Kubernetes cost calculator (cluster pricing checklist)

When people search for a "Kubernetes cost calculator", they usually want more than a node hourly price. A useful estimate combines capacity planning (how many nodes you need) with line items that show up on the bill (load balancers, storage, egress, logs).

The cost checklist

• Worker nodes: instance hourly price x node count x billable hours.
• Control plane: some managed services charge a flat hourly fee.
• Load balancers / ingress: per-LB hourly + data processed in some products.
• Persistent storage: volumes, snapshots, and IOPS/throughput where applicable.
• Egress: NAT/Internet egress and cross-zone/region traffic.
• Observability: logs, metrics, traces (often a surprise line item).

Fast workflow (estimate in 10 minutes)

1. Convert per-pod requests into totals and node count with Kubernetes Requests & Limits.
2. Turn node count into compute spend with Kubernetes Node Cost (or Compute Instance Cost).
3. Add egress as a separate line item with Data Egress Cost.
4. Add logs/metrics as separate line items (start with Log ingestion and Metrics series).
5. Finally, add load balancer + control plane + storage as fixed monthly line items for your cluster (then refine with real metrics).

Common pitfalls

• Allocatable vs capacity: you can't schedule 100% of a node. Leave headroom for daemonsets and system reservations.
• Autoscaling: use multiple scenarios (average vs peak) instead of a single node count.
• Hidden egress: NAT, cross-zone, and managed services traffic can show up as egress.
• Observability costs: logs/metrics often scale with traffic and retention, not just pod count.

Worked estimate template (copy/paste)

• Nodes = node-hours/month by pool (baseline + peak)
• Overhead = (1 - allocatable%) + daemonsets + max pods/node constraints
• Storage = PV GB-month + snapshots GB-month (retention)
• Load balancers = LB count x hours/month + data processed (if applicable)
• Egress = internet + cross-zone + cross-region GB/month (split by destination)
• Observability = log ingestion + retention + metrics series (separate line items)

Validation checklist (before you trust the number)

• Validate requests/limits and daemonset overhead from a representative cluster window.
• Validate max pods per node and topology constraints (they can increase node count beyond "math minimum").
• Validate outbound GB/month and whether traffic is internet vs cross-zone/cross-region.
• Validate log bytes per request and retention policy defaults (avoid silent retention drift).

Compare managed services

If you're choosing between managed Kubernetes offerings, use a consistent set of line items and the same traffic inputs, then swap provider assumptions: EKS vs GKE vs AKS cost comparison.

Related tools

Educational use only. Provider billing varies by region, instance family, and product-specific fees. Treat estimates as a planning baseline and validate with real usage after deployment.

Related guides

Related calculators

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