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Amazon EKS vs Kubernetes comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 13, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EKS
Ranking in Container Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (14th)
Kubernetes
Ranking in Container Management
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Amazon EKS is 19.3%, down from 19.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kubernetes is 4.7%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venkatramanan C.S. - PeerSpot reviewer
Amazon EKS: Why It Shines, Where It Struggles, and How It Can Improve
* EKS incurs an additional management fee ($0.10 per hour per cluster) along with EC2 or Fargate costs.May be expensive for smaller workloads compared to alternatives like AWS ECS.Requires expertise to configure and manage Kubernetes resources effectively.Networking (e.g., setting up VPCs, subnets, and service endpoints) can be complex.Simplifies managing multiple Kubernetes clusters, especially for organizations with hybrid or multi-region setups.Integrated dashboards for Kubernetes metrics, logs, and traces.Simplifies observability without needing third-party tools.
Venu Boddu - PeerSpot reviewer
Manage infrastructure automation and smooth application deployment with robust auto-scaling capabilities
Kubernetes is highly valuable for its node-based setup, which allows for the running of multiple pods. This feature is essential for infrastructure automation and application deployment. Kubernetes also offers rollback control and auto-scaling capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining an application's availability even if nodes or pods go down. Additionally, Kubernetes supports load balancing to distribute traffic efficiently across multiple pods.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"What I found most valuable in Amazon EKS is its maturity as a cloud computing technology."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"The solution is easy to use."
"AWS cloud services are flexible and have thorough documentation. AWS also has data centers all over the world."
"We haven't faced any major issues in one and a half years of use."
"The most valuable feature is the computing speed."
"Break down your application into small modules to improve resiliency"
"Amazon EKS is like Kubernetes, but it helps manage our nodes and scalability in AWS."
"I like Kubernetes' scalability, built-in redundancy, and ease of deployment."
"This product has a rich toolset from the community including CNI plug-ins, Helm packages, operators, dashboards, various integrations, etc."
"If you don't have resources, you can certainly add another worker node and expand the cluster."
"The most valuable feature of Kubernetes is the integration with other solutions, such as Formative and Grafana."
"The most valuable feature of the platform is the ability to load some of the containers that were previously managed by humans."
"Kubernetes is highly valuable for its node-based setup, which allows for the running of multiple pods."
"I found it to be an excellent solution for application deployment. It's great for containerization."
"Kubernetes allows us to update without downtime and to easily deploy new software, which is very beneficial for our operations."
 

Cons

"I would like to see it a little more stable, more operational, and more convenient to develop."
"I would like Amazon EKS to be easier to configure on various environments like Windows or Linux installations"
"The overall stability of the product should be improved to prevent any loss of data."
"Amazon EKS should improve its integration."
"A cluster is required on-premises, which takes a lot of time."
"The management of the nodes in Amazon EKS should be improved."
"I would like to see a warm-up time for AWS Fargate, similar to what GCP Cloud Run has."
"Improvement is needed in reducing the complexity of using EKS."
"Kubernetes can be used for most companies, but for some companies that may be too small, it may not be worth the investment, as it is expensive."
"Kubernetes could improve security. The security is really hard to deploy with proxies and other elements. Additionally, We have had some issues downloading repos and libraries."
"The solution lacks some flexibility."
"The solution does not work with third-party tools, or alternative cloud providers, which limits the extent that we can utilize it to."
"There are several areas where Kubernetes could improve."
"This solution is not very easy to use."
"They should update Kubernetes more regularly."
"The initial setup of Kubernetes is difficult. However, if you are used to the flow then it is easier. The length of time it takes for the implementation depends on the project."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is cheaper than one of its competitors."
"I rate Amazon EKS’s pricing a nine out of ten."
"Pricing is dependent upon instance type."
"Amazon EKS is quite pricey, but the functionality it provides is worth it."
"Amazon EKS is not a cheap solution."
"Amazon EKS is very cost-effective."
"The price could be cheaper. I would rate it as seven out of ten."
"The price can be a problem for small-sized businesses."
"You need to pay for a license if you buy branded products. For example, if you take the services from Azure, AWS, or Google, the price of the Kubernetes cluster is inclusive of the service that's being offered to us on a pay-and-use model."
"There is a license to use Kubernetes."
"The solution is affordable."
"It's an affordable solution"
"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs associated with its use."
"The solution requires a license to use it."
"Kubernetes is open source and is an orchestration platform. It is a cost effective solution and its pricing depends on your company and how you use it"
"Microsoft provides reasonable costs for Kubernetes."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EKS?
The product's most valuable features are scalability, observability, and performance.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EKS?
I do not have specific details on EKS's pricing and licensing compared to other services. However, in general, deploying in the cloud offers lower latency and high availability and reduces manual i...
What needs improvement with Amazon EKS?
* EKS incurs an additional management fee ($0.10 per hour per cluster) along with EC2 or Fargate costs.May be expensive for smaller workloads compared to alternatives like AWS ECS.Requires expertis...
What do you like most about Kubernetes?
There are many good features. I feel that the scale-out features, like replica sets, are very good. The number of running containers can be autoscaled.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?
Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.
What needs improvement with Kubernetes?
Although we face issues when migrating to new versions of Kubernetes, such as misunderstandings on using new features or integration with proxy services, these issues can be addressed with proper p...
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
K8
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GoDaddy, Pearson, FICO, Intuit, Verizon, Honeywell, Logicworks, RetailMeNot, LogMeIn, Conde Nast, mercari, Trainline, Axway
China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EKS vs. Kubernetes and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.