Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
Amazon EKS provides a managed Kubernetes control plane integrated with AWS networking, security and observability services. Platform teams still own worker architecture, add-ons, workload identity, deployment standards and day-two operations.
Networking
Amazon VPC CNI, security groups for pods, private endpoints, load balancers and Route 53 integration.
Compute
Managed node groups, Fargate and Karpenter-based workload-aware capacity management.
Identity
IAM access entries and workload identity patterns for tightly scoped AWS service access.
Azure Kubernetes Service
AKS integrates Kubernetes with Entra ID, Azure Policy, Azure Monitor and the broader Azure networking and security ecosystem.
Networking
Azure CNI Overlay or flat networking, Application Gateway, private clusters and Private Link.
Governance
Entra groups, Azure Policy, Defender for Cloud and enterprise landing-zone controls.
Operations
Managed upgrades, node image updates, Azure Monitor and workload autoscaling.
Google Kubernetes Engine
GKE combines mature Kubernetes management with Autopilot, fleet capabilities and strong integration into Google Cloud networking, identity and operations.
Autopilot
A highly managed operating model with Google controlling nodes, scaling and many security defaults.
Fleet management
Manage policy, configuration and service networking across multiple clusters and projects.
Reliability
Release channels, automated maintenance, regional clusters and SRE-driven operational features.
On-premises Kubernetes
Self-managed Kubernetes maximises control but requires a complete lifecycle model for control planes, networking, storage, identity, upgrades, backup and hardware capacity.
At-a-glance comparison
| Area | EKS | AKS | GKE | On-prem |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control plane | Managed | Managed | Managed | Customer operated |
| Cloud identity | IAM | Entra ID | Cloud IAM | External IdP |
| Autoscaling | Karpenter / ASG | Cluster Autoscaler | Autoscaler / Autopilot | Platform dependent |
| Primary strength | AWS integration | Microsoft ecosystem | Managed maturity | Maximum control |