Comparing prices across every provider we track...
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Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) · $60/mo
Linode LKE HA at $60/mo is competitively priced for a managed Kubernetes control plane, but several alternatives offer lower entry costs or better value depending on workload size and bandwidth needs. The real comparison depends on worker node costs, which are billed separately across all providers.
Free control plane with per-GB RAM pricing offers dramatic savings for small clusters, though scaling costs and renewal traps require careful calculator verification.
Caveat: Intro pricing renewal can jump 2-6x; outbound bandwidth at $0.036/GB is 7x Linode's rate after free tier; building-block pricing makes total cost estimation difficult without their calculator.
| 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 control-plane fee and minimal worker node pricing ($4/mo for 1vCPU/1GB) beats Linode's $60 flat add-on for small dev/test clusters.
Caveat: Control-plane pricing is unspecified or bundled; burstable CPU overages at $0.041/hr can surprise; Windows licensing and managed services add $50-150/server/month.
Per-vCPU pricing ($5.55/mo per vCPU, 20 vCPU minimum = $111/mo) is lower than Linode's $60 flat fee only for very small clusters; better for larger deployments.
Caveat: 20 vCPU minimum means $111/mo floor; APAC regions lose free egress after mid-2026; Windows license surcharge of $0.039/vCore/hour adds up quickly.
At $73/mo control-plane fee, Azure matches Linode's total cost but adds 99.95% SLA, autoscaling to 5,000 nodes, and enterprise-grade support.
Caveat: Worker node VMs, Premium SSD IOPS, and bandwidth overages ($0.01/GB past 100GB free) add significantly; Windows Server licensing surcharge on top of compute.
Flat $73/mo cluster fee matches Azure and Linode; includes sustained-use and committed-use discounts that can reduce node costs by 25-70% on longer commitments.
Caveat: Network egress billed per-GB after 200GB free tier; custom machine types carry 5% premium; easy to miss discount mechanisms when comparing to flat-rate competitors.
Before you switch
| 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 |
| Microsoft Azure | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) · Standard tier | $73/mo | SLA-backed control plane: 99.95% with availability zones, 99.9% without. Up to 5,000 nodes/cluster, API server autoscaling. Recommended for all production workloads. | 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 |
IONOS
Kamatera
View Linode (Akamai)'s plan
OVHcloud
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud