Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service vs AWS App Runner
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
aws.amazon.com
AWS App Runner
aws.amazon.comSide by side
| Figure | Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service | AWS App Runner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.10/mo | $0.01/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Software | 8.3 (#4) | 7.9 (#13) |
| AWS integrations | EKS integrates with AWS IAM for role-based access control, VPC for pod-level networking, and Application Load Balancers for load distribution. | App Runner connects to AWS database, cache, and message queue services that support applications. |
| Purpose | Amazon EKS is a managed Kubernetes service for building, running, and scaling production-ready applications across environments. | AWS App Runner deploys web applications and APIs at scale. |
| Security and compliance | AWS states that it supports 143 security standards and compliance certifications, including PCI-DSS, HIPAA/HITECH, FedRAMP, GDPR, FIPS 140-3, and NIST 800-171. | AWS describes App Runner as providing built-in security and compliance capabilities. |
Plans
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
- Standard Kubernetes version support$0.10 a month
- Extended Kubernetes version support$0.60 a month
- Provisioned Control Plane XL$1.65 a month
- Provisioned Control Plane 2XL$3.40 a month
- Provisioned Control Plane 4XL$6.90 a month
- Provisioned Control Plane 8XL$13.90 a month
In their own words
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed Kubernetes service for building, running, and scaling production applications across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments. It manages Kubernetes control-plane availability across three AWS Availability Zones and replaces unhealthy control-plane nodes automatically. Applications can run on Amazon EC2 or AWS Fargate. EKS Auto Mode automates provisioning for compute, storage, and networking, along with scaling, operating-system patching, and add-on management. Hybrid deployments can use Hybrid Nodes, AWS Outposts, or EKS Anywhere. EKS remains compatible with upstream Kubernetes applications and tools, and integrates with IAM role-based access control, VPC pod networking, and Application Load Balancers. EKS Capabilities provides managed Argo CD for GitOps across clusters. There are no minimum fees or upfront commitments, but worker resources and related traffic are billed separately. Standard version support is $0.10 a month, billed per cluster hour.
AWS App Runner
AWS App Runner has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.