Managed Kubernetes Control Plane for Your Infrastructure — Anywhere.
We run the control plane and etcd. You run workloads on the nodes you choose.
Autoscaling Node Pools across leading providers
Why platform teams choose K8S Engine
Get the managed Kubernetes experience without compromising on infrastructure choice.
Less operational load
Fewer specialist runbooks, less firefighting
Consistent platform
Same behavior across environments
Freedom of placement
Run workloads where data, latency, or cost demands it
Production confidence
Upgrades, backups, and control plane SRE built in
Clear Operational Ownership
K8S Engine runs the control plane. You own the nodes and workloads.
K8S Engine manages
- Kubernetes control plane (API server, scheduler, controller manager)
- etcd: HA, backups, maintenance routines
- Lifecycle: version upgrades and compatibility guardrails
- Autoscaling control for Node Pools
- CSI storage setup out of the box (driver + default StorageClass)
- Security, auditing, and access integration
You manage
- Worker nodes (bare metal or VMs)
- Network & routing to match your environment constraints
- Workload configs, CI/CD, and GitOps workflows
Everything you need to run Kubernetes
Enterprise-grade capabilities without the operational overhead.
Managed control plane + etcd
HA etcd with automatic backups and maintenance routines. No etcd operations required.
Node Pools
Define provider, sizing, labels, and taints per pool. Scale independently.
Autoscaling across providers
Unified scaling logic across AWS, Azure, GCP, Hetzner, and IONOS.
CSI storage out of the box
CSI driver installed automatically with a default StorageClass. PVCs work immediately.
RBAC + SSO + audit logs
Enterprise access controls with OIDC integration and immutable audit trails.
Upgrade channels + maintenance windows
Controlled Kubernetes upgrades with compatibility guardrails.
Add-ons marketplace
Pre-configured ingress, metrics, logging, and policy add-ons.
Multi-cluster management
Operate multiple clusters from a single console with consistent policies.
How K8S Engine compares
The managed experience of cloud Kubernetes with the infrastructure freedom of self-managed.
| Feature | K8S Engine | Cloud Managed | Self-Managed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed control plane | |||
| Choose your own infrastructure | |||
| Multi-provider support | |||
| Bare metal nodes | |||
| Automatic etcd management | |||
| Unified autoscaling model | |||
| CSI out of the box | |||
| Enterprise SSO/RBAC | |||
| Minimal ops overhead |
vs. Cloud Managed Kubernetes
Cloud managed services are excellent—but nodes typically live in that cloud. K8S Engine provides the same managed experience with nodes anywhere.
vs. Self-Managed Kubernetes
Self-managed gives maximum control with maximum ops burden. K8S Engine provides the same placement control with far less operational overhead.
Run Kubernetes anywhere—without running Kubernetes everywhere.
Start with a free cluster. Scale when you're ready.