Vultr Kubernetes Engine vs Amazon EKS
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Vultr Kubernetes Engine and Amazon EKS.
Quick Verdict
3.8/5
Vultr Kubernetes Engine
0 reviews
3.9/5
Amazon EKS
0 reviews
Amazon EKS is rated higher (3.9 vs 3.8). Vultr Kubernetes Engine (VKE) provides managed Kubernetes across 32 global locations. Auto-scaling node pools, integration with Vultr Block Storage and Load Balancers. Competitive per-node pricing. Managed Kubernetes service that handles cluster operations, patching, and scaling. For teams running containerized workloads who want to reduce Kubernetes infrastructure overhead.
Vultr Kubernetes Engine Managed Kubernetes in 32 global locations |  Amazon EKS AWS-managed Kubernetes with automatic control plane patching and scaling | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.8 (0 reviews) | 3.9 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From $10/mo✓ | From $73/mo |
| Best for | Cost-conscious teams wanting conformant managed Kubernetes in the Vultr ecosystem - small-to-medium clusters, staging/CI, multi-cluster setups, and portability-minded workloads | Organizations already committed to AWS who need production Kubernetes without managing the control plane infrastructure |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 1 vCPU | — |
| RAM | 2 GB | — |
| Storage | 55 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | 2 TB/mo | — |
| SLA uptime | 100%✓ | 99.95% |
| Data-center count | 34 | 39✓ |
| €/vCPU/mo | €10.00 | — |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €5.00 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | managed optionhourly billingeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access | managed optionapi accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenterterraform provider |
| Visit Vultr Kubernetes Engine → | Visit Amazon EKS → | |
Vultr Kubernetes Engine
Pros
- + Free control plane - no management fee per cluster, unlike hyperscaler managed Kubernetes services
- + CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformance with documented Argo CD and Flux GitOps support
- + Cost model is just published instance prices with hourly billing: worker nodes from $10/month, no cluster minimums
- + Node-pool autoscaling (Cluster Autoscaler) plus manual scaling via console/API, with native Load Balancer, Block Storage and DNS integrations
Cons
- - No bare-metal or GPU workers and Linux-only nodes (2 GB RAM minimum) - the node catalog is the VM catalog
- - Thinner enterprise surface than EKS/GKE/AKS: no published VKE-specific control-plane SLA, limited policy/IAM integrations
- - Node performance inherits Vultr's mid-market instance profile, including measured storage performance that trailed tested peers
- - VKE region availability is a subset of the platform's regions and is only confirmed in the console; the '32 locations' claim in our old record is not on the current product page
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
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