Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Azure Kubernetes Service VS Amazon EKS

Compare Azure Kubernetes Service VS Amazon EKS and see what are their differences

Azure Kubernetes Service logo Azure Kubernetes Service

Learn the features and benefits of Azure Kubernetes Service to deploy and manage container-based applications in Azure.

Amazon EKS logo Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS makes it easy for you to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own Kubernetes clusters.
  • Azure Kubernetes Service Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-15
  • Amazon EKS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-30

Azure Kubernetes Service features and specs

  • Managed Kubernetes
    Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed Kubernetes service, which reduces the complexity and operational overhead of managing Kubernetes by offloading much of that responsibility to Azure.
  • Integrated DevOps Tools
    AKS integrates seamlessly with Azure DevOps and other continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) tools, facilitating smooth development and deployment cycles.
  • Scalability
    AKS provides excellent scalability, allowing users to easily scale their applications up or down based on demand without worrying about the underlying architecture.
  • Security and Compliance
    Azure offers strong security features, such as integration with Azure Active Directory, role-based access control (RBAC), and network policies, which help ensure the security and compliance of applications within AKS.
  • Cost Management
    Only pay for the virtual machines and storage resources used, and no additional charge is levied for the Kubernetes management infrastructure, which can help manage and optimize costs effectively.

Possible disadvantages of Azure Kubernetes Service

  • Complexity
    Even though AKS is a managed service, Kubernetes itself is inherently complex and can have a steep learning curve for teams not familiar with its concepts.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using AKS means committing to Azure’s ecosystem, which could pose challenges if you decide to switch cloud providers or adopt multi-cloud strategies in the future.
  • Service Availability
    As with any cloud-based service, the availability of AKS is subject to Microsoft's uptime guarantees and regional availability, which may not meet all business continuity requirements.
  • Limited Customization
    Being a managed service, AKS might offer limited customization options compared to a self-managed Kubernetes, where you have complete control over the environment configurations.
  • Dependency on Azure Services
    Fully leveraging AKS might involve using other Azure services like Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, or Azure Security Center, which can increase complexity and dependency on the Azure ecosystem.

Amazon EKS features and specs

  • Managed Service
    Amazon EKS is a managed Kubernetes service, which means AWS handles the control plane, saving time and operational overhead.
  • Scalability
    EKS integrates with AWS's scaling tools such as Auto Scaling groups, allowing for seamless scaling of applications.
  • Security
    Offers integration with AWS IAM for authentication and supports network policies and encryption for securing applications.
  • AWS Ecosystem Integration
    Deeply integrated with other AWS services like VPC, IAM, CloudWatch, and more, providing a streamlined experience.
  • Community and Ecosystem Support
    Being a Kubernetes service, it benefits from the extensive Kubernetes ecosystem and community support for tools and extensions.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon EKS

  • Cost
    While EKS simplifies management, it comes with additional costs over using self-managed Kubernetes clusters.
  • Complexity
    EKS, like Kubernetes itself, can be complex to manage and configure, needing skilled personnel to handle deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Reliance on AWS services can make it hard to migrate to another cloud provider or an on-premises solution if needed.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Organizations new to Kubernetes might find the learning curve steep when adopting EKS, requiring significant training and adjustment.
  • Regional Availability
    EKS might not be available in all AWS regions, limiting deployment flexibility for global applications.

Azure Kubernetes Service videos

How to build and deploy a containerized app to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Azure Friday

Amazon EKS videos

Amazon EKS Architecture Introduction

More videos:

  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2018: [REPEAT 1] Deep Dive on Amazon EKS (CON361-R1)
  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2020: Looking at Amazon EKS through a networking lens
  • Review - Amazon EKS Roadmap - Nathan Taber
  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2023 - The future of Amazon EKS (CON203)
  • Review - Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (Amazon EKS)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Azure Kubernetes Service and Amazon EKS)
Developer Tools
20 20%
80% 80
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
DevOps Tools
38 38%
62% 62
Containers As A Service
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Azure Kubernetes Service and Amazon EKS

Azure Kubernetes Service Reviews

11 Best Rancher Alternatives Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform
Azure Kubernetes Service is a fully managed container orchestration service based on Kubernetes. However, unlike GKE, AKS doesn’t attract cluster management, control plane, and master node fee. Instead, you have to pay for the network resources and the worker nodes, making it quite cost-effective.

Amazon EKS Reviews

We have no reviews of Amazon EKS yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Amazon EKS seems to be a lot more popular than Azure Kubernetes Service. While we know about 70 links to Amazon EKS, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Azure Kubernetes Service. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Azure Kubernetes Service mentions (4)

  • Time to move on to Day 2 cloud operations
    On Day 1, it may be ok to take traditional architectures (such as manually maintaining VMs), but on Day 2 it is time to take the full benefit of cloud-native services. The easiest way is to replace any manual maintenance of infrastructure with managed services – in most cases, switching to a managed database, storage, or even load-balancers and API gateways, will provide a lot of benefits (such as lower... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • The Container Orchestration vs Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) Debate
    Containers are very popular in many organizations (from small startups to large enterprises), and today organizations have many alternatives for running containers – from Amazon ECS, Azure Container Apps, and Google Cloud Run, to managed Kubernetes services such as Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • The 2024 Web Hosting Report
    Docker swarm still exists, it still works, and some of these other container orchestrators are still hanging on, but for the most part, you’re using Kubernetes if you’re doing this stuff at work. Generally it's well-understood that kubernetes is hard to get right, and so most people use it via a managed provider like Elastic Kubernetes Service from AWS, Azure Kubernetes Service from MSFT, or Google Kubernetes... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Azure Containers Services: Pricing and Feature Comparison
    Azure Kubernetes Service – AKS is a managed Kubernetes service for running containerized applications with advanced and highly customizable orchestration functionality. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago

Amazon EKS mentions (70)

  • Vector: A lightweight tool for collecting EKS application logs with long-term storage capabilities
    In this article, we present an architecture that demonstrates how to collect application logs from Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) via Vector, store them in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for long-term retention, and finally query these logs using AWS Glue and Amazon Athena. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Comparing the Top 10 Managed Kubernetes Providers (2025 Edition)
    Amazon EKS Deep AWS integration (just bring your patience). - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
    AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) provide managed container orchestration platforms integrated with AWS infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Securing Applications Using Keycloak's Helm Chart
    Kubernetes cluster: You need a running Kubernetes cluster that supports persistent volumes. You can use a local cluster, like kind or Minikube, or a cloud-based solution, like GKE%20orEKS or EKS. The cluster should expose ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) for external access. Persistent storage should be configured to retain Keycloak data (e.g., user credentials, sessions) across restarts. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • HardenEKS: The Easy Way to keep your AWS EKS clusters secure and compliant
    HardenEKS is a potent Python-based Command Line Interface (CLI), capable of systematically assessing whether Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) clusters comply with the strict guidelines laid out in the AWS EKS Best Practices Guide (EBPG). This comprehensive guide covers six fundamental pillars of best practices for Amazon EKS clusters:. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Azure Kubernetes Service and Amazon EKS, you can also consider the following products

Google Kubernetes Engine - Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.

Alibaba Cloud Container Service - Container Service for Kubernetes provides flexible management of Kubernetes containerized applications.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

VMWare Tanzu Kubernetes Grid - Discover how VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid container runtime makes it easy to install and run multi-cluster Kubernetes environments on any infrastructure.

Azure Container Service - Azure Container Service is a solution that optimizes the configuration of popular open-source tools and technologies specifically for Azure, it provides an open solution that offers portability for both users containers and users application configu…

KubeSail - From Developer to Business Owner, in minutes Launch software for customers, on-demand with KubeSail Platform