those first, then argue about the control-plane unit price.
Do old Kubernetes versions cost more?
Yes. EKS/GKE extended support is 0.60/cluster/hour (438/month), 6× the standard 0.10; AKS LTS 0.60 applies only to Standard clusters. Upgrade early rather than treating extended support as a long-term plan.
Should we split into more clusters? How do we save?
First decide whether isolation/compliance/blast radius truly needs multiple clusters; for environment isolation alone, try namespaces/tenants first. If multiple clusters are required, 73/month/cluster is fixed and GKE’s credit covers only one; bigger savings come from node sizing/Spot/RI, log sampling, NAT/egress planning and cross-AZ traffic.
Research method and limitations
This article separates “official facts” from “editorial modelling”: EKS’s 0.10/0.60, Provisioned from 1.65 and Auto Mode notes come from AWS EKS Pricing; GKE’s 0.10/0.60, 74.40 credit, 99.95%/99.5%/99.9% SLAs and Autopilot vCPU/memory prices come from GKE Pricing; AKS’s Free/Standard/Premium tiers, SLA, node limits and LTS come from AKS Pricing and AKS docs; the 0.10/0.60/0.16/0.05 USD figures come from the Azure Retail Prices API (eastus, 7 November 2026). The 1/3/10-cluster totals are arithmetic at 730 hours/month, not vendor quotes.
Eight limitations: (1) only US public list prices are used, excluding tax, discounts, commitments, Savings Plans/RI/CUD and regional differences; (2) only the control plane is counted, excluding nodes, LB, NAT, egress, cross-AZ, logs, support and migration; (3) the AKS 0.10/0.60/0.16 figures come from the Retail Prices API (the pricing page renders dynamically), and the AKS Free 0.05/hour FreeTierInfrastructureCost conflicts with the pricing page’s “Free” — use the bill/calculator; (4) GKE’s credit covers only one zonal Standard/Autopilot cluster, not regional or compute; (5) Autopilot/Automatic/Auto Mode are separate per-Pod/instance models and cannot be compared directly with 0.10/cluster; (6) real performance, SLA credits, upgrade downtime, regional availability and support response were not tested; (7) self-managed Kubernetes, OpenShift and Rancher are excluded; (8) prices and terms can change by contract, region and exchange rate. Treat this as a control-plane conversion template and replace assumptions with a 2–4 week real-workload POC.
Sources and basis
- AWS, Amazon EKS Pricing: aws.amazon.com/eks/pricing. Standard version 0.10/cluster/hour; extended version 0.60 (inclusive of 0.10); Provisioned Control Plane additional from XL 1.65; Auto Mode bills EC2 instances + vCPU-hours. Accessed 7 November 2026.
- Google Cloud, GKE Pricing: cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/pricing. Cluster management 0.10/cluster/hour, per-second billing; free credit 74.40/month/billing account, one zonal Standard or Autopilot; extended total 0.60; Autopilot vCPU 0.0445/hour and memory 0.0049225/GiB-hour (US example). Accessed 7 November 2026.
- Microsoft, AKS Pricing: azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/kubernetes-service. Free 0 (no SLA, 1,000-node limit); Standard has uptime/pod readiness SLA; Premium includes SLA + 24-month LTS. Accessed 7 November 2026.
- Microsoft, Azure Retail Prices API: prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices. eastus, USD, pay-as-you-go: Standard Uptime SLA 0.10/hour; Standard Long Term Support 0.60/hour; Automatic Hosted Control Plane 0.16/hour; FreeTierInfrastructureCost Uptime SLA 0.05/hour (from 1 October 2026). Accessed 7 November 2026.
Data cut-off 7 November 2026; prices are public list prices excluding tax; all models are editorial calculations. This is not procurement advice.