Google Kubernetes Engine
GKE is a managed Kubernetes platform that handles cluster operations, offering the full Kubernetes API alongside 4-way autoscaling and multi-cluster capabilities. It supports various release channels to manage version stability and updates, abstracting the underlying infrastructure so teams can deploy containerized applications without managing the control plane themselves.
This setup suits teams already committed to the Google Cloud ecosystem who need scalable orchestration. The main friction point is the lack of a free tier, meaning even small test clusters incur costs. With pricing starting at $50.00 per 1M GB/hours on a pay-as-you-go model, budgeting for continuous uptime is essential rather than optional.
- Free tier No
- Starting price from $50.00 per 1M GB/hours
- Regions 10 · 5 continents
- SLA uptime 99.99%
- Compliance 13 certifications
- Provider health B
Decision score
Computed from catalog breadth, pricing, provider reliability (uptime & SLA), community signal, and ecosystem (compliance & regions). Weighted equally.
Trust & reach via Google Cloud Platform
- C5
- CSA STAR
- FedRAMP
- GDPR
- HIPAA
- ISO 27001
- ISO 27017
- ISO 27018
- ISO 9001
- PCI DSS
- SOC 1 Type II
- SOC 2 Type II
- compute99.99%
- database99.95%
- networking99.99%
- storage99.95%
10 regions across 5 continents
- Asia
- Europe
- North America
- Oceania
- South America
Pricing tiers 5
| Tier / Plan | Price | Unit | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autopilot Memory | $0.00393 | per GB/hour | us-central1 |
| Autopilot Storage | $50.00 | per 1M GB/hours | us-central1 |
| Autopilot vCPU | $0.0358 | per vCPU/hour | us-central1 |
| Standard Cluster | $0.1000 | per hour | us-central1 |
| Free Tier | Free | per month | global |
Prices in USD. Micro-prices are quoted per 1M units; "< $0.000001" marks rates below our stored precision. Subject to change — check the provider's official page.
Alternatives on other providers
Equivalent services on other clouds:
- AWS Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) $0.0015 per hour Compare
- Linode (Akamai) Kubernetes no price Compare
- Microsoft Azure Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) $0.0122 per hour Compare