How much does sovereign Kubernetes cost
The real question is not the sticker price, it is the cost model. Pay-as-you-go billing that tracks your load, or a predictable flat rate: the gap widens over time.
Pricing a hyperscaler's managed Kubernetes means adding up the control plane by the hour, every node, outbound traffic and every extra service. The bill is hard to predict and climbs with usage. A sovereign Kubernetes runs on a stable rate or a flat rate per service.
We do not publish a fixed grid here, because your cost depends on your real load. This page gives you the levers to compare honestly, then we price your specific case from your estate.
Two cost models, two trajectories
The entry price is not the point. What matters is how the bill evolves as your usage grows and lasts.
| Item | Managed Kubernetes (per use) | Bunker sovereign Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|
| Control plane | Billed by the hour | Included |
| Compute nodes | Per use, per instance | Stable rate on reserved resources |
| Outbound traffic | Billed by volume | None between your sites |
| Extra services | Billed à la carte | Flat rate per managed service |
| Predictability | Variable, tracks the load | Known in advance |
| Exit cost | Transfer fees to leave | Standard Kubernetes, no exit toll |
The factors that really make your total cost
The duration and stability of the load
The more sustained and lasting your usage, the more a flat rate beats pay-as-you-go. For a very occasional load, the calculation is done case by case.
Outbound traffic
With a hyperscaler, traffic leaving the cloud is billed and can weigh heavily. On sovereign infrastructure, that item disappears between your sites.
The cost of operations
A cluster you operate yourself consumes team time. The managed offer builds it into the flat rate: to be compared with the real cost of your engineers.
The exit cost
Proprietary add-ons and transfer fees make leaving expensive. Standard Kubernetes stays portable, so your exit cost stays close to zero.
An order of magnitude, not a promise
We have seen organisations divide their infrastructure bill by a factor of around four when leaving a pay-as-you-go managed offer for a flat-rate model [À VALIDER /legal]. This is neither an average nor a guarantee: the gap depends entirely on your load, your outbound traffic and how long your usage lasts.
That is why we do not sell a magic figure. We start from your real estate, we model your cost on both approaches, and you decide on numbers that look like you. Request an estimate to get that calculation on your case.
Let's talk about your dedicated Kubernetes cluster
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Frequently asked questions
How much does sovereign managed Kubernetes cost?
The cost depends on your load, your traffic and the number of services. We do not publish a fixed grid because a figure out of context misleads. The model, however, is stable: a predictable rate or a flat rate per service, with no pay-as-you-go billing and no outbound traffic fees. We price your case from your real estate.
Is it really cheaper than GKE, EKS or AKS?
For a sustained and lasting load, often yes, because you leave pay-as-you-go billing and outbound traffic fees behind. For a very variable load, the calculation is done case by case. The gap mostly comes from how long usage lasts and the volume of outbound traffic, two items the sovereign model neutralises.
Are there hidden fees to leave?
No. We deploy standard Kubernetes: your manifests, Helm charts and images stay portable. There is no exit toll or proprietary add-on that would make leaving expensive, unlike services that tie your applications to a specific ecosystem.
Will my bill balloon as my traffic and logs grow?
With a flat rate per service, your bill does not mechanically balloon as your traffic, logs and data grow. That is the classic bad surprise of the hyperscalers' pay-as-you-go billing, where volume and outbound traffic inflate the bill month after month. A flat rate lets you budget in advance, with no surprise charge tied to consumption.
Kubernetes is a trademark of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Amazon EKS, Microsoft Azure AKS and Google Kubernetes Engine are trademarks of their respective publishers. Bunker is not affiliated with any of them. The cost elements describe public offer models at the time of publication and constitute neither a quote nor a price commitment.