What does managed Kubernetes take off my hands?

The provider runs the control plane (API server, scheduler, etcd), upgrades it and usually offers automated node upgrades and integrations for load balancers and block storage. You remain responsible for your workloads, their configuration, security and backups of application data.

Is the control plane free?

It depends on the provider and plan. Some offer a free tier with a single-zone control plane and no SLA, and charge for a highly available control plane with SLA. Check the current pricing page, because terms change.

Can I move my cluster from EKS, AKS or GKE to a European provider?

Usually yes, if your workloads use standard Kubernetes resources. Expect changes to storage classes, load balancer annotations, ingress, identity integration and anything that calls provider-specific APIs.

Do I even need Kubernetes?

Many small teams do not. A PaaS or Docker Compose on a few servers is simpler to run. Kubernetes makes sense once you operate many services, need fine-grained scaling or want a uniform platform across environments.

Managed Kubernetes in Europe: 7 Services Compared

If you want to run Kubernetes in European data centres without operating the control plane yourself, you have a real choice: STACKIT, IONOS Cloud, OVHcloud, Scaleway, UpCloud and Exoscale are European providers with managed Kubernetes, and DigitalOcean offers its service in EU regions as a US company. They differ mainly in how the control plane is priced and made highly available, which SLAs apply, which regions you can use and what else the platform offers around the cluster.

What “managed” means here

Kubernetes consists of a control plane (API server, scheduler, controller manager, etcd as the state store) and worker nodes that run your containers. In a managed service the provider operates and upgrades the control plane. You pick node sizes and node pools, and the provider integrates its load balancers, block storage and often autoscaling.

What stays with you: deployments, configuration, network policies, secrets handling, monitoring of your apps and backups of persistent data. Managed Kubernetes reduces infrastructure work; it does not remove the need for Kubernetes knowledge in the team.

Comparison

As of October 2026. Information according to the providers; pricing pages and documentation are authoritative and change frequently.

Provider	Service	Company seat	Control plane (per provider)
STACKIT	STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)	Germany	Check current pricing
IONOS Cloud	Managed Kubernetes	Germany	Check current pricing
OVHcloud	Managed Kubernetes Service	France	Free plan (single zone) and paid Standard plan with SLA
Scaleway	Kubernetes Kapsule	France	Shared and dedicated control plane options, check pricing
UpCloud	Managed Kubernetes	Finland	Check current pricing
Exoscale	Scalable Kubernetes Service (SKS)	Switzerland	Free Starter cluster and paid Pro cluster with HA and SLA
DigitalOcean	DigitalOcean Kubernetes	USA	Check current pricing, HA option available

Node prices follow each provider’s normal instance pricing. Load balancers, persistent volumes, public IPs and outbound traffic are billed on top and often make up a large share of the bill.

Provider notes

STACKIT

STACKIT, the cloud of the Schwarz Group, runs data centres only in Germany and Austria and holds a BSI C5 Type 2 attestation according to the group. SKE targets enterprises and the public sector. A broader comparison is in STACKIT, IONOS Cloud and OVHcloud.

IONOS Cloud

IONOS Cloud offers Managed Kubernetes from German data centres, alongside managed databases and S3-compatible storage. Clusters can be managed through the API, Terraform or the visual Data Center Designer.

OVHcloud

According to the OVHcloud documentation, the Free plan provides a single-zone control plane suited to development and smaller projects, while the Standard plan adds a more resilient control plane, multi-zone options and an SLA. OVHcloud has regions in several European countries, including a three-zone region in Paris.

Scaleway

Scaleway’s Kapsule service runs in its European regions (Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw) and integrates with the provider’s managed databases, registry and serverless products. Scaleway also offers Kosmos for clusters with nodes at several providers.

UpCloud

UpCloud provides managed Kubernetes in several European locations, combined with its managed databases and object storage. It is a fit for teams that want a smaller European provider with straightforward pricing.

Exoscale

The Swiss provider Exoscale offers SKS in zones in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and other European countries. The Starter cluster is free and includes the managed control plane and automatic patch upgrades; the Pro cluster adds a highly available control plane, etcd backups and an SLA.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean Kubernetes is simple to start with and well documented. It is available in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London, but DigitalOcean is a US company, which matters for some data protection assessments.

Selection criteria

Region and legal seat. Decide first whether a European company is a requirement. See sovereign cloud for the background.
Control plane availability. For production, prefer a highly available control plane with an SLA, even if it costs extra.
Kubernetes versions and upgrade policy. How quickly are new versions available, and how long are old ones supported?
Integrations. Load balancers, CSI storage drivers, container registry, managed databases, private networking.
Total cost. Nodes, load balancers, volumes and egress for your real workload.
Support. Response times and whether Kubernetes questions are covered.

Before you commit

Kubernetes is powerful but not free in terms of effort. If your team is small, read container deployment for small teams first; a PaaS or Docker Compose may be enough. If you are leaving a hyperscaler, the migration guide from AWS to an EU cloud covers what changes when clusters move. For the wider provider landscape, see European cloud providers.