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Google Kubernetes Engine vs Rancher Labs 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

Google Kubernetes Engine
Ranking in Container Management
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rancher Labs
Ranking in Container Management
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Storage for Kubernetes (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Google Kubernetes Engine is 2.2%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rancher Labs is 9.8%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Abhilash Gopidas - PeerSpot reviewer
The auto-scaling feature helps during peak hours, but the support is not great
The product has no downtime. Automated scaling is a valuable feature. During peak hours, the datasets are on a higher volume. We need scaling in place. Otherwise, there's a degradation in the performance. We might sometimes miss data, or there will be no data sync between systems. Auto-scaling helps deal with performance needs during peak hours. There's no lag time for processing data.
RyanVassallo - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers an open-source version along with a good UI
The product has multiple good features. One of the solution's good features is that it is the GitOps functionality known as Rancher fleet, which is used for continuous delivery. The tool's UI is very convenient enough to help you manage multiple clusters in the cloud or on-premises, making it a product with which you can manage different clusters and locations. The tool also has a feature that is still kind of maturing, but I think it has very good potential. This new feature is named Harvester, which is allows users to have virtual machines managed by Kubernetes engine. This is very new technology in the market. I think that Harvester needs to mature as a product, and I think that in the future, it will be very powerful. You have one tool that does many things for you.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product’s dashboard is very intuitive."
"I am satisfied with the stability offered by the solution."
"Before using this solution, it was a lot of manual tasks and a lot of people participated in the process."
"It's easy to manage and deploy. It's the best."
"The initial setup was very easy because it's like a Google platform as a service. It's just one button to set it up. The deployment took only a few minutes."
"GKE is easier to understand and use than Elastic Kubernetes Service."
"It is easy to use and deploy."
"The feature that I like the most is the ease of use as compared to AWS. Its ease of use is very high, and I can quickly deploy clusters with a simple template."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an open-source solution that is easy to deploy."
"The tool's UI is very convenient enough to help you manage multiple clusters in the cloud or the company, making it a product with which you can manage different clusters and locations."
"The scalability potential is very good."
"The initial setup is simple and straightforward."
"The solution has a lot of good features, such as you can access the console and edit through the GUI. The dashboard and the UI are designed well, user-friendly, and easy to manage, and access."
"The solution is stable."
"A great UI with very good integrations."
"The most valuable feature of Rancher Labs is its user interface, which makes it easier to work with containers and deployment."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the cluster updates process. Specifically, when managing both non-production and production clusters, we need a sequential functionality."
"The product's stability is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Log observability could be made easier so someone from high school can use it without having technological expertise."
"The tool's configuration features need improvement."
"Google Kubernetes Engine's cost should be improved because it is high."
"The console for this solution could be improved because it is very limited."
"It needs to support load balancing."
"The solution does not have a visual interface."
"The biggest room for improvement in Rancher Labs would be to have a proper upgrading plan."
"Could be more intuitive."
"There needs to be an improvement in observability and microservice monitoring tools in Rancher Labs."
"One area for improvement in Rancher Labs is the development aspect."
"We'd like their monitoring tool to be integrated by default."
"They should improve application visibility along with code visibility."
"We're looking for something that is even easier to use. It's a bit complicated."
"I can't migrate to the newer version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a little bit expensive."
"Pricing is a bit expensive compared to some other products, but it's acceptable."
"Currently, it costs around $1000 per month which sorted our deployment. So once we get more clients, having a huge suffix, costs can go up."
"The price for Google Kubernetes Engine could be lower - I'd rate its pricing at three out of five."
"The solution's price is reasonable."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"It is competitive, and it is not expensive. It is almost competitive with AWS and the rest of the cloud solutions. We are spending around 3K USD per month. There are four projects that are currently running, and each one is incurring a cost of around 3K USD."
"We are planning to use external support, and hire a commercial partner for it."
"Although Rancher Labs is an open-source solution, they also offer a paid version, where you buy the support when needed."
"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs involved."
"The pricing of the solution sits in the mid range, not high and not low. It has a fixed price that you pay every month."
"The solution is free and open source but there is a fee for support."
"There are no hidden charges attached to the product unless a user opts for the premium support offered by the solution."
"The cost is reasonable since it's open source. Rancher effectively addresses container orchestration trends, especially for those with some Kubernetes knowledge."
"There is an annual subscription. The price of the solution should be cheaper and have better pricing flexibility."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Kubernetes Engine?
For pricing, Google is considered cheaper compared to AWS, making it suitable for smaller to medium companies concerning cost. I would rate the cost around four out of ten, where ten is the higher ...
What needs improvement with Google Kubernetes Engine?
The management UI could be improved. When looking at the web interface, it feels kind of slow due to the many features involved. The interface could definitely be faster.
What do you like most about Rancher Labs?
The tool's UI is very convenient enough to help you manage multiple clusters in the cloud or the company, making it a product with which you can manage different clusters and locations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rancher Labs?
The cost is reasonable since it's open-source. Rancher effectively addresses container orchestration trends, especially for those with some Kubernetes knowledge.
What needs improvement with Rancher Labs?
While Rancher Labs provides some level of security, it's not considered very robust. We found it to offer basic security features, which met some of our requirements, but we also relied on other op...
 

Also Known As

GKE
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Philips Lighting, Alpha Vertex, GroupBy, BQ
Albert Heijn, Bell, BMC, Samsung, WindStream, Johnson & Johnson
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Kubernetes Engine vs. Rancher Labs and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.