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DigitalOcean Kubernetes pricing and limits

iScore63–79 · ≈#2/5
www.digitalocean.com/products/kubernetes · Managed Kubernetes
SEPT 2026 audit

Managed Kubernetes with no charge for the control plane, billed only for the nodes and an optional high-availability upgrade.

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Entry paid planNothing 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 tierYes
CategoryManaged Kubernetes

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 9 criteria comparedSources last checked

DigitalOcean Kubernetes pricing at a glance

Entry paid plan
Nothing for the control plane source ↗
Pricing model
Nodes only, with the control plane free and high availability for it sold as a $40/month upgrade source ↗

First line of each sourced value. The full text is in DigitalOcean Kubernetes pricing below. How this free offer stacks up: cloud free tiers compared.

01.Evaluation guide

Who it suits

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.

Consider something else if…

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.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Each value below links to the page it was read from, with the sentence it came from. Criteria DigitalOcean Kubernetes does not publish are not listed.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes pricing

3 criteria
Free tierYes
Sources (1) →
Entry paid planNothing 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 (1) →
Pricing modelNodes 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 (1) →

Limits

1 criteria
Included bandwidthFree inbound transfer, and free outbound from 2,000 GiB a month upward on the Basic tier.
Sources (1) →

Infrastructure

2 criteria
AutoscalingSupported
Sources (1) →
Uptime SLANone 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 (1) →

Compliance

3 criteria
SOC 2DigitalOcean is AICPA SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 Type II certified.
Sources (1) →
GDPR / data residencyDigitalOcean is GDPR compliant and we show it through our actions.
Sources (1) →
Dedicated infrastructureHigh availability for the control plane is an explicit $40/month upgrade rather than the default, so a cluster is single-control-plane until you pay for it not to be.
Sources (1) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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DigitalOcean Kubernetes in the news

Headlines from other publications, not checked by us · collected

Selected by a search on this company, refreshed weekly. Nobody here has verified these claims — where something material is confirmed, it is written into the page above with its source, the way every other fact on this site is.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes pricing questions

How much does DigitalOcean Kubernetes cost?

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.

Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean · read

How does DigitalOcean Kubernetes charge?

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.

Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean · read

Does DigitalOcean Kubernetes have a free tier?

Yes.

Kubernetes Pricing — DigitalOcean · read

What uptime does DigitalOcean Kubernetes guarantee?

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.

Kubernetes Limits — DigitalOcean Documentation · read

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.