Google GKE vs Azure AKS: pricing
On the control plane, Azure AKS has a free control plane while Google GKE charges for it. Google GKE charges $0.10/hr (~$73/mo) and Azure AKS charges Free (Free). Their cheapest worker nodes are about $24/mo and $30/mo. For an illustrative 3-node cluster with one load balancer, Azure AKS is the cheaper of the two (~$102/mo vs ~$157/mo). Snapshot captured June 2026 — verify before buying.
Data as of June 2026.
Google GKE vs Azure AKS side by side
| Cost factor | Google GKE | Azure AKS |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Google Cloud | Microsoft Azure |
| Control plane | $0.10/hr | Free |
| Est. control-plane / month | ~$73/mo | Free |
| Free control plane? | No | Yes |
| Cheapest node / month | $24 | $30 |
| Load balancer | Google Cloud Load Balancing billed separately (forwarding rules + data processed). | Azure Standard Load Balancer billed separately. |
| Egress | Standard Google Cloud egress applies; tiered by destination. | Standard Azure bandwidth egress applies (first 100 GB/month free). |
| Free tier | One free zonal or Autopilot cluster per billing account per month via a ~$74.40 monthly credit that offsets the management fee. | Free tier control plane at $0 (best-effort 99.5% availability, no SLA). You still pay for VM nodes, storage and networking. |
| Regions | 40+ Google Cloud regions worldwide. | 60+ Azure regions worldwide. |
Sources: Google Cloud pricing · Microsoft Azure pricing.
Sample monthly cost
A rough monthly total for a small cluster (3 nodes at each provider's cheapest node price + one $12/mo load balancer + the control-plane fee). This ignores egress, storage, support and node-size differences, so treat it as a starting point only:
| Component | Google GKE | Azure AKS |
|---|---|---|
| Control plane | ~$73/mo | Free |
| 3 × cheapest node | $72 | $90 |
| 1 × load balancer | $12 | $12 |
| Estimated total / month | $157 | $102 |
Verdict
On cost alone, Azure AKS is the cheaper pick for this small-cluster example. But the right choice depends on more than price: Google GKE (one cluster's management fee is effectively free via the monthly credit) versus Azure AKS (free control-plane tier for dev/test). Read each provider's full breakdown — Google GKE and Azure AKS — and model your own node plan in the calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google GKE or Azure AKS cheaper?
On the control plane, Azure AKS has a free control plane while Google GKE charges for it. For a sample 3-node cluster with one load balancer (using each provider's cheapest node and a $12/mo load balancer), Azure AKS comes out lower — about $102/mo vs $157/mo. This is illustrative; your real cost depends on node size, count, egress and region. snapshot captured June 2026.
What is the control-plane fee for Google GKE vs Azure AKS?
Google GKE: $0.10 per cluster/hour cluster-management fee (~$73/month) on both Autopilot and Standard. A monthly free-tier credit (~$74.40) effectively covers one zonal/Autopilot cluster. Azure AKS: Free tier control plane is $0/cluster/hour (no financially-backed SLA). The Standard tier adds an Uptime SLA for $0.10/cluster/hour (~$73/month); the Premium tier (with long-term support) is $0.60/cluster/hour. snapshot captured June 2026 — verify on each vendor's pricing page.
Which has the cheaper worker nodes, Google GKE or Azure AKS?
Google GKE has the cheaper representative node: $24/mo vs $30/mo. Google GKE: Standard mode: you pay normal Compute Engine rates (e.g. e2-medium ~ $0.0335/hour, ~$24/month). Autopilot bills per pod vCPU/memory you request instead of per node. Azure AKS: You pay normal Azure VM rates for node pools (e.g. Standard_B2s ~ $0.0416/hour, ~$30/month per node).
Google GKE or Azure AKS — which should a small team pick?
If a free control plane and predictable pricing matter most, lean to whichever of Google GKE/Azure AKS is free and simpler. If you need deep cloud integration or the widest region coverage, the larger vendor usually wins despite higher fees. Run your real node plan through the calculator before deciding.
More comparisons
Last updated: 2026-06-20