Scaleway Kapsule vs Google Kubernetes Engine
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Scaleway Kapsule and Google Kubernetes Engine.
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
Scaleway Kapsule
0 reviews
4.1/5
Google Kubernetes Engine
0 reviews
Google Kubernetes Engine is rated higher (4.1 vs 3.9). Scaleway Kapsule is a managed Kubernetes service hosted entirely in EU datacenters (Paris, Amsterdam). GDPR-compliant, integrated with Scaleway's ecosystem, and competitively priced for EU requirements. GKE provides hosted Kubernetes clusters on Google Cloud infrastructure. Deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications with built-in monitoring, security, and automatic node management.
Scaleway Kapsule EU-native managed Kubernetes — GDPR compliant | Google Kubernetes Engine Managed Kubernetes on Google Cloud with automated scaling and updates | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (0 reviews) | 4.1 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | pay-as-you-go |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | European teams wanting managed Kubernetes with no control-plane fee, staying inside Scaleway's EU ecosystem and comfortable with documented platform limits | Teams standardizing on Kubernetes within Google Cloud: Autopilot for those without platform engineers, Standard for node-level control and well-packed cost-optimized clusters. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 2 vCPU | — |
| RAM | 2 GB | — |
| Storage | — | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.95% |
| Data-center count | 10 | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | €0.00 | — |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €0.00 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | FranceNetherlandsPolandItaly | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tiermanaged optioneu datacentergdpr compliantapi accessterraform provider | free tiermanaged optionapi accesseu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterterraform provider |
| Visit Scaleway Kapsule → | Visit Google Kubernetes Engine → | |
Scaleway Kapsule
Pros
- + Free shared control plane — a 3-node cluster costs about €19.65/month all-in on entry nodes
- + CNCF-conformant vanilla Kubernetes with published version calendar and 14-month support per minor
- + Fully managed components: CCM, autoscaler, node autoheal after 15 minutes, Block/File CSI drivers
- + EU-only regions (Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Milan) under French law with ISO 27001 and HDS certifications
- + Complete API, CLI and Terraform coverage; Kosmos option to attach external nodes at zero control-plane cost
Cons
- - Control plane ingress sits behind a single-zone Load Balancer — a global zonal failure makes the API unreachable
- - No dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 and no ReadWriteMany/ReadOnlyMany storage support yet
- - Forced minor upgrades within 30 days of end of support, whether or not you have tested the version
- - No published Kapsule-specific SLA figure; support is the standard Scaleway ticket queue
- - Egress metered per GB on some classes and idle node pools bill around the clock
Google Kubernetes Engine
Pros
- + Credit-backed, specific SLA: 99.95% regional/Autopilot control plane, 99.9% for multi-zone Autopilot pods
- + Autopilot removes node management and bills per pod request with per-second granularity
- + Kubernetes from Kubernetes' creator — release channels, Workload Identity, native GCP service integration
- + GKE free tier covers one cluster's $74.40 monthly management fee
- + Mature ecosystem: Terraform provider, gcloud, GitOps add-ons, deep hiring and training base
Cons
- - $0.10/cluster-hour fee plus compute, disks, LBs, and egress — expensive for small workloads
- - Oversized pod requests are billed at full rate in Autopilot; billing model has many interacting dimensions
- - SLA covers the control plane only — workload availability is your responsibility
- - Regional clusters' management fee is excluded from the free tier credit; GKE CUDs no longer purchasable for Autopilot
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