Exploring AKS Pricing Tiers: Free, Standard, and Premium

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Over time, I’ve been asked by customers and people online about the different pricing tiers in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). It’s a great question because understanding the right tier for your needs can save money and ensure your applications run smoothly. In this post, we’ll dive into the Free, Standard, and Premium tiers, breaking down what each offers and when to use them.

The AKS Pricing Tiers: At a Glance

Azure provides three pricing tiers for AKS cluster management, each designed for different workloads. Here’s a quick overview:

Tier	Best For	Features & Limits	Pricing
Free	– Experimenting with AKS – Beginners learning Kubernetes	– Ideal for clusters with fewer than 10 nodes – Can support up to 1,000 nodes in limited scenarios – Includes all AKS features	– Cluster management: Free – Pay-as-you-go for resources consumed
Standard	– Production-grade or mission-critical workloads – High availability with a financially backed SLA	– Clusters with up to 5,000 nodes – 99.9%/99.95% SLA with/without Availability Zones – Includes all AKS features	– Cluster management: $0.10 per cluster per hour – Pay-as-you-go for resources consumed
Premium	– Enterprise-grade workloads with long-term Kubernetes version support	– Everything in Standard tier – Long-term support for Kubernetes versions – Designed for mission-critical workloads requiring two years of one Kubernetes version support	– Higher cluster management pricing: $0.60 per cluster per hour – Pay-as-you-go for resources consumed

Tier-Specific Use Cases

1. Free Tier

Are you just starting with Kubernetes? Or perhaps experimenting with AKS? The Free tier is perfect for:

• Development clusters or small-scale testing.
• Beginners who want to learn Kubernetes without incurring additional costs.

💡 Pricing: The cluster management cost is completely free. You only pay for the compute, storage, and network resources your cluster uses. A great way to learn AKS on a budget!

2. Standard Tier

When running production workloads, reliability becomes a key concern. The Standard tier offers:

• Enterprise-grade applications needing high availability.
• Uptime guarantees of 99.9% or 99.95% SLA, depending on whether your cluster uses Availability Zones.

💡 Pricing: Cluster management costs apply, and you pay-as-you-go for the resources you consume. See the $0.10 per cluster per hour.

3. Premium Tier

For businesses running mission-critical workloads or requiring extended Kubernetes version support, the Premium tier provides:

• All features in the Standard tier.
• Long-term support for Kubernetes versions (two years of support per version).
• Enhanced reliability and enterprise-focused features.

💡 Pricing: Premium tier cluster management pricing applies. You can check the details on the $0.60 per cluster per hour.

How to Create an AKS Cluster in Your Desired Tier

Creating an AKS cluster in your chosen tier is straightforward using the Azure CLI:

Free Tier:

Standard Tier:

Premium Tier:

Updating Cluster Tiers

If you already have a cluster, you can switch tiers with the Azure CLI:

• From Free to Standard: az aks update --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP --name $CLUSTER_NAME --tier standard
• From Standard to Premium: az aks update --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP --name $CLUSTER_NAME --tier premium --k8s-support-plan AKSLongTermSupport

Wrapping Up

Choosing the right AKS pricing tier can make all the difference:

• Free Tier: Best for learning and experimenting.
• Standard Tier: Ideal for production workloads with uptime guarantees.
• Premium Tier: Perfect for enterprise workloads needing long-term Kubernetes version support.

For detailed pricing, check out the AKS pricing page.

I hope this helps clarify the differences! As always, feel free to drop questions or comments below, and happy Kuberneting! 🚀