centron vs. STACKIT Kubernetes: What does the provider back up in the cluster?
Anyone who wants a Kubernetes cluster operated in Germany will find data centres in the country at both STACKIT and centron. The two differ when it comes to data backup: according to its documentation, STACKIT only backs up the etcd store of the control plane. Your admins set up persistent volumes and monitoring themselves. centron backs up the cluster by default with a 30-day retention period, and Velero for persistent volumes can be added at deployment. centron takes care of monitoring and logging. A node costs from €19.02 per month, SSD storage included.
As of: 12 October 2026 · Publisher: centron GmbH
Bookable from 4 November 2026. Arrange your contract with our sales team now.
centron and STACKIT at a glance
centron is the right fit if you want cluster backups to run out of the box and would rather add Velero for persistent volumes at deployment than build it yourself. Monitoring and logging then also run without any effort on your part.
STACKIT is the right fit if a tender requires C5 Type 2, a committed API availability matters or test clusters should be paused overnight.
The comparison covers the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) and Managed Kubernetes from centron.
| Criterion | centron | STACKIT |
|---|---|---|
| Control plane | Included as standard at no extra charge; the highly available version costs €34.95 per month. | Highly available by default, billed as Cluster Management at around €71.71 per month. |
| Backup | Cluster backup included in the price, retained for 30 days. Velero for persistent volumes can be added at deployment, S3 storage billed by usage. | Only the etcd store, with a full backup every 24 hours and incremental backups every five minutes. |
| Monitoring and logging | Part of the scope of services, as are security patches for the nodes. | Separately via an Observability instance, Monitoring Starter at around €29.72 per month (metrics only), with logs from around €69.92. |
| Entry level | 3 × C1 from €57.06 per month, the standard control plane is free of charge. | Cluster Management alone costs around €71.71 per month, plus nodes and volumes. |
| Certifications | ISO 27001 based on IT-Grundschutz and C5:2020 Type 1 for the data centre and ccloud³ / Managed Cloud; Type 2 is planned for 2027. | C5 Type 2 with SKE within the audit scope. The ISO 27001 certificate based on IT-Grundschutz does not name SKE; the native ISO 27001 certificate applies to IaaS and PaaS services in general. |
| Operator and location | German operator without a foreign parent company, own data centre in Hallstadt. | German operator (Schwarz Group); region EU01 in Germany, region EU02 in Austria. |
| Prices | Node from €19.02 per month including SSD, incoming traffic free of charge, outgoing €0.005 per GB. Billed by the hour, cluster can be deleted at any time. Excluding VAT. | c2i.2 node from €31.17, volumes per GB plus a performance class per disk. Excluding VAT, 720 hours. |
What does STACKIT back up in the cluster, and what not?
According to the SKE backup documentation, STACKIT backs up the control plane, that is the etcd store of the cluster. Full backups run every 24 hours, plus snapshots every five minutes. STACKIT does not back up data in persistent volumes or on the worker nodes. For this, STACKIT recommends the Velero tool, which your team sets up and runs itself. Monitoring runs via a separate Observability instance, which STACKIT bills separately.
A restore concept for persistent volumes has to be built, tested regularly and maintained on an ongoing basis. With Managed Kubernetes from centron, cluster backups run by default with a 30-day retention period. You add Velero for the persistent volumes at deployment instead of installing and running it yourself. You are billed for the S3 storage used. Your team can focus on deployments.
Who does what in day-to-day operations?
This is how tasks are divided once the cluster is running in production.
| Task | centron with Managed Kubernetes | STACKIT Kubernetes Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrades of Kubernetes and node OS | centron, automatically within the maintenance window on request. | STACKIT, with the auto-update option enabled, patch versions and Flatcar updates within the maintenance window. Your team initiates minor upgrades. |
| Metrics, logs and alerts | centron, at no extra cost. | Your team, with an Observability instance booked as an add-on. |
| Backup of etcd and volumes | Cluster backup included, 30 days. Velero for volumes can be added at deployment, S3 storage billed by usage. | STACKIT backs up etcd; your team backs up volumes and node data, for example with Velero. |
| Policies in the cluster | On request, centron enforces the Pod Security Standards and best practices with Kyverno. | Your admins. |
| Workloads and releases | Your developers. | Your developers. |
Basis of the allocation: STACKIT documentation and centron service description. The quote is binding.
When is centron the better choice?
Three situations speak for Managed Kubernetes from centron.
Your persistent volumes need to be backed up.
At centron, cluster backups run by default with a 30-day retention period. You add Velero for the persistent volumes at deployment, and you are only billed for the S3 storage used. At STACKIT, you set up and run Velero for the data in the volumes yourself.
Your team should not have to maintain an observability platform.
At STACKIT, monitoring means a separate Observability instance that you book and set up. At centron, metrics, logs and security patches are part of operations. You do not need an additional Observability instance.
You are looking for an affordable entry point.
A cluster with three C1 nodes costs from €57.06 per month at centron. The standard control plane is free of charge, but not highly available. At STACKIT, Cluster Management alone costs around €71.71 per month.
When is STACKIT the better choice?
Three requirements tend to speak for SKE.
Your tender requires C5 Type 2.
The Kubernetes Engine is explicitly included in the C5 Type 2 audit report. centron can currently present a Type 1 attestation for ccloud³ / Managed Cloud; the Type 2 audit has been announced for 2027.
You need a committed API availability.
For the API server of SKE clusters, STACKIT states 99.9 %. There is no separate SLA for centron Managed Kubernetes: the worker nodes are covered by the SLA of the ccloud³ Compute Engine with 99.5 % monthly availability, and centron operates the control plane without a separate availability commitment.
Your cluster only runs part of the time.
With hibernation, STACKIT shuts the cluster down temporarily and deletes the worker nodes in the process. The control plane and persistent volume claims are retained, and Cluster Management at around €71.71 per month continues to be billed. For test and training environments, this reduces costs.
What do Cluster Management, nodes and volumes cost?
The calculation is based on three worker nodes with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM each, at least 60 GB SSD per node and a highly available control plane. At STACKIT, this is the c2i.2 type, the most affordable current type with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM. The version with 2 GB RAM (s3i.2) costs more, at €50.08 per node.
At centron, this costs €140.07 per month excluding VAT. Three C3 nodes with 80 GB SSD each cost €105.12 in total, the highly available control plane €34.95. This covers monitoring, logging and the cluster backup. Incoming traffic is free of charge, outgoing traffic costs €0.005 per GB, around €26 for 5 TB (5,120 GB). STACKIT does not list a traffic item in its price list or price API. The individual prices are listed in the price list for Managed Kubernetes.
According to our own calculation, STACKIT comes to €198.94 per month excluding VAT. The largest item is three c2i.2 nodes at €93.51, followed by Cluster Management at €71.71 (both based on 720 hours). 180 GB of block storage costs €11.76, and the perf1 performance class for the three node volumes €21.96. The source is STACKIT's public price API, retrieved on 12 October 2026.
Per node, STACKIT is cheaper for pure computing power: c2i.2 costs €31.17 without a volume, centron C3 €35.04 with 80 GB SSD. SKE becomes more expensive due to Cluster Management and the per-disk fees. Monitoring would come on top, for example Monitoring Starter at €29.72 per month (metrics only) or Observability Starter with logs at €69.92. The STACKIT price list does not show outgoing traffic as an item.
The overview Kubernetes hosting in Germany compared puts the main providers side by side.
Customer voices and success stories
Three companies that have been running their infrastructure at centron for years.
FOC Solutions: from proof of concept to full service
The Hamburg-based EDI service provider with more than 200 customers has been with centron since 2019 and migrated all systems after a proof of concept, with personal support and full-service management.
Read the success story
GIS Consult: from physical servers to virtual environments
The specialist for geographic information systems has been with centron since 2015 and moved step by step from physical servers to virtual environments.
Read the success story
meinBafög: from startup to million-euro business
The Cologne-based BAföG platform has relied on virtual managed servers at centron for around ten years and grew from €80,000 in annual revenue to a million-euro business over this time.
Read the success storyFrequently asked questions
How do centron and STACKIT differ when it comes to Kubernetes?
Does STACKIT back up the persistent volumes in the cluster?
Is centron an alternative to the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine?
What does monitoring cost at STACKIT?
What does the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine cost?
Note: The information on STACKIT reflects the publicly available status as of 12 October 2026 (STACKIT documentation and price API, monthly figures based on 720 hours) and makes no claim to completeness. Features and prices may have changed since then. Only the current information of the respective providers is authoritative; the specific quote is binding. All prices exclude VAT. The trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners; there are no partnerships.
Review backup concept and costs together
Send us the node pools, volumes and observability tier of your SKE cluster. We will set the costs at centron alongside them and show you which backup is included there. Prefer to test it yourself first? New business accounts start with €200 in credit for 60 days.
This promotional offer applies to new accounts only. Available exclusively to businesses.