Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Cloud Build VS Google Kubernetes Engine

Compare Google Cloud Build VS Google Kubernetes Engine and see what are their differences

Google Cloud Build logo Google Cloud Build

A fully managed continuous integration, delivery, & deployment platform that lets you build, test, and deploy in the cloud. Focus on coding by running fast, consistent, reliable automated builds.

Google Kubernetes Engine logo 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.
  • Google Cloud Build Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-14
  • Google Kubernetes Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-05

Google Cloud Build features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Cloud Build allows you to scale your build workloads seamlessly. It can handle a large number of concurrent builds without compromising performance, making it suitable for organizations with varying build demands.
  • Integration
    It integrates well with other Google Cloud services and third-party tools, facilitating a streamlined development workflow. This integration capabilities enhance productivity by allowing developers to leverage existing tools.
  • Security
    Google Cloud Build provides robust security features, including encrypted storage of build artifacts, ensuring that your build processes and outputs are secure.
  • Customization
    With support for custom build steps and triggers, users can tailor their CI/CD pipeline according to their specific needs, offering a high degree of flexibility.
  • Pricing
    The service offers a free tier which makes it accessible for small projects or startups, and the pay-as-you-go model ensures that you only pay for the resources you use.

Possible disadvantages of Google Cloud Build

  • Complex Onboarding
    New users may find the initial setup and learning curve steep, especially if they are not already familiar with Google Cloud Platform or CI/CD concepts.
  • Cost Management
    While it offers competitive pricing, managing costs can become complex as usage scales up, particularly if builds are not optimized for efficiency.
  • Limited Non-Google Integration
    Although integrations with Google Cloud services are robust, integration with non-Google tools and services might not be as seamless, potentially leading to compatibility issues.
  • Regional Availability
    Build execution locations might be limited to certain regions, which can impact build times and performance for globally distributed teams.
  • UI Complexity
    Some users report that the UI can be complex and not as intuitive as other CI/CD tools, which might impact the user experience especially for new users.

Google Kubernetes Engine features and specs

  • Managed Service
    GKE is a fully managed service, which means Google takes care of tasks like provisioning, maintenance, and updates of the cluster, reducing the operational burden on users.
  • Scalability
    GKE offers robust scalability options, allowing you to easily scale your applications up or down based on demand. This is facilitated through auto-scaling features for both nodes and pods.
  • Integration with Google Cloud Services
    GKE integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and more, providing a streamlined experience for leveraging multiple cloud tools.
  • Security
    GKE offers advanced security features like private clusters, and integrates with Google Cloud IAM, which allows for fine-grained access control, helping to secure your Kubernetes environment.
  • Ease of Use
    GKE's comprehensive dashboard, command-line interface, and supporting documentation make it easy to deploy, manage, and monitor Kubernetes clusters.
  • Global Reach
    With GKE, you can deploy clusters across multiple regions and zones, giving you the ability to build highly available, geographically dispersed applications.

Possible disadvantages of Google Kubernetes Engine

  • Cost
    While GKE offers extensive features, it can be more expensive compared to other Kubernetes solutions, especially when additional services and high-availability features are utilized.
  • Limited Customization
    As a managed service, GKE has some limitations in terms of customization and control over the underlying infrastructure compared to self-managed Kubernetes environments.
  • Complexity
    Despite its ease of use features, GKE still requires a certain level of expertise to efficiently manage Kubernetes clusters, which can be a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Dependence on Google Cloud
    Using GKE ties you to the Google Cloud ecosystem, which may limit flexibility if you decide to migrate to a different cloud provider or adopt a multi-cloud strategy.
  • Resource Constraints
    Like all cloud services, GKE nodes can be subject to resource limits and quotas imposed by Google Cloud, which can impact performance if not properly managed.
  • SLA and Downtime
    While Google Cloud offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs), there is still a risk of downtime which could affect your applications. Additionally, relying on a third-party provider means issues may take time to resolve.

Google Cloud Build videos

[Full Workshop] Build a Multi-Step Google Cloud Build Pipeline from Scratch!

Google Kubernetes Engine videos

Getting Started with Containers and Google Kubernetes Engine (Cloud Next '18)

More videos:

  • Review - Optimize cost to performance on Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Tutorial - Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) | Coupon: UDEMYSEP20 - Kubernetes Made Easy | Kubernetes Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Cloud Build and Google Kubernetes Engine)
Continuous Integration
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
12 12%
88% 88
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
DevOps Tools
20 20%
80% 80

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Cloud Build and Google Kubernetes Engine

Google Cloud Build Reviews

We have no reviews of Google Cloud Build yet.
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Google Kubernetes Engine Reviews

Top 12 Kubernetes Alternatives to Choose From in 2023
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a prominent choice for a Kubernetes alternative. It is provided and managed by Google Cloud, which offers fully managed Kubernetes services.
Source: humalect.com
11 Best Rancher Alternatives Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform
Google Kubernetes Engine is a CaaS (container as a service) platform that lets you easily create, resize, manage, update, upgrade, and debug container clusters. Google Kubernetes Engine, aka GKE, was the first managed Kubernetes service, and therefore, it is highly regarded in the industry.
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
If you need a speedy creation of developer environments, working on micro services-based architecture and if you want to deploy production grade clusters then Docker and Google Kubernetes Engine would be the most suitable tools. They are very well suited for DevOps team.
7 Best Containerization Software Solutions of 2022
If you’re looking for a managed solution to help you deploy and scale containerized apps on your virtual machines quickly, Google Kubernetes Engine is a great choice.
Source: techgumb.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Kubernetes Engine should be more popular than Google Cloud Build. It has been mentiond 49 times since March 2021. 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.

Google Cloud Build mentions (16)

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Google Kubernetes Engine mentions (49)

  • Google Cloud Unveils A4 VMs with NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for AI
    Integration with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), which supports up to 65,000 nodes per cluster, facilitating robust AI infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Deploy Gemini-powered LangChain applications on GKE
    In my previous post, we explored how LangChain simplifies the development of AI-powered applications. We saw how its modularity, flexibility, and extensibility make it a powerful tool for working with large language models (LLMs) like Gemini. Now, let's take it a step further and see how we can deploy and scale our LangChain applications using the robust infrastructure of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and the... - Source: dev.to / 3 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
  • Simplify development of AI-powered applications with LangChain
    In a later post, I will take a look at how you can use LangChain to connect to a local Gemma instance, all running in a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • 26 Top Kubernetes Tools
    Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is another managed Kubernetes service that lets you spin up new cloud clusters on demand. It's specifically designed to help you run Kubernetes workloads without specialist Kubernetes expertise, and it includes a range of optional features that provide more automation for admin tasks. These include powerful capabilities around governance, compliance, security, and configuration... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Cloud Build and Google Kubernetes Engine, you can also consider the following products

AWS CodePipeline - Continuous delivery service for fast and reliable application updates

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

Amazon ECS - Amazon EC2 Container Service is a highly scalable, high-performance​ container management service that supports Docker containers.

Data Fabric - Data Fabric is an architecture and set of data services that provide consistent capabilities across a choice of endpoints spanning on-premises and multiple cloud environments.

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.

Xplenty - Xplenty is the #1 SecurETL - allowing you to build low-code data pipelines on the most secure and flexible data transformation platform. No longer worry about manual data transformations. Start your free 14-day trial now.