Managed Cloud Kubernetes Ledger 2026: 20 Services Scored
EKS, AKS, GKE and 17 more managed Kubernetes services scored on capability, version lag, credibility, risk and AI, from public records only.
Reports in this series
How the Managed Cloud Kubernetes Ledger scores EKS, AKS, GKE and 17 more services: fixed anchors, version lag, pricing history and public evidence only.
LKE is moving from a simple developer service toward an enterprise tier and GPU cloud under Akamai.
Alibaba is turning ACK into an automated, AI-centred platform: Auto Mode nodes, Lingjun AI clusters, inference routing on Gateway API and an LLM…
EKS is building toward hands-off clusters (Auto Mode, Capabilities) and very large AI training estates.
AKS is building toward hands-off clusters (Automatic, node auto-provisioning) and fleet-level operations.
Civo is moving from cheap K3s clusters toward a sovereign UK and India cloud with GPUs, a GitOps platform and private-cloud kits.
CoreWeave is building toward a bare-metal AI cloud where Kubernetes, InfiniBand, storage and agent tooling come as one stack.
DOKS is building toward GPU and private-network features on a simple, cheap base.
Google is building GKE into the place to run very large AI training and inference fleets on its own TPUs and NVIDIA GPUs, while folding Autopilot and…
Huawei is building CCE into a hybrid platform: UCS fleets reach on-premises and other clusters, Autopilot adds serverless clusters and the AI Suite…
IBM uses ROKS and Satellite to sell managed OpenShift across IBM Cloud, customer sites and other clouds, with IKS as a plain Kubernetes option beside it.
IONOS is building a plain, low-cost Managed Kubernetes on its own German cloud, adding an MCP server in 2026 but no GPU pools, fleet or AI features for…
T Cloud Public builds toward a German sovereign container service on Huawei-derived CCE technology, with Turbo clusters, H100 nodes and add-ons as the…
Oracle is turning OKE into the control layer for very large GPU clusters on OCI, adding node counts, GPU operators and repair tooling at a fast pace…
OVHcloud is building a paid Standard plan with 3-AZ control planes, Cilium and an SLA next to the free plan.
Red Hat sells the same OpenShift platform as a managed service on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, moving ROSA to hosted control planes and adding Karpenter,…
Scaleway is building a plain, standard Kapsule service with a multi-cloud Kosmos option, French data location and GPU pools.
STACKIT is building a sovereign German managed Kubernetes on open-source Gardener, adding identity, Gateway API and Ubuntu support while private…
Tencent runs TKE as a stable, even-minor Kubernetes service with long 27-month support and incremental node, storage and policy features, consolidating…
Upstream Kubernetes is building toward a standard scheduling and admission layer for accelerators and policy, with a release train that holds its dates.
Vultr is building a simple, free-control-plane Kubernetes service that leans toward GPU and bare-metal capacity, with an MCP server in preview.
Part of the Managed Cloud Kubernetes Ledger (edition 2026-10-13). How the scores work: methodology. Each service links to its own report.
Ranked vendors, by Ledger Index
| Vendor | Tier | Capability /100 | Momentum | Credibility /25 | Commercial risk /25 (lower better) | Lock-in /25 (lower better) | Integrator fit /20 | AI /20 | Ledger Index | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Kubernetes Engine (Standard and Autopilot; GKE Enterprise edition 2023 to 2025) | Hyperscaler | 92.0 | +9.4 | 21.0 | 5.5 | 8.0 | 18.0 | 15.0 | 82.4 | AI-scale Kubernetes reference |
| Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), incl. AKS Automatic and Kubernetes Fleet Manager | Hyperscaler | 86.8 | +16.0 | 22.0 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 17.0 | 13.5 | 80.8 | Open roadmap, free entry |
| Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), incl. Auto Mode, Fargate, Hybrid Nodes | Hyperscaler | 86.0 | +18.2 | 22.5 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 17.0 | 13.5 | 80.7 | Broad, fast, paid by the hour |
| Alibaba Cloud Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK Pro and Basic, ACK Serverless / ACS, ACK One) | Asian hyperscaler | 83.2 | +12.0 | 18.0 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 74.4 | Fast-moving Asian AI-infrastructure cloud |
| Huawei Cloud Cloud Container Engine (CCE standard and Turbo, CCE Autopilot, with UCS fleet management) | Asian hyperscaler | 77.2 | +16.6 | 18.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 9.0 | 70.6 | Hybrid-minded Asian cloud with own accelerators |
| Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA), Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) and OpenShift Dedicated | Enterprise cloud | 69.2 | +10.4 | 17.0 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 16.5 | 10.5 | 67.5 | Enterprise OpenShift as a cloud service |
| Oracle OCI Kubernetes Engine (OKE; Container Engine for Kubernetes until 2024) | Hyperscaler | 70.4 | +15.8 | 16.5 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 13.5 | 7.5 | 66.3 | Free-tier GPU cloud Kubernetes |
| Upstream Kubernetes (kubernetes/kubernetes, CNCF) | Open-source engine | 46.4 | +8.0 | 21.5 | n/a | 0.5 | 16.0 | 5.0 | 65.5 | Reference engine, DIY |
| IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud | Enterprise cloud | 69.2 | +4.0 | 15.5 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 14.0 | 7.5 | 62.4 | OpenShift-first hybrid cloud |
| Scaleway Kubernetes Kapsule and Kosmos | European cloud | 63.8 | +21.2 | 16.0 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 3.5 | 62.2 | European sovereign basics |
| DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) | Developer cloud | 61.6 | +16.2 | 17.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 9.5 | 7.0 | 61.9 | Simple developer cloud |
| Tencent Kubernetes Engine (TKE general clusters with native and super nodes) | Asian hyperscaler | 70.0 | +3.8 | 13.5 | 9.0 | 9.5 | 12.5 | 7.0 | 58.6 | Conservative Asian cloud Kubernetes |
| OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes Service (Free and Standard plans) | European cloud | 54.8 | +18.2 | 16.0 | 8.0 | 6.5 | 10.5 | 5.0 | 58.5 | European cloud, two plans |
| STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) | European cloud | 56.6 | +19.2 | 15.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 13.0 | 2.5 | 57.2 | Sovereign German managed K8s |
| Vultr Kubernetes Engine (VKE) | Developer cloud | 52.8 | +19.4 | 14.5 | 6.5 | 9.0 | 10.5 | 6.0 | 57.0 | Low-cost GPU-ready basics |
| Akamai Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE, LKE Enterprise) | Developer cloud | 47.6 | +15.2 | 13.5 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 10.0 | 6.5 | 53.1 | Akamai developer cloud |
| Civo Kubernetes (K3s based) | Developer cloud | 49.0 | +17.2 | 12.0 | 8.5 | 6.0 | 10.5 | 5.0 | 53.0 | Sovereign GPU cloud |
| IONOS Cloud Managed Kubernetes | European cloud | 41.6 | +7.2 | 14.0 | 6.5 | 10.0 | 12.0 | 4.0 | 49.0 | German low-cost basics |
Not ranked: fails an inclusion test (scores for reference only)
| Vendor | Tier | Capability /100 | Momentum | Credibility /25 | Commercial risk /25 (lower better) | Lock-in /25 (lower better) | Integrator fit /20 | AI /20 | Ledger Index | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CoreWeave Kubernetes Service (CKS) | AI cloud | 65.2 | +9.2 | 18.0 | 16.5 | 11.0 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 62.0 | Sales-gated GPU cloud |
| Open Telekom Cloud Cloud Container Engine (CCE, CCE Turbo), now T Cloud Public | European cloud | 62.2 | +12.8 | 16.0 | 8.0 | 11.5 | 15.0 | 7.0 | 61.0 | Sovereign German CCE |
Capability by domain today
| Domain | Amazon EKS | Azure AKS | Google GKE | Oracle OKE | IBM IKS / ROKS | Red Hat managed OpenShift | Alibaba ACK | Tencent TKE | Huawei CCE | DigitalOcean DOKS | Akamai LKE | Civo Kubernetes | OVHcloud MKS | Scaleway Kapsule/Kosmos | IONOS Managed Kubernetes | Vultr VKE | STACKIT SKE | CoreWeave CKS | Open Telekom Cloud CCE | Upstream Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Versions, upgrades and support (12) | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |
| Nodes, autoscaling and compute choice (12) | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 |
| Networking (10) | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 2.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 3 |
| Storage and data protection (8) | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 3 |
| Security and compliance (12) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Observability and day-2 operations (8) | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 |
| Multi-cluster, hybrid and fleet (10) | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 3.5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.5 |
| Developer and app platform (8) | 4 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| GPU and AI workloads (10) | 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Regions, sovereignty and SLA (10) | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Capability by year
| Year | Amazon EKS | Azure AKS | Google GKE | Oracle OKE | IBM IKS / ROKS | Red Hat managed OpenShift | Alibaba ACK | Tencent TKE | Huawei CCE | DigitalOcean DOKS | Akamai LKE | Civo Kubernetes | OVHcloud MKS | Scaleway Kapsule/Kosmos | IONOS Managed Kubernetes | Vultr VKE | STACKIT SKE | CoreWeave CKS | Open Telekom Cloud CCE | Upstream Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | n/a | n/a | 40.8 | n/a | n/a | 33.0 | n/a | 21.2 | 23.4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 20.6 |
| 2017 | n/a | n/a | 39.8 | n/a | 43.6 | 33.0 | 26.4 | 21.2 | 23.4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 20.6 |
| 2018 | 42.0 | 39.4 | 48.8 | 34.8 | 43.6 | 33.0 | 26.4 | 21.2 | 23.4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 32.6 | 20.6 |
| 2019 | 52.6 | 44.8 | 61.8 | 37.0 | 54.4 | 44.8 | 50.4 | 49.2 | 44.4 | 39.4 | n/a | n/a | 28.6 | 12.0 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 33.6 | 31.8 |
| 2020 | 57.6 | 53.8 | 63.8 | 40.4 | 54.4 | 45.8 | 52.4 | 52.0 | 44.4 | 40.4 | 30.2 | n/a | 28.6 | 34.2 | n/a | n/a | 25.0 | n/a | 33.6 | 31.8 |
| 2021 | 60.4 | 59.4 | 70.2 | 51.6 | 60.0 | 46.6 | 57.4 | 58.8 | 44.4 | 41.6 | 30.2 | 31.8 | 35.6 | 40.2 | 29.2 | 9.0 | 25.0 | n/a | 33.6 | 31.8 |
| 2022 | 67.8 | 70.8 | 82.6 | 54.6 | 65.2 | 58.8 | 71.2 | 66.2 | 60.6 | 45.4 | 32.4 | 31.8 | 36.6 | 42.6 | 34.4 | 33.4 | 37.4 | n/a | 49.4 | 38.4 |
| 2023 | 71.6 | 81.2 | 85.0 | 62.6 | 65.2 | 58.8 | 72.2 | 68.0 | 65.6 | 45.4 | 32.4 | 32.8 | 41.8 | 53.4 | 36.4 | 38.2 | 38.2 | n/a | 49.4 | 38.4 |
| 2024 | 78.6 | 85.0 | 90.4 | 63.6 | 67.2 | 64.2 | 73.0 | 69.2 | 67.6 | 54.2 | 34.4 | 43.2 | 45.6 | 62.0 | 38.4 | 48.6 | 44.2 | n/a | 49.4 | 38.4 |
| 2025 | 85.0 | 89.2 | 92.0 | 67.2 | 69.2 | 67.4 | 81.6 | 70.0 | 75.6 | 58.2 | 44.2 | 45.0 | 52.0 | 62.0 | 41.6 | 51.0 | 44.2 | 56.0 | 49.4 | 38.4 |
| 2026 | 86.0 | 86.8 | 92.0 | 70.4 | 69.2 | 69.2 | 83.2 | 70.0 | 77.2 | 61.6 | 47.6 | 49.0 | 54.8 | 63.8 | 41.6 | 52.8 | 56.6 | 65.2 | 62.2 | 46.4 |
How to read these scores
- Every managed service is scored on the same ten domains and on commercial risk. Upstream Kubernetes is the engine: it has no commercial-risk score, so its buyer safety uses lock-in only, and it is the reference for version lag.
- History is scored at the end of 2016, 2019 and 2022 and today against fixed anchors; products launched later start in their launch year.
- The Ledger Index is shown only for 2023 onward, because credibility, risk and integrator fit are scored for that window only.
- Entries marked not ranked lack enough public evidence; their scores are shown for reference only.
Download the data
Every score in this edition, free to reuse with a link back to this page.