Comparison

Amazon EKS vs Kubernetes

No leader: the top candidate Kubernetes has only 0.29 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Amazon EKS53
Kubernetes64
Score
vioscaleAI score
Amazon EKS53 / 100medium · 73%
Kubernetes64 / 100low · 29%
Pricing
Free tier
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
Model
Amazon EKScommercial
Kubernetesopen_source
Price level
Amazon EKSlow
Kubernetesfree
Starting price
Amazon EKS$0.10
Kubernetes–
Transparent
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
Integrations
Count
Amazon EKS11
Kubernetes–
Security
Disclosure policy
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
Fedramp
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes–
Gdpr
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes–
Hipaa
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes–
Pci
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes–
Scorecard
Amazon EKS–
Kubernetes7.6
Reliability
Status page
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes–
Adoption
Github stars
Amazon EKS–
Kubernetes128,295
Activity
Commits last 30d
Amazon EKS–
Kubernetes100
Release
Cadence days
Amazon EKS–
Kubernetes1
History
Amazon EKS–
Kubernetes20 items
License
Spdx
Amazon EKS–
KubernetesApache-2.0
Language
Primary
Amazon EKS–
KubernetesGo
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Amazon EKS7 items
Kubernetes5 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for container orchestration tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Orchestration scope
Amazon EKSKubernetes
KubernetesKubernetes
Deployment
Hosting
Amazon EKSCloud + self-hosted
KubernetesCloud + self-hosted
Standards
OCI / CRI compliant
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformant
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes✓
Security
Rootless operation
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
Architecture
Daemonless architecture
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
Platform
Windows containers
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes✓
ARM architecture support
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
Workloads
GPU scheduling
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
Stateful workloads
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes✓
Networking
Built-in networking / CNI
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes✓
Ops
Vendor-managed control plane
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes-
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
Amazon EKS-
Kubernetes-
UX
GUI dashboard
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Amazon EKS

A fully managed Kubernetes platform that automates cluster and infrastructure management, allowing teams to build and run production-grade containerized workloads with AWS's operational reliability and security. Supports unified workload management across cloud, on-premises, and edge locations.

Independently observed

Kubernetes

An open source platform that automatically schedules, deploys, and manages containerized applications across clusters of machines, providing self-healing and automatic scaling capabilities.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Amazon EKS

from $0.10/hrUsage-based

From $0.10/hour. Pay-as-you-go with hourly billing, no minimum fees or upfront commitments. Additional charges for EC2 instances, storage, and optional features.

  • Kubernetes Version Support - Standard Tier$0.10/hour for first 14 months
    • Standard Kubernetes version support for 14 months
  • Kubernetes Version Support - Extended Tier$0.60/hour for remaining 12 months
    • Extended Kubernetes version support for 12 months
as of verify ↗

Kubernetes

Open source

Free and open source

as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✗
CLI
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
On-premise
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓
Hybrid
Amazon EKS✓
Kubernetes✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Amazon EKS

14 total
  • Cast AI
  • Tailscale
  • 1Password
  • Okta
  • Trend Micro
  • Orca Security
  • Vanta
  • Arctic Wolf
  • Asana
  • LucidLink
  • Brave Search API
  • Argo CD
  • AWS Controllers for Kubernetes
  • Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator
Independently observed

Kubernetes

Not documented yet.

Still deciding?

Amazon EKS or Kubernetes: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.