AWS EKS vs. Self-Managed Kubernetes: Which Should You Choose?

The Core Question

Running Kubernetes is straightforward. Running Kubernetes reliably at scale is one of the hardest operational challenges in modern infrastructure. The decision between EKS (or GKE, AKS) and self-managed Kubernetes on bare EC2 is really a question of: what is your team's time worth?

AWS EKS — Managed Kubernetes

Pros:

• AWS manages control plane HA, etcd backups, and API server patches
• Deep AWS integrations: IAM, ALB, EBS CSI, ECR
• Managed upgrades (1-click minor version bumps)
• SLA-backed availability for the control plane
• Fargate support for serverless node management

Cons:

• $0.10/hour per cluster (~$73/month) for the control plane
• Less flexibility for custom Kubernetes builds
• Vendor lock-in to AWS networking (VPC CNI)

Self-Managed Kubernetes (kubeadm / kops)

Pros:

• Full control over every component
• No control plane fees — just EC2 costs
• Works on any cloud or on-premise
• Choose any CNI (Cilium, Calico, Flannel)

Cons:

• You own etcd — backups, failures, corruption
• Manual control plane upgrades are high-risk operations
• Certificate rotation, HA setup, and audit logging fall on your team
• Engineering time cost often exceeds EKS price by 10×

Decision Framework

Our Verdict

For 90% of companies, EKS (or GKE/AKS on other clouds) is the right choice. The $73/month control plane cost is easily offset by the engineering time saved on upgrades, etcd management, and HA configuration. Self-managed Kubernetes only makes economic sense at significant scale or with hard multi-cloud requirements.