Practical guide
Estimate AWS vs GCP Kubernetes Control Plane Costs
Estimate standard EKS and GKE cluster fees from cluster-hours and current regional rates; worker infrastructure is a separate budget.
By StackCalcs · Updated · Sources checked
Estimate cluster fees from cluster-hours
The AWS vs GCP Kubernetes cost calculator compares the cluster-fee inputs you provide. For four clusters running for 730 hours, enter 2,920 total cluster-hours. Multiply that by each provider’s current hourly cluster fee for the selected region and pricing mode. The calculator subtotal covers this modeled fee only.
Keep worker infrastructure separate
EKS and GKE cluster management fees do not represent the complete cost of a Kubernetes workload. Price worker VMs, disks, load balancers, network transfer, logging, and support separately. Confirm whether cluster fees differ for free-tier eligibility, zonal versus regional clusters, extended support, or Autopilot before comparing rates.
Make the comparison reproducible
Use the same operating period and currency. Record provider, region, cluster mode, rate source, retrieval date, and cluster-hours. Model expected and peak cluster counts separately; a cluster that exists but sits idle can still incur management charges. Check the first bill against the estimate.
This calculator is a planning aid based on entered rates, not a provider quote or workload-capacity recommendation.