Comparing prices across every provider we track...
CloudHosting.ioCloudHosting.io
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) · $73/mo
Azure AKS Premium at $73/mo is competitively priced for a managed Kubernetes control plane with LTS support, but several alternatives offer lower entry costs or better value depending on workload size and region. However, Azure's hidden costs (Windows licensing, bandwidth tiers, storage IOPS) and the unconfirmed LTS surcharge create pricing uncertainty that rivals like Linode, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud also share at similar price points.
Flat $60/mo HA control plane is $13 cheaper than Azure Premium and includes multi-master redundancy without per-hour cluster fees.
Caveat: Worker nodes billed separately; bandwidth overages at $0.005-0.015/GB are lower than Azure but still apply; backup add-ons cost extra.
Identical $73/mo cluster fee with transparent per-second billing and strong sustained-use discounts that can offset worker node costs over time.
Caveat: Network egress and custom machine types carry premiums; early-deletion penalties on cold storage tiers mirror Azure's; committed-use discounts require upfront commitment.
Capped at $74.40/mo for enhanced control plane with financially-backed SLA and virtual nodes; only $1.40 more than Azure with stronger uptime guarantees.
Caveat: Block Volume performance (VPU) billed separately; Archive Storage has 90-day minimums and high retrieval fees; worker nodes cost extra.
Per-cluster control plane at $75/mo is only $2 more than Azure and pricing is region-variable; good for teams already using Fly's Machines ecosystem.
Caveat: Pricing not independently verified; stopped machines still charge for rootfs storage; cross-region networking can be expensive ($0.12/GB in some regions); no published platform SLA.
Before you switch
| Provider | Plan | Price | Specs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IONOS | Managed Kubernetes · K8s RAM - per GB | $1.94/mo | Worker node RAM, control plane free | Visit |
| DigitalOcean | Kubernetes · NVIDIA H100 GPU node | $3.39/mo | 80 GB GPU RAM, 240 GiB Droplet RAM, 20 vCPUs (billed hourly, shown as monthly-equivalent placeholder) | Visit |
| Kamatera | Managed Kubernetes · Worker node = Type A Cloud VM (min) | $4/mo | No separate K8s pricing published. Worker nodes are billed at standard Cloud VM rates by CPU type; this row mirrors the Type A minimum (1 vCPU/1GB) as the cheapest possible worker node. No control-plane fee found -- likely bundled or unspecified. | Visit |
| OVHcloud | Managed Rancher Service · OVHcloud Edition | $5.55/mo | Per vCPU/hour across all schedulable worker node vCPUs in downstream clusters. 20 vCPU minimum billed. | Visit |
| Linode (Akamai) | Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) · HA Control Plane | $60/mo | Flat $60/mo add-on for a highly-available, multi-master control plane; worker nodes billed separately | Visit |
| Google Cloud | Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) · Cluster management fee | $73/mo | Flat fee per cluster regardless of mode/size/topology, billed per second | Visit |
| Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) · Enhanced Cluster | $74.4/mo | $0.10/hour per cluster, capped at $74.40/month; financially-backed uptime SLA; advanced features (virtual nodes, workload identity). Worker nodes billed separately. | Visit |
| Fly.io | Fly Kubernetes (FKS) · FKS control plane | $75/mo | Per-cluster control plane fee. Node Machines and attached Volumes billed separately at standard Machines/Volumes rates. Single-source figure, not independently re-verified. | Visit |
| Scaleway | Kubernetes Kapsule · Dedicated Control Plane 4GB | $80/mo | Dedicated control plane, 4 GB RAM | Visit |
Linode (Akamai)
Google Cloud
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Fly.io
View Microsoft Azure's plan