AWS EKS vs Google GKE vs Azure AKS: Real Managed Kubernetes Cost for a 100-Node Cluster in 2026
Prices checked: October 2, 2026.
DIRECT ANSWER
Short answer
For a 100-node cluster of 8 vCPU / 32 GB general-purpose nodes running all month at on-demand prices:
| Platform | Control plane | 100 nodes | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| GKE (regional, N2, sustained-use discount) | $73.00 | $22,688 | ~$22,761 |
| AKS Standard tier (D8s v5) | $73.00 | $28,032 | ~$28,105 |
| EKS standard support (m6i.2xlarge) | $73.00 | $28,032 | ~$28,105 |
| AKS Free tier (no SLA) | $0 | $28,032 | ~$28,032 |
All totals are ILLUSTRATIVE and built from OFFICIAL and REPORTED unit prices.
The control plane is less than 0.3% of the bill. All three charge $0.10 per cluster-hour for a supported, SLA-backed control plane. The nodes decide the outcome. GKE is about $5,300 a month cheaper here only because Google applies an automatic sustained-use discount to N2 VMs that run all month. AWS and Azure need a 1- or 3-year commitment to match it.
Native billing units
| Item | EKS | GKE | AKS | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control plane, standard | $0.10/cluster-hour | $0.10/cluster-hour | Standard tier $0.10/cluster-hour; Free tier $0 (no financially backed SLA) | OFFICIAL |
| Control plane, extended/long-term support | $0.60/cluster-hour | $0.60/cluster-hour | Premium/LTS $0.60/cluster-hour | OFFICIAL |
| Free control-plane allowance | None | $74.40/month credit per billing account (zonal or Autopilot only; not regional) | Free tier | OFFICIAL |
| Larger control plane | Provisioned tiers: XL $1.65, 2XL $3.40, 4XL $6.90, 8XL $13.90 per hour (on top of base) | Included | Included in Standard | OFFICIAL |
| "Automatic" mode surcharge | EKS Auto Mode: per-instance management fee on top of EC2 (e.g., $0.03672/hr on c6a.2xlarge) | Autopilot: pay per pod vCPU/GiB instead of per node | AKS Automatic: $0.16/hr hosted control plane plus per-compute meters | OFFICIAL |
| Nodes | EC2 per instance-hour | Compute Engine per vCPU/GB, per second | Azure VMs per hour | OFFICIAL / REPORTED |
Node price used
| Platform | Instance | $/hour | 730 h × 100 nodes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS (us-east-1) | m6i.2xlarge (8 vCPU, 32 GiB) | $0.384 | $28,032 | REPORTED (instance price aggregator) |
| Google Cloud (us-central1) | n2-standard-8 (8 vCPU, 32 GB) | $0.3885 | $28,360.50 list; $22,688.40 after full-month sustained-use discount | REPORTED (Google SKU aggregator) |
| Azure (East US) | D8s v5 (8 vCPU, 32 GiB), Linux | $0.384 | $28,032 | OFFICIAL (Azure Retail Prices API) |
Scenario totals
A. Production cluster, standard support, on-demand
| EKS | GKE regional | AKS Standard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control plane | $73.00 | $73.00 | $73.00 |
| Nodes | $28,032.00 | $22,688.40 | $28,032.00 |
| Total | $28,105.00 | $22,761.40 | $28,105.00 |
B. Same cluster on an out-of-support Kubernetes version
Extended support (EKS, GKE) or LTS/Premium (AKS) raises the control plane to $438/month, adding $365/month per cluster. On one cluster that's minor. On a fleet of 40 clusters left on an old version, it's $14,600/month in avoidable fees.
C. Zonal GKE instead of regional
The $74.40 monthly credit covers one zonal (or Autopilot) cluster's $73 fee, so the control plane becomes $0. Regional clusters can't use the credit. Most production 100-node clusters run regional.
Where the cost catches you
- The sustained-use discount is the whole GKE advantage. On AWS or Azure, a 1-year commitment closes the gap. For example, m6i.2xlarge 1-year no-upfront is reported at $0.254/hour, or about $18,542/month for 100 nodes. GKE also offers committed-use discounts on top of that.
- EKS Auto Mode and AKS Automatic add per-node fees. They remove node management work, but the surcharge scales with node count. On EKS, the c6a.2xlarge example adds $0.03672/hour per node, about $2,681/month across 100 such nodes.
- AKS Free tier isn't for production. It has no financially backed uptime SLA. Production clusters should use Standard ($73/month).
- Azure's price list shows a new meter. A "FreeTierInfrastructureCost Uptime SLA" meter at $0.05/hour took effect October 1, 2026, and Azure's tier documentation doesn't yet explain it. If it applies to Free-tier clusters, it would add about $36.50/month per cluster. Watch your first October invoice.
- Load balancers, NAT and egress often add 5–15% on top of node costs. Cross-AZ traffic on AWS and Azure and inter-zone traffic on GCP are separate charges. They're excluded here because they depend entirely on the application.
- Control-plane scaling on EKS. Very large or API-heavy clusters can need a Provisioned Control Plane tier ($1.65–$13.90/hour on top of the base fee). A 100-node cluster normally doesn't.
Which one fits
- Lowest bill without commitments: GKE regional. The automatic sustained-use discount saves about 19% on the total.
- Committing 1–3 years anyway: all three are close. Choose by ecosystem and support, not price.
- Smallest platform team: GKE Autopilot, EKS Auto Mode or AKS Automatic. Budget for the per-node or per-pod management surcharge.
- Staying on old Kubernetes versions: none of them. Extended support costs six times the standard control-plane fee everywhere.
Assumptions
- 100 nodes × 8 vCPU / 32 GB, Linux, 730 hours/month, on-demand
- One cluster, standard support unless stated
- us-east-1, us-central1 and East US regions
- Excludes storage, load balancers, NAT, egress, monitoring and taxes
Pricing sources
- Amazon EKS pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/eks/pricing/
- GKE pricing: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/pricing
- AKS pricing: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/kubernetes-service/
- AKS pricing tiers: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/free-standard-pricing-tiers
- Azure Retail Prices API (AKS, D8s v5): https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices
- m6i.2xlarge price: https://instances.vantage.sh/aws/ec2/m6i.2xlarge
- n2-standard-8 price: https://gcloud-compute.com/n2-standard-8.html