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GKE vs. EKS Pricing
See the cost difference between Google Cloud and AWS for the same cluster capacity.
AWS EKS
Control Plane ($0.10/hr) $73.00
Nodes (m5.large) $210.24
Total / Month $283.24
Google GKE
Control Plane (Zonal Free Tier) $0.00
Nodes (e2-standard-2) $146.73
Total / Month $146.73
The Difference
GKE is $136.51 cheaper per month for this configuration.
Mainly because GKE gives you one free Zonal cluster per billing account, saving you the $73/mo control plane fee.
Comparison Details (2025)
| Feature | AWS EKS | Google GKE |
|---|---|---|
| Control Plane Cost | $0.10 / hour ($73/mo) | Free (Zonal) / $0.10 (Regional) |
| Standard Node (2vCPU 8GB) | m5.large (~$0.096/hr) | e2-standard-2 (~$0.067/hr) |
| Free Tier | None | $73/mo credit (One zonal cluster) |