Run workloads where cost and capability are best—without platform fragmentation.
One control plane. Multiple clouds. Unified operations. Stop managing different Kubernetes services for each provider.
The challenge
Multi-cloud is often multi-headache:
Different Kubernetes services per cloud with different APIs and behaviors
Platform fragmentation increases operational complexity
Skills don't transfer well between cloud-specific tooling
Cost optimization requires workload mobility
K8S Engine approach
Node Pools per provider. Shared autoscaling model. Consistent policies.
One platform team skill set. Multiple deployment options.
One control plane. Any infrastructure.
Create Node Pools across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Hetzner, and IONOS. Use labels and taints to steer workloads where they need to run.
What you get
One control plane model
Same API, same console, same operational model regardless of where nodes run.
Node Pools per provider
Create pools on AWS, Azure, GCP, Hetzner, or IONOS. Scale each independently.
Unified autoscaling
Same scaling logic across providers. Same visibility. Same controls.
Example deployment pattern
Create a cluster with K8S Engine
Add Node Pools for your primary cloud provider
Add Node Pools for secondary providers (burst, DR, or cost optimization)
Use labels, taints, and affinity to control workload placement
Enable autoscaling per pool with consistent behavior
Operational Ownership
K8S Engine
Control plane, etcd, upgrades, backups, scaling logic
You
Nodes, networking, workloads, infrastructure costs
Ideal for
- Organizations avoiding vendor lock-in
- Cost optimization across providers
- Disaster recovery with geographic distribution
- M&A scenarios with inherited infrastructure