AWS EKS vs Azure AKS vs Google GKE: Complete Comparison Guide for 2026

Choosing between AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE is one of the most consequential decisions for your Kubernetes strategy. Each managed Kubernetes service has distinct strengths, pricing models, and integration patterns. This comprehensive guide compares all three platforms based on our hands-on experience implementing production Kubernetes clusters across dozens of clients.

Table of Contents

1. Quick Comparison Matrix
2. Pricing and Cost Models
3. Control Plane Architecture
4. Networking Capabilities
5. Security and Compliance
6. Autoscaling Features
7. Monitoring and Observability
8. Developer Experience
9. Integration with Cloud Services
10. Real-World Use Cases

Quick Comparison Matrix

Feature	AWS EKS	Azure AKS	Google GKE
Control plane cost	$0.10/hour ($73/month)	Free	$0.10/hour ($73/month) for Standard; Free for Autopilot
Cluster setup time	15-20 minutes	7-10 minutes	5-8 minutes
Kubernetes versions	3 recent versions	3 recent versions	4+ recent versions
Upgrade experience	Manual, multi-step	Automated, simple	Most automated
Native container registry	ECR	ACR	GCR/Artifact Registry
Network policy	Calico (add-on)	Calico or Azure CNI	Built-in, Cilium available
Service mesh	AWS App Mesh, Istio	Istio, Linkerd	Istio (managed), Anthos Service Mesh
Secrets management	AWS Secrets Manager	Azure Key Vault	Secret Manager
Identity management	IAM Roles for Service Accounts	Managed Identity/Workload Identity	Workload Identity
Auto-repair	Available	Enabled by default	Enabled by default
Spot/Preemptible support	Spot instances (60-90% savings)	Spot VMs (60-90% savings)	Preemptible VMs (70-80% savings)
Multi-tenancy	Manual configuration	Manual configuration	GKE Enterprise with multi-cluster mgmt
Best for	AWS-native workloads	Enterprise/Microsoft shops	Kubernetes-first organizations

Pricing and Cost Models

AWS EKS Pricing

Control plane:

• $0.10 per hour per cluster ($73/month)
• Charged regardless of cluster size
• No free tier for control plane

Worker nodes:

• Standard EC2 pricing (on-demand, reserved, spot)
• t3.medium: $0.0416/hour ($30/month)
• m5.xlarge: $0.192/hour ($140/month)
• Spot instances: 60-90% discount

Additional costs:

• Data transfer: $0.01/GB cross-AZ, $0.09/GB internet egress
• EBS volumes: $0.08-0.125/GB-month
• ALB/NLB: $0.0225/hour + $0.008/LCU-hour
• NAT Gateway: $0.045/hour + $0.045/GB processed

Monthly cost example (small production cluster):

• Control plane: $73
• 3 m5.large nodes: $210
• EBS storage (300GB): $24
• Load balancer: $16
• Data transfer: $50
• Total: ~$373/month

Azure AKS Pricing

Control plane:

• Free for standard tier
• $0.10/hour for Uptime SLA tier ($73/month)

Worker nodes:

• Standard Azure VM pricing
• Standard_D2s_v3: $0.096/hour ($70/month)
• Standard_D4s_v3: $0.192/hour ($140/month)
• Spot VMs: 60-90% discount

Additional costs:

• Data transfer: $0.01/GB cross-AZ, $0.087/GB internet egress
• Azure Disk: $0.048-0.12/GB-month
• Load Balancer: $0.025/hour + $0.005/GB processed
• Application Gateway: $0.246/hour (if using for ingress)

Monthly cost example (small production cluster):

• Control plane: $0 (or $73 with Uptime SLA)
• 3 Standard_D2s_v3 nodes: $210
• Managed disks (300GB): $36
• Load balancer: $18
• Data transfer: $50
• Total: ~$314/month (or $387 with SLA)

Google GKE Pricing

Control plane:

• Standard mode: $0.10/hour ($73/month)
• Autopilot mode: Free
• Zonal clusters: $0.10/hour
• Regional clusters (HA): $0.10/hour (same as zonal)

Worker nodes:

• Standard GCE pricing
• n1-standard-2: $0.095/hour ($69/month)
• n1-standard-4: $0.190/hour ($139/month)
• Preemptible VMs: 70-80% discount

Autopilot mode:

• Pay only for pod resources (vCPU, memory, storage)
• No control plane fees
• No node management
• $0.04/vCPU-hour, $0.004/GB-memory-hour

Additional costs:

• Data transfer: $0.01/GB cross-zone, $0.12/GB internet egress
• Persistent Disk: $0.04-0.17/GB-month
• Load balancer: $0.025/hour + $0.008/LCU-hour

Monthly cost example (small production cluster):

• Control plane: $73
• 3 n1-standard-2 nodes: $207
• Persistent disk (300GB): $12
• Load balancer: $18
• Data transfer: $60
• Total: ~$370/month

Autopilot alternative:

• No control plane fee: $0
• Pod resources (equivalent workload): $180
• Storage: $12
• Total: ~$192/month (48% savings)

Cost Winner: Azure AKS (with free control plane)

Cost ranking:

1. Azure AKS - Free control plane saves $73/month per cluster
2. Google GKE Autopilot - No control plane fee, pay-per-pod
3. Google GKE Standard - Similar to EKS
4. AWS EKS - Most expensive for multi-cluster environments

Our Kubernetes cost optimization guide explores strategies to reduce costs across all platforms.

Control Plane Architecture

AWS EKS Control Plane

Architecture:

• AWS-managed control plane in AWS account
• Multi-AZ deployment (3 AZs minimum)
• etcd automatically backed up
• Control plane separate from your VPC

Characteristics:

• Availability: 99.95% SLA (with multi-AZ)
• Scalability: Auto-scales based on load
• Versions: Supports N, N-1, N-2 Kubernetes versions
• Upgrade: Manual upgrade process, node AMIs separate

Access:

• API server endpoint can be public, private, or both
• Private endpoint uses VPC peering/PrivateLink

Pros:

• Fully managed, highly available
• Isolated from customer account
• Automatic etcd backups

Cons:

• $73/month per cluster (expensive for many clusters)
• Less transparent than GKE
• Slower feature rollout

Azure AKS Control Plane

Architecture:

• Microsoft-managed control plane
• Deployed across availability zones
• etcd managed by Microsoft
• Integrated with Azure RBAC

Characteristics:

• Availability: 99.95% SLA (Uptime SLA tier)
• Cost: Free (standard) or $73/month (Uptime SLA)
• Scalability: Auto-scales transparently
• Versions: Supports N, N-1, N-2 versions

Access:

• API server endpoint public or private
• Private link via Azure Private Link
• AAD integration for authentication

Pros:

• Free control plane (unique advantage)
• Easy Azure AD integration
• Good Windows container support

Cons:

• Upgrade process can be disruptive
• Less mature than GKE
• Some features lag behind

Google GKE Control Plane

Architecture:

• Google-managed control plane
• Regional (multi-zone HA) or zonal
• Built on Borg (Google’s internal orchestrator)
• Most transparent of the three

Characteristics:

• Availability: 99.95% SLA (regional), 99.5% (zonal)
• Cost: $73/month (Standard), Free (Autopilot)
• Scalability: Scales to 15,000 nodes per cluster
• Versions: Supports N, N-1, N-2, N-3 versions

Access:

• Public, private, or authorized networks
• Private clusters with Private Google Access

Pros:

• Most Kubernetes-native experience
• Fastest feature adoption (Google created Kubernetes)
• Excellent CLI tooling (gcloud)
• Autopilot mode eliminates node management

Cons:

• Control plane costs for Standard mode
• Less integration with non-GCP services
• Smaller ecosystem than AWS

Control Plane Winner: Google GKE

Ranking:

1. Google GKE - Most mature, Autopilot option, fastest features
2. Azure AKS - Free control plane is compelling
3. AWS EKS - Reliable but less innovative

Networking Capabilities

AWS EKS Networking

CNI options:

• Amazon VPC CNI (default) - Each pod gets VPC IP
• Calico (network policies)
• Cilium (advanced networking, eBPF)
• Weave Net

Network architecture:

• Pods get IP addresses from VPC subnets
• Direct integration with AWS networking
• Security groups for pods (feature)
• VPC peering, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink support

Service mesh:

• AWS App Mesh (managed)
• Istio (self-managed)
• Linkerd (self-managed)

Load balancing:

• AWS ALB Ingress Controller (Layer 7)
• AWS NLB (Layer 4)
• Classic Load Balancer (legacy)

Pros:

• Pod-level security groups
• Native VPC integration
• Good for existing AWS networks

Cons:

• VPC CNI has IP address limitations
• Complex networking setup
• App Mesh less mature than Istio

Azure AKS Networking

CNI options:

• Azure CNI (default) - Pods get Azure VNet IPs
• Kubenet (simpler, pods use NAT)
• Calico (network policies)
• Cilium (eBPF networking)

Network architecture:

• Azure VNet integration
• Pods in VNet or behind NAT
• Azure Network Security Groups
• VNet peering, ExpressRoute support

Service mesh:

• Istio (OSS)
• Linkerd (OSS)
• Open Service Mesh (retired)

Load balancing:

• Azure Load Balancer (Layer 4)
• Application Gateway Ingress Controller (Layer 7)
• Azure Front Door (global)

Pros:

• Flexible CNI options (kubenet vs Azure CNI)
• Good Azure network integration
• Application Gateway WAF features

Cons:

• Azure CNI IP address planning complexity
• Network policies require add-ons
• Less mature service mesh options

Google GKE Networking

CNI options:

• GKE CNI (default, VPC-native)
• Calico (network policies)
• Cilium (managed via Dataplane V2)

Network architecture:

• VPC-native clusters (IP aliasing)
• Pods get IP addresses from VPC subnets
• Network policies built-in
• VPC peering, Shared VPC, Cloud Interconnect

Service mesh:

• Anthos Service Mesh (managed Istio)
• Istio (OSS)
• Linkerd (OSS)

Load balancing:

• GKE Ingress (Layer 7, uses Cloud Load Balancer)
• NGINX Ingress
• Istio Gateway

Network features:

• Dataplane V2: Managed Cilium with eBPF
• Network endpoint groups: Direct pod IPs in load balancer
• Multi-cluster services: Cross-cluster service discovery

Pros:

• Network policies built-in
• Dataplane V2 (Cilium) performance
• Excellent multi-cluster networking
• NEGs for efficient load balancing

Cons:

• VPC-native requires IP planning
• Less flexibility than AWS
• Learning curve for GCP networking

Networking Winner: Google GKE

Ranking:

1. Google GKE - Built-in network policies, Dataplane V2, best multi-cluster
2. AWS EKS - Pod security groups useful, mature integrations
3. Azure AKS - Flexible but requires more setup

Security and Compliance

AWS EKS Security

Authentication:

• IAM-based authentication
• OIDC provider support
• IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA)

Authorization:

• Kubernetes RBAC
• AWS IAM integration
• IAM policies for API server access

Secrets management:

• AWS Secrets Manager
• AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
• Secrets Store CSI Driver

Pod security:

• Pod Security Standards
• Pod Security Policy (deprecated)
• Fargate for isolated workloads

Network security:

• Security groups for pods
• VPC network isolation
• PrivateLink for API server

Compliance:

• PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001
• FedRAMP High (GovCloud)
• GDPR compliant

Audit logging:

• CloudTrail for API calls
• CloudWatch for control plane logs
• Third-party SIEM integration

Pros:

• IRSA excellent for least privilege
• Strong compliance certifications
• Pod-level security groups

Cons:

• Complex IAM setup
• Secrets management requires integration
• Less built-in security features

Azure AKS Security

Authentication:

• Azure Active Directory (AAD) integration
• OIDC support
• Managed Identity / Workload Identity

Authorization:

• Kubernetes RBAC
• Azure RBAC for AKS
• AAD conditional access

Secrets management:

• Azure Key Vault
• Key Vault Provider for Secrets Store CSI Driver
• Managed Identity for secrets access

Pod security:

• Pod Security Standards
• Azure Policy for AKS
• Confidential containers (preview)

Network security:

• Azure Network Security Groups
• Azure Firewall integration
• Private clusters

Compliance:

• PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001
• FedRAMP High
• GDPR compliant

Audit logging:

• Azure Monitor
• Azure Security Center
• Azure Sentinel (SIEM)

Pros:

• AAD integration excellent for enterprises
• Azure Policy enforcement
• Good Key Vault integration

Cons:

• Workload Identity setup complexity
• Less granular than AWS IRSA
• Security Center adds cost

Google GKE Security

Authentication:

• Google Cloud IAM
• OIDC support
• Workload Identity (GKE to GCP)

Authorization:

• Kubernetes RBAC
• GKE RBAC (IAM integration)
• Binary Authorization

Secrets management:

• Secret Manager
• Workload Identity for secret access
• Secrets Store CSI Driver

Pod security:

• Pod Security Standards
• Shielded GKE nodes
• GKE Sandbox (gVisor for isolation)

Network security:

• Network policies (built-in)
• Private clusters
• Dataplane V2 security features

Compliance:

• PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001
• FedRAMP High
• GDPR compliant

Security features:

• Binary Authorization: Verify container signatures
• GKE Sandbox: gVisor runtime for isolation
• Workload Identity: Best-in-class GCP service access
• Security posture dashboard: Automatic vulnerability scanning

Pros:

• Binary Authorization powerful
• GKE Sandbox for strict isolation
• Workload Identity elegant
• Security built-in, not add-ons

Cons:

• Less enterprise IAM integration than Azure
• Smaller third-party security ecosystem
• Learning curve for GCP security

Security Winner: Tie (depends on requirements)

Ranking:

1. Azure AKS - Best for enterprises with AAD
2. Google GKE - Best built-in security features
3. AWS EKS - Most flexible, strong compliance

Our Kubernetes security best practices guide covers hardening across all platforms.

Autoscaling Features

AWS EKS Autoscaling

Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA):

• Built-in (via metrics-server)
• CPU, memory, custom metrics
• Scales based on any metric

Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA):

• Available as add-on
• Recommendation and auto-update modes

Cluster Autoscaler:

• Auto Scaling Groups integration
• Supports multiple node groups
• Spot instance support

Karpenter (AWS-specific):

• Fast provisioning (< 60 seconds)
• Bin-packing optimization
• Consolidation (replaces under-utilized nodes)
• Works with Spot and on-demand

Pros:

• Karpenter superior to Cluster Autoscaler
• Good spot instance integration
• Multiple node group strategies

Cons:

• Cluster Autoscaler slower than GKE
• Karpenter AWS-only (not portable)

Azure AKS Autoscaling

Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA):

• Built-in
• CPU, memory, custom metrics

Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA):

• Available as add-on
• Recommendation mode stable

Cluster Autoscaler:

• Built-in, enabled per node pool
• Integrates with Azure VM Scale Sets
• Supports spot VMs

Azure-specific features:

• AKS node pool autoscaling
• Multiple node pools per cluster
• Automatic scale-to-zero for node pools

Pros:

• Simple autoscaler setup
• Good spot VM integration
• Scale-to-zero support

Cons:

• Slower provisioning than GKE Autopilot
• Less sophisticated than Karpenter
• Limited advanced features

Google GKE Autoscaling

Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA):

• Built-in
• Multi-metric autoscaling

Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA):

• Built-in, well-integrated
• Recommendation and auto-update modes

Cluster Autoscaler:

• Built-in, very mature
• Fastest provisioning (2-3 minutes)
• Node Auto Provisioning (NAP)

GKE Autopilot:

• Fully automated scaling
• No node management
• Scales based on pod requests
• Cost-efficient (pay per pod)

Node Auto Provisioning:

• Creates optimal node pools automatically
• Right-sizes based on workload needs
• Multi-dimensional optimization

Pros:

• GKE Autopilot eliminates scaling complexity
• Fastest cluster autoscaling
• Node Auto Provisioning intelligent
• Best VPA integration

Cons:

• Autopilot less flexible for edge cases
• NAP can create many node pools

Autoscaling Winner: Google GKE

Ranking:

1. Google GKE - Autopilot game-changer, fastest scaling
2. AWS EKS - Karpenter excellent (but AWS-specific)
3. Azure AKS - Functional but less advanced

Our travel platform case study demonstrates GKE autoscaling handling 10x traffic spikes.

Monitoring and Observability

AWS EKS Monitoring

Native options:

• CloudWatch Container Insights
• CloudWatch Logs
• X-Ray (distributed tracing)

Third-party:

• Prometheus + Grafana
• Datadog
• New Relic
• Splunk

Features:

• Control plane logging (CloudWatch)
• Container metrics via Container Insights
• Application logs via Fluent Bit/Fluentd

Pros:

• Deep AWS service integration
• CloudWatch familiar to AWS users
• Good third-party support

Cons:

• CloudWatch expensive at scale
• Less Kubernetes-native than GKE
• Setup more complex

Azure AKS Monitoring

Native options:

• Azure Monitor for containers
• Azure Log Analytics
• Application Insights

Third-party:

• Prometheus + Grafana
• Datadog
• Dynatrace

Features:

• Container insights built-in
• Live logs and metrics
• Azure Monitor integration

Pros:

• Good Azure integration
• Container insights useful
• Familiar to Azure users

Cons:

• Azure Monitor costly
• Less flexible than open-source tools
• Learning curve

Google GKE Monitoring

Native options:

• Google Cloud Monitoring (formerly Stackdriver)
• Google Cloud Logging
• Google Cloud Trace

Cloud Operations for GKE:

• Managed Prometheus (preview)
• Workload metrics out-of-the-box
• Kubernetes-native dashboards

Third-party:

• Prometheus + Grafana
• Datadog
• Elastic

Features:

• Control plane metrics included
• System and workload metrics
• GKE-specific dashboards

Pros:

• Best Kubernetes-native monitoring
• Managed Prometheus integration
• Excellent default dashboards
• Lower cost than CloudWatch/Azure Monitor

Cons:

• Less familiar to non-GCP users
• Third-party integrations improving

Monitoring Winner: Google GKE

Ranking:

1. Google GKE - Most Kubernetes-native, managed Prometheus
2. Azure AKS - Good built-in container insights
3. AWS EKS - Powerful but expensive CloudWatch

Developer Experience

AWS EKS Developer Experience

CLI tools:

• eksctl for cluster management
• kubectl for Kubernetes
• aws CLI for AWS resources

Infrastructure as Code:

• CloudFormation
• Terraform (excellent support)
• CDK (AWS Cloud Development Kit)
• Pulumi

CI/CD integration:

• AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy
• GitHub Actions
• GitLab CI/CD
• Jenkins

Local development:

• minikube
• kind (Kubernetes in Docker)
• Docker Desktop

Pros:

• eksctl simplifies cluster operations
• Great Terraform support
• Good documentation

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve
• More components to manage
• Slower cluster provisioning

Azure AKS Developer Experience

CLI tools:

• az aks commands
• kubectl for Kubernetes

Infrastructure as Code:

• Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
• Terraform (good support)
• Bicep
• Pulumi

CI/CD integration:

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions
• GitLab CI/CD

Local development:

• Docker Desktop
• minikube
• kind

Pros:

• Simple cluster creation
• Good Azure DevOps integration
• Familiar to .NET/Windows developers

Cons:

• Azure CLI verbose
• Less documentation than AWS/GKE
• Some features less mature

Google GKE Developer Experience

CLI tools:

• gcloud container commands
• kubectl for Kubernetes

Infrastructure as Code:

• Google Cloud Deployment Manager
• Terraform (excellent support)
• Pulumi

CI/CD integration:

• Cloud Build
• GitHub Actions
• GitLab CI/CD
• Argo CD

Local development:

• minikube
• kind
• Docker Desktop
• Cloud Code (IDE extension)

Autopilot mode:

• Zero node management
• Focus on applications only
• Automatic best practices

Pros:

• Fastest cluster creation (5-8 minutes)
• Most Kubernetes-native
• Autopilot eliminates complexity
• Excellent gcloud CLI
• Cloud Code for IDEs

Cons:

• Smaller community than AWS
• Less enterprise tooling than Azure
• GCP-specific learning curve

Developer Experience Winner: Google GKE

Ranking:

1. Google GKE - Autopilot, fastest setup, best CLI
2. AWS EKS - eksctl helpful, good docs
3. Azure AKS - Simpler than EKS, good for Microsoft shops

Integration with Cloud Services

AWS EKS Integrations

Storage:

• EBS (block storage)
• EFS (shared file storage)
• FSx for Lustre (HPC)
• S3 (object storage via CSI driver)

Databases:

• RDS (managed relational)
• DynamoDB (NoSQL)
• ElastiCache (Redis/Memcached)
• DocumentDB (MongoDB-compatible)

Messaging:

• SQS (queues)
• SNS (pub/sub)
• Amazon MQ (managed message brokers)
• Kafka (via MSK)

Identity:

• IAM Roles for Service Accounts
• AWS SSO
• Cognito

Other services:

• ALB/NLB for ingress
• CloudFront (CDN)
• Route 53 (DNS)
• Secrets Manager
• ACM (certificates)

Pros:

• Deepest AWS service catalog
• IRSA excellent for service access
• Mature integrations

Cons:

• Complexity from many options
• Vendor lock-in

Azure AKS Integrations

Storage:

• Azure Disk (block storage)
• Azure Files (shared file storage)
• Azure NetApp Files
• Azure Blob Storage

Databases:

• Azure SQL Database
• Cosmos DB (multi-model NoSQL)
• Azure Database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB)
• Azure Cache for Redis

Messaging:

• Service Bus (messaging)
• Event Grid (event routing)
• Event Hubs (streaming)

Identity:

• Azure AD integration
• Managed Identity
• Workload Identity

Other services:

• Application Gateway (ingress/WAF)
• Azure Front Door (CDN)
• Azure DNS
• Key Vault
• Azure Container Registry

Pros:

• Best for Microsoft/Windows workloads
• AAD integration excellent
• Good enterprise features

Cons:

• Smaller service catalog than AWS
• Some services less mature

Google GKE Integrations

Storage:

• Persistent Disk (block storage)
• Filestore (NFS)
• Cloud Storage (object storage)

Databases:

• Cloud SQL (managed PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• Cloud Spanner (global distributed SQL)
• Firestore (NoSQL document database)
• Memorystore (managed Redis)
• Bigtable (wide-column NoSQL)

Messaging:

• Pub/Sub (messaging)
• Cloud Tasks (task queues)

Identity:

• Workload Identity (best-in-class)
• Cloud IAM
• Identity-Aware Proxy

Other services:

• Cloud Load Balancing (ingress)
• Cloud CDN
• Cloud DNS
• Secret Manager
• Artifact Registry

Pros:

• Workload Identity elegant
• Excellent for data-intensive workloads
• Cloud Spanner unique offering

Cons:

• Smallest service catalog
• Less enterprise integration than Azure

Integration Winner: AWS EKS

Ranking:

1. AWS EKS - Largest service catalog, deepest integrations
2. Azure AKS - Best for Microsoft ecosystems
3. Google GKE - Strong data services, elegant identity

Real-World Use Cases

When to Choose AWS EKS

Best for:

1. AWS-native organizations - Existing AWS infrastructure
2. Complex architectures - Need diverse AWS services
3. Compliance requirements - FedRAMP, HIPAA on AWS
4. Large enterprises - Mature AWS ecosystem

Example: E-Commerce Platform Our e-commerce Kubernetes migration chose EKS because:

• Existing AWS infrastructure (RDS, ElastiCache, S3)
• Integration with AWS ALB for traffic routing
• IAM Roles for Service Accounts for secure access
• Familiarity with AWS ecosystem

Result: 58% cost reduction, zero downtime migration

When to Choose Azure AKS

Best for:

1. Microsoft shops - Windows/.NET workloads
2. Enterprise with Azure AD - Strong identity integration
3. Cost-conscious - Free control plane
4. Hybrid cloud - Azure Arc integration

Example: Healthcare SaaS Platform Our healthcare Kubernetes security implementation chose AKS because:

• Azure AD integration for HIPAA-compliant access control
• Windows containers for legacy .NET applications
• Azure Key Vault for PHI encryption
• Free control plane reduced costs for multiple environments

Result: Zero security incidents, HIPAA compliance, 70% faster audits

When to Choose Google GKE

Best for:

1. Kubernetes-first organizations - Want best Kubernetes experience
2. Startups/scale-ups - Need rapid development
3. Data-intensive workloads - BigQuery, Bigtable integration
4. Multi-cloud strategy - Anthos for hybrid/multi-cloud

Example: Travel Booking Platform Our travel platform autoscaling case study chose GKE because:

• GKE Autopilot eliminated node management overhead
• Fastest autoscaling for 10x traffic spikes
• Preemptible VMs for 70% cost savings
• Most mature Kubernetes features

Result: 10x traffic handled, 99.97% uptime, 42% cost reduction

When to Choose Multi-Cloud

Best for:

1. Vendor independence - Avoid lock-in
2. Data residency - Geographic compliance requirements
3. Disaster recovery - Cross-cloud failover
4. Cost optimization - Leverage competitive pricing

Example: Global SaaS Platform Our multi-cloud SaaS architecture used AWS EKS + GKE because:

• Data residency compliance (GDPR in EU)
• Geographic routing (AWS Americas, GKE Europe/APAC)
• Disaster recovery with sub-5-minute failover
• Negotiating leverage with cloud providers

Result: 99.99% uptime, 45% latency reduction, GDPR compliance

Comparison Summary

Overall Ranking by Category

Cost efficiency:

1. Azure AKS (free control plane)
2. Google GKE Autopilot
3. Google GKE Standard / AWS EKS

Kubernetes maturity:

1. Google GKE
2. AWS EKS
3. Azure AKS

Enterprise features:

1. Azure AKS (AAD integration)
2. AWS EKS (service breadth)
3. Google GKE

Developer experience:

1. Google GKE (Autopilot, fast setup)
2. AWS EKS
3. Azure AKS

Cloud service integration:

1. AWS EKS (largest catalog)
2. Azure AKS (Microsoft ecosystem)
3. Google GKE (data services)

Security and compliance:

• Tie: All three meet major compliance standards
• AWS EKS: Best for AWS-centric security
• Azure AKS: Best for enterprise IAM (AAD)
• Google GKE: Best built-in security features

Decision Framework

Choose AWS EKS if:

• ✅ Already heavily invested in AWS
• ✅ Need deepest AWS service integrations
• ✅ Want most mature third-party ecosystem
• ✅ Prioritize compliance certifications

Choose Azure AKS if:

• ✅ Microsoft/.NET/Windows workloads
• ✅ Strong Azure AD requirements
• ✅ Want free control plane for cost savings
• ✅ Hybrid cloud with Azure Arc

Choose Google GKE if:

• ✅ Want best Kubernetes experience
• ✅ Prioritize developer productivity
• ✅ Need cutting-edge Kubernetes features
• ✅ Want Autopilot to eliminate node management
• ✅ Data-intensive workloads (BigQuery, etc.)

Migration and Multi-Cloud

Migrating Between Platforms

Portability considerations:

• Use cloud-agnostic tools (ArgoCD, Helm, Kustomize)
• Avoid cloud-specific services in critical path
• Design for multiple CNIs (Cilium, Calico)
• Abstract storage with CSI drivers
• Use Crossplane for portable infrastructure

Multi-Cloud with Kubernetes

For organizations requiring true multi-cloud:

• Use Crossplane for unified infrastructure management
• Implement GitOps with ArgoCD
• Consider Cilium Cluster Mesh for cross-cloud networking
• Implement global traffic management (Cloudflare, Azure Front Door)

Our multi-cloud Kubernetes consulting services help organizations build portable architectures.

Conclusion

There’s no universal “best” managed Kubernetes service. The right choice depends on your organization’s existing cloud investments, technical requirements, and priorities:

• AWS EKS offers the deepest ecosystem and AWS integration
• Azure AKS provides the best value (free control plane) and enterprise identity features
• Google GKE delivers the most Kubernetes-native experience with innovative features like Autopilot

For many organizations, a multi-cloud strategy provides the best of all worlds: vendor independence, geographic flexibility, and disaster recovery capabilities.

Need help choosing or implementing the right Kubernetes platform? Tasrie IT Services has extensive experience with AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE. Our team has implemented production clusters across all three platforms for healthcare, finance, e-commerce, and SaaS clients.

Schedule a free consultation to discuss your Kubernetes strategy and platform selection.

Related Resources

• Kubernetes Consulting Services
• AWS EKS Consulting
• Azure AKS Consulting
• Google GKE Consulting
• Multi-Cloud Kubernetes Strategy

External resources:

• AWS EKS Documentation
• Azure AKS Documentation
• Google GKE Documentation
• CNCF Cloud Native Landscape