Google Kubernetes Engine vs Azure Kubernetes Service
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Google Kubernetes Engine and Azure Kubernetes Service built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Google Kubernetes Engine if…
One cluster, free. The $74.40 monthly credit is exactly the cluster fee for one Autopilot or zonal Standard cluster refunded, and Autopilot bills the Pods you ask for rather than the nodes you guessed at.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Azure Kubernetes Service if…
Starting without paying for a control plane at all: the Free tier costs nothing and you pay only for nodes, which is the cheapest way into managed Kubernetes on a hyperscaler.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Google Kubernetes Engine: You need the SLA the free cluster does not get. Zonal Standard clusters — the shape the credit covers — carry 99.5% against 99.95% for regional and Autopilot, and the credits apply to no other SKU and do not roll over.
- Azure Kubernetes Service: You want to know what production costs. The Free tier has no SLA in Azure's own words, Standard buys one, and the page prints no figure for either — the tier names render and the prices are filled in by an API after load.
3 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.
Google Kubernetes Engine 0
Azure Kubernetes Service 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Google Kubernetes Engine | Azure Kubernetes Service |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $0.10 per cluster per hour, flat across both Autopilot and Standard modes and charged in one-second increments. | Not readable. The page names three tiers — Free with no SLA, Standard with one, Premium for long-term version support — and prints no figure against any of them in text, the same way Azure's SLA pages and Amazon's OpenSearch OCU rate do not. |
| Pricing model | A flat per-cluster fee regardless of mode, plus compute — which is where Autopilot and Standard actually differ, Autopilot billing the Pods you request and Standard the nodes you run. | Tiered by what the control plane promises rather than by capacity: Free has no SLA, Standard has one and raises the node limit to 5,000, Premium buys long-term support for older Kubernetes versions. Nodes are billed as ordinary Azure compute underneath. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Autoscaling | Supported — Autopilot bills the Pods you request rather than the nodes you run | Supported — Standard tier raises the node limit to 5,000; Free does not say |
| Uptime SLA | 99.95% for the control plane of Autopilot and regional Standard clusters; 99.5% for zonal Standard clusters. Autopilot Pods spread across multiple zones carry 99.9%. | None on the Free tier, stated in those words. Standard adds a financially backed API server uptime SLA and a pod readiness SLA; no percentage is printed on the pricing page. |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- Google Kubernetes Engine
- $0.10 per cluster per hour, flat across both Autopilot and Standard modes and charged in one-second increments.
- Azure Kubernetes Service
- Not readable. The page names three tiers — Free with no SLA, Standard with one, Premium for long-term version support — and prints no figure against any of them in text, the same way Azure's SLA pages and Amazon's OpenSearch OCU rate do not.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GKE pricing ↗
“Cluster management fee A flat cluster management fee of $0.10 per cluster per hour (charged in 1 second increments) applies to all G”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Azure Kubernetes Service pricing ↗
“For production workloads that require a guaranteed SLA, scalable Kubernetes control plane, and a node cluster limit up to 5,000, use Standard tier (SLA).”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Google Kubernetes Engine
- A flat per-cluster fee regardless of mode, plus compute — which is where Autopilot and Standard actually differ, Autopilot billing the Pods you request and Standard the nodes you run.
- Azure Kubernetes Service
- Tiered by what the control plane promises rather than by capacity: Free has no SLA, Standard has one and raises the node limit to 5,000, Premium buys long-term support for older Kubernetes versions. Nodes are billed as ordinary Azure compute underneath.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GKE pricing ↗
“This page explains pricing for compute resources, cluster operation mode, cluster management fees, and applicable ingress fees in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Azure Kubernetes Service pricing ↗
“Long term support can also be purchased for workloads requiring more time to migrate to a new version of Kubernetes (Premium tier).”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
Uptime SLA
- Google Kubernetes Engine
- 99.95% for the control plane of Autopilot and regional Standard clusters; 99.5% for zonal Standard clusters. Autopilot Pods spread across multiple zones carry 99.9%.
- Azure Kubernetes Service
- None on the Free tier, stated in those words. Standard adds a financially backed API server uptime SLA and a pod readiness SLA; no percentage is printed on the pricing page.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GKE pricing ↗
“99.95% for the control plane of Autopilot clusters and regional Standard clusters. 99.5% for the control plane of zona”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Azure Kubernetes Service pricing ↗
“backed API server uptime SLA and pod readiness SLA No SLA (Free tier) Financially backed API server uptime SLA (Standard tier)”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
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: Google Kubernetes Engine or Azure Kubernetes Service?
Google Kubernetes Engine: $0.10 per cluster per hour, flat across both Autopilot and Standard modes and charged in one-second increments.
Azure Kubernetes Service: Not readable. The page names three tiers — Free with no SLA, Standard with one, Premium for long-term version support — and prints no figure against any of them in text, the same way Azure's SLA pages and Amazon's OpenSearch OCU rate do not.
Should I choose Google Kubernetes Engine or Azure Kubernetes Service?
Pick Google Kubernetes Engine if One cluster, free. The $74.40 monthly credit is exactly the cluster fee for one Autopilot or zonal Standard cluster refunded, and Autopilot bills the Pods you ask for rather than the nodes you guessed at.
Pick Azure Kubernetes Service if Starting without paying for a control plane at all: the Free tier costs nothing and you pay only for nodes, which is the cheapest way into managed Kubernetes on a hyperscaler.