Amazon EKS vs Google Cloud (GCP)
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Amazon EKS and Google Cloud (GCP).
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
Amazon EKS
0 reviews
3.9/5
Google Cloud (GCP)
0 reviews
Both Amazon EKS and Google Cloud (GCP) are equally rated at 3.9/5. Managed Kubernetes service that handles cluster operations, patching, and scaling. For teams running containerized workloads who want to reduce Kubernetes infrastructure overhead. Known for its data analytics and AI tooling (BigQuery, Vertex AI).
 Amazon EKS AWS-managed Kubernetes with automatic control plane patching and scaling | Google Cloud (GCP) Google's cloud — AI/ML and data analytics focus | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (0 reviews) | 3.9 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | paid | pay-as-you-go |
| Starting price | From $73/mo | Free tier available✓ |
| Best for | Organizations already committed to AWS who need production Kubernetes without managing the control plane infrastructure | Data- and ML-centric teams already building on BigQuery, GKE, or Vertex AI, and workloads that need a published multi-zone SLA or data residency in one of 43 regions. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | managed optionapi accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenterterraform provider | free tierhourly billingipv6gpu availables3 compatibleeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi accessterraform providerkubernetes supportarm processors |
| Visit Amazon EKS → | Visit Google Cloud (GCP) → | |
Amazon EKS
Pros
- + AWS-managed control plane across three AZs: no etcd, API server or upgrade operations
- + Upstream-conformant Kubernetes — standard manifests, operators and CNCF tooling work unchanged
- + Public, simple cluster fee ($0.10/hour) with no per-seat charges and no overage premiums on usage
- + Choice of EC2 managed node groups (including GPU and Graviton), Fargate serverless pods or Auto Mode
- + Deep AWS integration: IAM auth, VPC networking, EBS/ECR, Shield Standard DDoS protection, 39 regions
Cons
- - Extended support jumps to $0.60/hour per cluster after 14 months if versions are not upgraded
- - Total cost dominated by compute, storage and inter-AZ data transfer; bills are hard to forecast
- - Real AWS coupling through IAM, CSI drivers and ingress controllers despite Kubernetes conformance
- - Human support requires paid AWS Support plans on top of the platform costs
Google Cloud (GCP)
Pros
- + Best published SLA set in the comparison: 99.99% multi-zone, 99.9% single-instance
- + 43 regions and 130 zones with per-region price variance you can trade against latency
- + Per-second billing and three discount levers — Spot up to 91% off, commitments up to 55–70%
- + Live migration through host maintenance; deep integration with GKE, BigQuery, Vertex AI
- + Real free entry: $300 trial credit that never auto-charges, plus an Always Free e2-micro VM
Cons
- - Poor price-performance for plain VMs versus European VPS specialists; no bundled transfer
- - Egress is expensive ($0.12/GiB Premium) and billed as a separate line item
- - Sustained use discounts don't apply to E2 and N4 — the families entry buyers choose
- - Budgets alert but don't cap Compute Engine spend; human support costs from $29/month
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