Bookable from 4 Nov · Provider comparison – As of 12 Oct 2026

Kubernetes hosting in Germany compared

This comparison sets the Kubernetes offerings of centron, AWS EKS, Azure AKS, Hetzner, IONOS and STACKIT side by side. All providers bill the nodes separately. The differences lie in the control plane, additional costs and operations. Not every provider has a managed offering. Every figure is marked as either a provider statement or our own calculation.

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At a glance · control plane per month

net

Providers

Criteria

As of

12 Oct 2026

CE centron · control plane + operations

● included

AW AWS EKS · USD 0.10/h × 730 h

● ≈ €64.29

AZ Azure AKS · Free to Premium

● €0 – €385.44

HZ Hetzner · self-managed

● no offering

IO IONOS

● free of charge

ST STACKIT · €0.0996/h × 720 h

● ≈ €71.71

Five criteria compared directlyTo the comparison further down ↓

Calculations and sources disclosed
Detailed comparisons for Azure AKS, IONOS and STACKIT
centron: standard control plane included
centron: nodes from €19.02 / month

Included at centron

In managed operation at no extra charge.

Control plane – standard at no extra charge
Monitoring & logging – included from day one
Backup – 30-day retention
Dedicated network – isolated per cluster
Security patches – applied continuously

Direct comparison

Managed Kubernetes compared: five providers, five criteria

We ask every provider the same questions. Who is the offering suited for, what do the control plane and the cluster cost, and what is included in operations?

Criterion	centronOwn data centre in Hallstadt	AWS EKSFrankfurt region	Azure AKSFrankfurt region	IONOSManaged Kubernetes	STACKITKubernetes Engine (SKE)
Best suited for	Using Kubernetes, not operating itData stays in Germany	Teams already working on AWS	Large Microsoft environments	Sizing resources freely	DACH business customerswith C5 requirements
Control planeper cluster per month	€0 (standard)highly available €34.95	≈ €64.29USD 0.10 per hour	€0 to €385.44Free €0 · Standard €64.24 · Automatic from €102.78 · Premium €385.44	€0	≈ €71.71€0.0996 per hour
Total cost*example cluster per month	€148.033 × C2	€523.55	from €852.243 × 4 vCPU	€167.34	€198.943 × 4 GB RAM
Operations included	Monitoring, logging, backup (30 days)cert-manager; Pod Security Standards with Kyverno on request	Control plane across 3 zonesnode updates when triggered; monitoring and backup extra	Control plane, node OS updatesmonitoring and backup extra	Control plane, updates in the maintenance windowmonitoring extra	Control plane, auto-updates, etcd backupmonitoring extra
Operator and location	German operatorno foreign parent company, own data centre in Hallstadt	US corporation (Amazon)	US corporation (Microsoft)	German operatorUnited Internet; data centres in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, others abroad	German operatorSchwarz Group; data centres in Germany and Austria, business customers only

centronOwn data centre in Hallstadt

Best suited for: Using Kubernetes, not operating itData stays in Germany
Control plane · per cluster per month: €0 (standard)highly available €34.95
Total cost* · example cluster per month: €148.033 × C2
Operations included: Monitoring, logging, backup (30 days)cert-manager; Pod Security Standards with Kyverno on request
Operator and location: German operatorno foreign parent company, own data centre in Hallstadt

AWS EKSFrankfurt region

Best suited for: Teams already working on AWS
Control plane · per cluster per month: ≈ €64.29USD 0.10 per hour
Total cost* · example cluster per month: €523.55
Operations included: Control plane across 3 zonesnode updates when triggered; monitoring and backup extra
Operator and location: US corporation (Amazon)

Azure AKSFrankfurt region

Best suited for: Large Microsoft environments
Control plane · per cluster per month: €0 to €385.44Free €0 · Standard €64.24 · Automatic from €102.78 · Premium €385.44
Total cost* · example cluster per month: from €852.243 × 4 vCPU
Operations included: Control plane, node OS updatesmonitoring and backup extra
Operator and location: US corporation (Microsoft)

IONOSManaged Kubernetes

Best suited for: Sizing resources freely
Control plane · per cluster per month: €0
Total cost* · example cluster per month: €167.34
Operations included: Control plane, updates in the maintenance windowmonitoring extra
Operator and location: German operatorUnited Internet; data centres in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, others abroad

STACKITKubernetes Engine (SKE)

Best suited for: DACH business customerswith C5 requirements
Control plane · per cluster per month: ≈ €71.71€0.0996 per hour
Total cost* · example cluster per month: €198.943 × 4 GB RAM
Operations included: Control plane, auto-updates, etcd backupmonitoring extra
Operator and location: German operatorSchwarz Group; data centres in Germany and Austria, business customers only

Hetzner does not offer Managed Kubernetes (as of 12 Oct 2026). Kubernetes can be run there on cloud servers yourself; the control plane, updates, monitoring and backup are then your own team's responsibility. Every provider with a managed offering bills the control plane per cluster, so it can be compared directly.

* Example cluster with three worker nodes (2 vCPU each), highly available control plane, 60 GB storage per node and 5 TB of outbound traffic. Net per month, as of 12 Oct 2026. Figures for centron and IONOS as stated by the provider; control plane prices for AWS, Azure and STACKIT and all total costs are our own calculations from list prices. The calculation and assumptions for each provider are shown in the example calculation.

Which provider is the most affordable for your configuration?

Tell us the provider and cluster size. We will calculate your configuration for comparison and disclose the calculation.

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Why centron

What centron does differently

With every provider, the nodes are the smaller cost item. Operations take more effort: patching the control plane, testing upgrades, setting up monitoring. centron takes care of these tasks.

Less operational effort

The control plane, upgrades and security patches are handled by us. Your team builds applications instead of maintaining clusters.

Predictable costs

The standard control plane is included and there is no setup fee. Nodes are billed by the hour, persistent volumes by usage.

No lock-in

centron runs upstream Kubernetes with standard interfaces. Manifests, Helm charts and GitOps pipelines therefore run unchanged, including with other providers.

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€200 credit for 60 days · 3-node cluster from €57.06 / month · billed by the hour, can be deleted at any time

Managed or self-managed

Managed Kubernetes or run it yourself? Who does what

If you run Kubernetes yourself, for example on cloud servers at Hetzner, you are responsible for everything below your own applications. The table shows how the work is divided.

Task	Self-managed	Managed Kubernetes from centron
Running and patching the control plane	Your own team, around the clock	centron · included
Kubernetes upgrades	Test and roll out manually	On request, automatically in the maintenance window
CNI, ingress, cert-manager	Select and maintain yourself	CNI and cert-manager pre-installed, ingress available as an add-on
Monitoring and logging	Your own stack, your own maintenance	Included as standard
Pod security and policies	Build your own rule set	On request, centron enforces the Pod Security Standards and best practices with Kyverno
Backup and restore	Your own solution, your own tests	Cluster backups with 30-day retention included, Velero for persistent volumes optional
Network isolation and load balancer	Manual configuration	Dedicated network, IP assigned automatically

Operating levels

How much of the operation you hand over

Level 1: Self-managed

The control plane, upgrades, monitoring and backup are your responsibility. One example is Kubernetes on cloud servers at Hetzner.

Level 2: Control plane and updates

The provider runs the control plane and updates the nodes. Monitoring, logging and backup remain with you. This is how Azure AKS, IONOS and STACKIT work, for example.

Level 3: Managed Kubernetes at centron

The control plane, security patches, monitoring, logging and backup with 30-day retention are included. On request, centron enforces the Pod Security Standards and best practices with Kyverno and applies upgrades automatically in the maintenance window. You only look after your applications.

Cost comparison

Which provider is the most affordable for your requirements?

The tables above show list prices. What your cluster costs depends on node sizes, storage and traffic. Tell us the provider and size, and we will calculate your configuration at centron for comparison.

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Cost comparison with the calculation disclosed
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Example calculation

How monthly costs differ for a comparable configuration

Both calculations disclose how the figures were reached. The first compares the total cost across five providers, the second shows the base amount for Azure AKS Automatic.

Total cost compared: 3 nodes with 2 vCPU each, highly available control plane, 60 GB storage per node, 5 TB traffic

Provider	Configuration	Amount	Basis
centron	3 × C2 + HA control plane €34.95; 5 TB outbound traffic €25.60; NVMe storage of the nodes included in the node price	€148.03	Own calculation
STACKIT	3 × c2i.2 (2 vCPU / 4 GB) + cluster management + Block Storage perf1 · centron at the same size (3 × C3): €165.67	€198.94	Own calculation
IONOS	vCPU and RAM hourly + SSD Premium; 2 TB traffic free; 1 vCPU = 2 Kubernetes CPUs	€167.34	Own calculation
AWS EKS	3 × t3.small + cluster fee + EBS gp3 + egress	€523.55	Own calculation
Azure AKS	3 × D4als_v6 (4 vCPU / 8 GB) + Standard tier + Premium SSD + egress · centron at the same size (3 × C5): €270.79	€852.24	Own calculation

Azure AKS Automatic: what you pay before the first VM runs

Provider	Configuration	Amount	Basis
Azure AKS Automatic	Control plane €102.78 + 12 vCPU × €6.57, excluding VM costs	€181.62	Own calculation
centron	Standard control plane	€0	Provider statement

Total cost: Net per month, own calculation based on public price lists and pricing APIs, as of 12 Oct 2026. AWS and Azure: Frankfurt region, 730 hours; AWS converted at the ECB rate of 30 Sep 2026 (EUR 1 = USD 1.1355), Azure using the euro prices of the Azure Retail Prices API; STACKIT: 720 hours. For Azure, the smallest permitted size (4 vCPU) applies; for STACKIT, the cheapest current type with 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM (c2i.2). The detailed STACKIT comparison calculates without traffic (centron €140.07).

Azure AKS Automatic: All amounts are per month and net. The basis is the Frankfurt region with 730 hours, using the euro prices of the Azure Retail Prices API. Microsoft does not publish its own example calculation.

Prices

centron prices: nodes from C1 to C8, billed by the hour

Every offering can be used in any node pool. The standard control plane costs nothing extra; the highly available one costs €34.95 per month per cluster. All prices and add-ons

Managed Kubernetes · node offerings

Offering	vCPU	RAM	SSD	€ / month	€ / hour
C1	1	2 GB	50 GB	€19.02	€0.026
C2	2	2 GB	60 GB	€29.16	€0.040
C3	2	4 GB	80 GB	€35.04	€0.048
C4	2	8 GB	100 GB	€43.80	€0.060
C5	4	8 GB	160 GB	€70.08	€0.096
C6	4	16 GB	200 GB	€87.60	€0.120
C7	8	16 GB	320 GB	€140.16	€0.192
C8	8	32 GB	400 GB	€175.20	€0.240

Net plus VAT, month = 730 hours. €200 credit for 60 days · 3-node cluster from €57.06 / month · billed by the hour, can be deleted at any time.

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Detailed comparisons

See each provider compared with centron in detail

Each detailed comparison places one provider side by side with centron. It covers prices, operations, certifications and the effort involved in switching.

Azure AKS

centron vs. Azure AKS

To the detailed comparison

IONOS

centron vs. IONOS

To the detailed comparison

STACKIT

centron vs. STACKIT

To the detailed comparison

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Choosing a provider

Four questions you should ask every provider

A managed Kubernetes offering is a promise to operate. These questions separate dependable offerings from pure infrastructure packages. centron's answers are shown alongside each one.

Is the control plane operated for you, and does it cost extra?

At centron: the control plane, upgrades and security patches are handled by centron. The standard control plane is included; the highly available version costs €34.95 per month.

Where do the nodes run, and which certifications does the cloud underneath hold?

At centron: the nodes run on ccloud³ in our own data centre in Hallstadt near Bamberg. centron has no foreign parent company. For the data centre and ccloud³ / Managed Cloud, ISO 27001 based on IT-Grundschutz and a BSI C5:2020 Type 1 attestation are in place.

Are storage and traffic part of the price?

At centron: the NVMe storage of the nodes is part of the node price. Inbound traffic is free of charge, outbound traffic costs €0.005 per GB. Persistent volumes cost €0.05 per GB per month.

Which availability is contractually guaranteed rather than just advertised?

At centron: the worker nodes are covered by the SLA of the ccloud³ Compute Engine of 99.5%. The value in the service specification is binding.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about the provider comparison

How much does Kubernetes hosting in Germany cost – and which provider is the cheapest?

That depends on node size, storage and traffic. At centron, a cluster of three C1 nodes starts at €57.06 per month, with the standard control plane included. In the example with three nodes (2 vCPU), a highly available control plane and 5 TB of traffic, centron costs €148.03, IONOS €167.34, STACKIT €198.94 and AWS EKS €523.55. Azure AKS starts at €852.24 because smaller system nodes are not permitted (as of 12 Oct 2026).

How much does the control plane cost with each provider?

At centron, the standard control plane is free of charge; the highly available version costs €34.95 per month. IONOS does not charge for the control plane. STACKIT charges around €71.71 (€0.0996/h × 720 h), AWS EKS around €64.29 (USD 0.10/h × 730 h). Azure AKS costs €64.24 in the Standard tier including an uptime SLA, €102.78 plus €6.57 per vCPU in the Automatic tier and €385.44 in the Premium tier. For the Free tier, Microsoft states €0, but since 1 Oct 2026 the Azure pricing API has listed around €32.12 per cluster. The Azure prices are Microsoft's euro prices for the Frankfurt region. All values are net per month. When comparing, what the price covers also matters. centron has no separate SLA for Managed Kubernetes. The worker nodes are covered by the SLA of the ccloud³ Compute Engine of 99.5%; the control plane is an operational service without its own commitment.

How much does AWS Managed Kubernetes (Amazon EKS) cost?

Amazon EKS charges USD 0.10 per cluster per hour, which at 730 hours is around €64.29 per month (ECB rate of 30 Sep 2026: 1.1355). On top of that come EC2 instances for the nodes, EBS storage and outbound traffic. In the total cost example with three small nodes, a highly available control plane and 5 TB of traffic, this comes to €523.55 per month, compared with €148.03 at centron.

Which providers operate Managed Kubernetes in Germany?

centron operates Managed Kubernetes in its own data centre in Hallstadt near Bamberg. IONOS operates its German data centres in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. STACKIT operates data centres in Neckarsulm and Ellhofen, with a second region in Austria. Azure AKS is available in the Germany West Central region (Frankfurt); the provider is Microsoft, headquartered in the USA.

Does Hetzner offer Managed Kubernetes?

No. Hetzner offers cloud servers but no Managed Kubernetes. You can set up Kubernetes there yourself, for example with k3s. The control plane, upgrades, monitoring and backup are then your responsibility. centron operates Managed Kubernetes in its own data centre in Germany.

Managed Kubernetes or running it yourself – what is the difference?

When you run it yourself, you install, patch and monitor the control plane, CNI, ingress, monitoring and backup on your own. This is cheaper in terms of pure infrastructure but permanently ties up staff. An operated control plane usually pays off as soon as a cluster runs in production and outages cost money. The “Who does what” table above shows the division of tasks in detail.

How were the prices determined?

The basis is the providers' public price information and pricing APIs, net, as of 12 Oct 2026. Every figure is marked: provider statement or own calculation. Own calculations state the configuration, hourly basis and source. AWS and Azure calculate with 730 hours per month, STACKIT with 720. AWS prices in US dollars are converted at the ECB rate of 30 Sep 2026 (EUR 1 = USD 1.1355); for Azure, the euro prices of the Azure Retail Prices API apply. We did not use third-party price pages.

Can I switch providers later?

Yes. Kubernetes manifests and Helm charts are portable in principle. What you need to adapt is anything tied to the provider: storage classes, load balancer annotations and the connection to identity services. centron runs upstream Kubernetes without lock-in.

Note: Information on competitors reflects the publicly available position as of 12 Oct 2026 and does not claim to be exhaustive. Features and prices may have changed since. Only the current information provided by the respective providers is authoritative. The trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners; there are no partnerships. centron prices are exclusive of VAT.

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Bookable from 4 November 2026. Arrange your contract with our sales team now. Provider information as of 12 Oct 2026. All centron prices net plus VAT.

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