Amazon EKS vs DigitalOcean Kubernetes
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Amazon EKS and DigitalOcean Kubernetes built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Amazon EKS if…
A cluster that has to sit inside AWS — IAM on the cluster, VPC networking, EC2 or Fargate nodes — with a 99.95% control-plane SLA measured in five-minute intervals rather than described in prose.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose DigitalOcean Kubernetes if…
The node bill and nothing else. The control plane is free at any size, inbound transfer is free, and the smallest real cluster is one $12 node — no per-cluster fee to amortise across workloads.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Amazon EKS: You run many small clusters. $0.10 an hour is about $73 a year each before a node exists, and it becomes $0.60 an hour the moment you fall behind on Kubernetes versions — DigitalOcean charges nothing for the control plane at all.
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes: You need a commitment in writing. DigitalOcean publishes no Kubernetes SLA — both SLA URLs soft-404 — and high availability for the control plane is a $40/month upgrade rather than the default, which is more than the control plane costs anywhere else.
4 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Amazon EKS 0
DigitalOcean Kubernetes 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Amazon EKS | DigitalOcean Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $0.10 per cluster per hour on standard Kubernetes version support — roughly $73 a year before any node runs. Extended version support, for clusters kept on an older Kubernetes release, is $0.60 per cluster per hour. | Nothing for the control plane. Nodes start at $12/month each on the Basic tier, so the smallest real cluster is the node bill and nothing else. |
| Pricing model | Per cluster per hour for the control plane, with the rate rising sixfold if you stay on an unsupported Kubernetes version. Nodes, EKS Auto Mode, add-on capabilities and hybrid nodes are each metered separately on top. | Nodes only, with the control plane free and high availability for it sold as a $40/month upgrade. Inbound transfer is free and outbound starts at 2,000 GiB a month. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Autoscaling | Supported | Supported |
| Uptime SLA | 99.95% monthly for the Kubernetes endpoint of a Standard Control Plane cluster, measured in five-minute intervals. | None published for Kubernetes: /sla/kubernetes and /sla/kubernetes-service both soft-404. The docs describe the control plane as highly available, which is a description of the service rather than a commitment about it. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Amazon EKS
- No
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes
- Yes
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon EKS Pricing ↗
“You pay $0.10 per hour for each Amazon EKS cluster that you create.”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“DOKS pricing benefits That's right - the DigitalOcean control plane is free”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Entry paid plan
- Amazon EKS
- $0.10 per cluster per hour on standard Kubernetes version support — roughly $73 a year before any node runs. Extended version support, for clusters kept on an older Kubernetes release, is $0.60 per cluster per hour.
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes
- Nothing for the control plane. Nodes start at $12/month each on the Basic tier, so the smallest real cluster is the node bill and nothing else.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon EKS Pricing ↗
“Kubernetes Version Support Tier Pricing Standard Kubernetes version support $0.10 per cluster per hour Extended Kubernetes version support $0.60 per cluster per hour”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Basic Starting at $12 /month/node Variable workloads Free inbound data transfer”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Amazon EKS
- Per cluster per hour for the control plane, with the rate rising sixfold if you stay on an unsupported Kubernetes version. Nodes, EKS Auto Mode, add-on capabilities and hybrid nodes are each metered separately on top.
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes
- Nodes only, with the control plane free and high availability for it sold as a $40/month upgrade. Inbound transfer is free and outbound starts at 2,000 GiB a month.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon EKS Pricing ↗
“You pay $0.10 per hour for each Amazon EKS cluster that you create. You can use a single EKS cluster to run multi”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Run your Kubernetes clusters on the powerful DOKS control plane and add the High Availability to the control plane for only $ 40 /month.”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Uptime SLA
- Amazon EKS
- 99.95% monthly for the Kubernetes endpoint of a Standard Control Plane cluster, measured in five-minute intervals.
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes
- None published for Kubernetes: /sla/kubernetes and /sla/kubernetes-service both soft-404. The docs describe the control plane as highly available, which is a description of the service rather than a commitment about it.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon EKS Service Level Agreement ↗
“AWS will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the Kubernetes endpoint for an Amazon EKS Cluster with the Standard Control Plane available with a Monthly Uptime Percentage of at least 99.95% during any monthly billing cycle, measured in 5-minute intervals”
Read 2026-09-15 · official site
- Kubernetes Limits — DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Kubernetes (DOKS) is a Kubernetes service with a fully managed control plane, high availability, and autoscaling.”
Read 2026-09-15 · official docs
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Amazon EKS or DigitalOcean Kubernetes?
Amazon EKS: $0.10 per cluster per hour on standard Kubernetes version support — roughly $73 a year before any node runs. Extended version support, for clusters kept on an older Kubernetes release, is $0.60 per cluster per hour.
DigitalOcean Kubernetes: Nothing for the control plane. Nodes start at $12/month each on the Basic tier, so the smallest real cluster is the node bill and nothing else.
Free tier: Amazon EKS or DigitalOcean Kubernetes?
Amazon EKS: No
DigitalOcean Kubernetes: Yes
Should I choose Amazon EKS or DigitalOcean Kubernetes?
Pick Amazon EKS if A cluster that has to sit inside AWS — IAM on the cluster, VPC networking, EC2 or Fargate nodes — with a 99.95% control-plane SLA measured in five-minute intervals rather than described in prose.
Pick DigitalOcean Kubernetes if The node bill and nothing else. The control plane is free at any size, inbound transfer is free, and the smallest real cluster is one $12 node — no per-cluster fee to amortise across workloads.