Managed Kubernetes platforms for small business buyers
Asked as “managed Kubernetes platform”, and as “hosted Kubernetes service”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 55 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
55%
Clear leader
55DigitalOcean Kubernetes25Google Kubernetes Engine07Linode Kubernetes Engine13others
55% of first choices, clear leader.
Since September 2026▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.DigitalOcean Kubernetes held the lead, +15 points on 39%, past the floor.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business
DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%Clear leader▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.This pageMid-market
Google Kubernetes Engine43%Clear leader▲+3Since September 2026: 39% → 42%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →EnterpriseGoogle Kubernetes Engine31%Contested▼−3Since September 2026: 33% → 30%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →
DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%Clear leader▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.This pageMid-marketGoogle Kubernetes Engine43%Clear leader▲+3Since September 2026: 39% → 42%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →EnterpriseGoogle Kubernetes Engine31%Contested▼−3Since September 2026: 33% → 30%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Standing →The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%5%64endorsed leader▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.39% → 54%
DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%5%64endorsed leader▲+15Since September 2026: 39% → 54%, +15 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.39% → 54%02Google Kubernetes Engine Lab in the set25%34%71criticized challenger▼−4Since September 2026: 27% → 23%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.27% → 23%
Google Kubernetes Engine Lab in the set25%34%71criticized challenger▼−4Since September 2026: 27% → 23%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.27% → 23%03
Linode Kubernetes Engine7%5%37accepted challenger▲+3Since September 2026: 5% → 8%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 8%
Linode Kubernetes Engine7%5%37accepted challenger▲+3Since September 2026: 5% → 8%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 8%04
Civo Kubernetes4%0%22accepted challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 11% → 4%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.11% → 4%
Civo Kubernetes4%0%22accepted challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 11% → 4%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.11% → 4%05
Northflank4%0%17accepted challenger▲+4Since September 2026: 0% → 4%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 4%
Northflank4%0%17accepted challenger▲+4Since September 2026: 0% → 4%, +4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 4%06
Azure Kubernetes Service2%38%60criticized challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 5% → 2%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 2%
Azure Kubernetes Service2%38%60criticized challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 5% → 2%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 2%07
Amazon EKS2%65%68criticized challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 5% → 2%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 2%
Amazon EKS2%65%68criticized challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 5% → 2%, −3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.5% → 2%Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10
Red Hat OpenShift0%83%12criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Red Hat OpenShift0%83%12criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%09
Rancher0%31%13criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Rancher0%31%13criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%08
Vultr Kubernetes Engine0%9%11accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Vultr Kubernetes Engine0%9%11accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Google Kubernetes Engine is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.5 Flash is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice three times of 4; the other thirteen models eleven times of 52. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.
Head to head
All fifteen head-to-head pages: the top six products, each against each
Google Kubernetes Engine vs Civo KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes Engine vs Linode Kubernetes EngineAmazon EKS vs DigitalOcean KubernetesAmazon EKS vs Azure Kubernetes ServiceAmazon EKS vs Civo KubernetesAmazon EKS vs Linode Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Civo KubernetesDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Linode Kubernetes EngineAzure Kubernetes Service vs Civo KubernetesAzure Kubernetes Service vs Linode Kubernetes EngineCivo Kubernetes vs Linode Kubernetes Engine
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01020304050607080910Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%
DigitalOcean Kubernetes55%02Google Kubernetes Engine25%
Google Kubernetes Engine25%03Linode Kubernetes Engine7%
Linode Kubernetes Engine7%04Civo Kubernetes4%
Civo Kubernetes4%05Northflank4%
Northflank4%06Azure Kubernetes Service2%
Azure Kubernetes Service2%07Amazon EKS2%
Amazon EKS2%08Vultr Kubernetes Engine0%
Vultr Kubernetes Engine0%09Rancher0%
Rancher0%10Red Hat OpenShift0%
Red Hat OpenShift0%What they warned about
Six of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, MiniMax M2.5 and Muse Glimmer 30B changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Amazon EKS65%
44 of 68 labels negative · 13 of 14 models · 15 hard negative
“here are the platforms a small business should generally avoid or approach with extreme caution... AWS EKS: Can become prohibitively expensive and difficult to troubleshoot” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Google Kubernetes Engine34%
24 of 71 labels negative · 13 of 14 models · 8 hard negative
“What to Avoid on a Tight Budget ... **GKE Standard** \u2014 Only the first cluster's control plane is free” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Azure Kubernetes Service38%
23 of 60 labels negative · 12 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“"no production SLA without paid tier; .NET/Windows bias; networking/storage fees add up. Still complex" for AKS in particular.” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
Red Hat OpenShift83%
10 of 12 labels negative · 9 of 14 models · 5 hard negative
“Combined with steep licensing fees and a steep learning curve, it is overkill for small teams.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the fourteen in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
76 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 986 links across 198 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 84 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.
40 answers · 63 citations · 12 models
vendor site · DigitalOcean39 answers · 120 citations · 13 models
vendor site · Rackspace37 answers · 38 citations · 11 models
35 answers · 48 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Northflank35 answers · 41 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Railway35 answers · 35 citations · 12 models
27 answers · 33 citations · 12 models
19 answers · 22 citations · 6 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Qovery16 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Portainer13 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Amazon13 answers · 14 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
37 answers · 11 models
35 answers · 12 models
33 answers · 12 models
30 answers · 10 models
29 answers · 11 models
22 answers · 12 models
20 answers · 10 models
18 answers · 6 models
16 answers · 8 models
16 answers · 9 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best managed kubernetes platform”, “managed kubernetes platform”, “managed kubernetes platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean digitalocean.com DigitalOcean Kubernetes 55% | 55% | 114 | 74,000 | 942 | 637,494 company | $82 | 40 | 5 |
| Google Kubernetes Engine cloud.google.com | 25% | 194 | 2,400 | 15 | 7,405,347 | 4 | ||
| Linode linode.com Linode Kubernetes Engine 7% | 7% | 61 | 30 | 1 | 15,263 company | 76 | ||
| Civo Kubernetes civo.com | 4% | 40 | 20 | 1 | 4,772 | |||
| Northflank northflank.com | 4% | 53 | 1,300 | 8 | 48,493 | 1 | ||
| Azure azure.microsoft.com Azure Kubernetes Service 2% | 2% | 188 | 301,000 | 47,904 | 1,848,766 | $6,123 | ||
| Akamai parent site Akamai Linode Kubernetes Engine 2% | 2% | 4 | 27,100 | 1,614 | ||||
| Amazon parent site Amazon EKS 2%, Amazon ECS 0% | 2% | 200 | 151,000,000 | 1,380,939 | ||||
| Vultr vultr.com Vultr Kubernetes Engine 0% | 0% | 22 | 22,200 | 302 | 81,453 company | 95 | ||
| Rackspace Spot rackspace.com | 0% | 13 | 70 | 0 | 226,422 | 0 | 7 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 19 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (digitalocean.com, medium.com, portainer.io, spot.rackspace.com). The first result for “best managed kubernetes platform” is cycle.io.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best managed Kubernetes platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which hosted Kubernetes service would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top managed Kubernetes platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best managed Kubernetes platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a managed Kubernetes platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which managed Kubernetes platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engineno first choiceChangedDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu
Two alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, NorthflankFour alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineGPT-5.4 miniDigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes EngineChangedGoogle Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceFour alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineGemini 3.5 FlashGoogle Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes EngineHeldDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Cloud, MicrosoftGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, Nutanix Kubernetes Platform, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu
Four alternatives
Amazon EKS, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Northflank, PortainerTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, DigitalOcean KubernetesThree alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Northflank, ZeetThree alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Hetzner, Linode Kubernetes EngineFive alternatives
Amazon EKS, CoreWeave, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Porter, ZeetPerplexity SonarDigitalOcean KubernetesNorthflankChangedagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engineno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine
Five alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, NorthflankTwo alternatives
DigitalOcean Kubernetes, RailwayFour alternatives
Northflank, Portainer-managed Kubernetes, Qovery, Rackspace SpotTwo alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Google Cloud RunGrok 4.1 FastDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine
Two alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Linode Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Civo KubernetesTwo alternatives
Northflank, RailwayMistral SmallDigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes EngineChangedDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Red Hat OpenShiftLinode Kubernetes Engineno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes Engine, VMware Tanzu
Three alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, UpCloud Managed KubernetesThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesOne alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes, RailwayDeepSeek V4 FlashDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine, Self-managed KubernetesCivo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineCivo Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzuagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift
One alternative
Google Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceFive alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Rancher, k3sFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Hetzner, OVHcloudSeven alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, EKS Fargate, Northflank, Porter, QoveryLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceAkamai Linode Kubernetes EngineChangedno first choiceNorthflankno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine
Two alternatives
Northflank, RailwayTwo alternatives
OVHcloud, UpCloud Managed KubernetesQwen 3.7 FlashDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceGoogle Kubernetes EngineCivo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, CloudBees, Google Kubernetes Engine, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift
Two alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Northflank, Rackspace SpotThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesTwo alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineFour alternatives
Amazon EKS, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engine, RancherKimi K2DigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineChangedagainst: Amazon EKSCivo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineAzure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift
Two alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Giant Swarm, Google Kubernetes Engine, Platform9 Managed KubernetesThree alternatives
Hetzner Cloud Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean KubernetesGLM 4.7 FlashXDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Cloud Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure, Google Cloudno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift, Tencent Kubernetes Service
Three alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Rackspace SpotOne alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineMiniMax M2.5Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean KubernetesChangedDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift
Three alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Northflank, Rackspace SpotTwo alternatives
Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, OVH Cloud, Vultr Kubernetes EngineGPT-6 LunaGoogle Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes EngineHeldGoogle Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure AKS — Free tier, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine
Three alternatives
AKS Automatic, EKS Auto Mode, Google Cloud RunTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceThree alternatives
AKS Automatic, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, EKS Auto ModeTwo alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineMuse Glimmer 30BDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean KubernetesChangedagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu
Two alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
Akamai, Civo KubernetesTwo alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Linode Kubernetes EngineFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service - AKS, Google Kubernetes Engine – Autopilot, Linode Kubernetes Engine – LKE, OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes ServiceOne alternative
Google Kubernetes EngineBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:48 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:35 | yes | 3 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 10:21 | yes | 16 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:11 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 07:55 | yes | 23 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 12:54 | yes | 10 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 13:43 | yes | 22 | 21 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:08 | yes | 6 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 13:05 | yes | 5 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 10:23 | yes | 15 | 18 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 09:43 | yes | 25 | 83 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 09:20 | yes | 5 | 15 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 07:52 | yes | 4 | 16 s |
| Direct recommendation | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 13:51 | yes | 12 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 09:40 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 12:46 | yes | 2 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 11:37 | no | 0 | 12 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 07:47 | yes | 17 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 12:29 | yes | 17 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 10:55 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 10:04 | yes | 19 | 27 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 08:07 | yes | 5 | 1 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 10:32 | yes | 7 | 48 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 10:58 | yes | 18 | 18 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 13:06 | yes | 10 | 10 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 09:52 | yes | 6 | 26 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 08:30 | yes | 3 | 11 s |
| Paraphrase | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 07:56 | yes | 21 | 56 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 08:24 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 09:57 | yes | 3 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 11:11 | yes | 17 | 31 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 11:25 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 12:24 | yes | 23 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 11:43 | yes | 8 | 8 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 12:24 | yes | 25 | 32 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 11:57 | yes | 5 | 1 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 10:27 | yes | 10 | 22 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 10:02 | yes | 20 | 26 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 07:43 | yes | 24 | 30 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 10:54 | yes | 12 | 20 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 13:41 | yes | 8 | 22 s |
| Comparative | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 09:23 | yes | 24 | 33 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:29 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 12:14 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 13:20 | yes | 11 | 31 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:25 | yes | 20 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 11:22 | yes | 23 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 11:13 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 11:41 | yes | 25 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 07:58 | yes | 5 | 1 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 13:36 | yes | 9 | 28 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 09:33 | yes | 17 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 13:06 | yes | 25 | 54 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 13:51 | yes | 10 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 09:51 | yes | 4 | 15 s |
| Budget constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 10:13 | yes | 13 | 29 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 11:28 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:18 | no | 0 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 13:20 | yes | 12 | 31 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 10:03 | yes | 19 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 09:46 | yes | 14 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 09:21 | no | 0 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 08:55 | yes | 22 | 40 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 10:53 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 08:08 | no | 0 | 30 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 12:04 | yes | 10 | 28 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 08:25 | no | 0 | 28 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 13:00 | yes | 5 | 24 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 13:26 | yes | 2 | 17 s |
| Scale constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 13:08 | yes | 15 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:06 | yes | 18 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 07:50 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 12:53 | yes | 8 | 25 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 07:57 | yes | 19 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 09:53 | yes | 21 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 08:36 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 09:38 | yes | 24 | 44 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 09:40 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 13:36 | yes | 5 | 20 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 13:04 | yes | 25 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 13:39 | yes | 25 | 94 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 09:46 | yes | 18 | 27 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-10-01 08:54 | yes | 4 | 14 s |
| Negative framing | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-10-01 10:54 | yes | 11 | 16 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
AWS (Amazon Web Services) read as Amazon EKS
AWS (EKS) read as Amazon EKS
Akamai Linode (LKE) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Civo read as Civo Kubernetes
DigitalOcean read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean (DOKS) read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes - DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes – DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes, DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
IBM Cloud Kubernetes read as IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
IBM Kubernetes Service read as IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
Linode read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (Akamai) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (LKE) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (now Akamai Cloud) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Mirantis read as Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
Oracle read as Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure read as Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes
Platform9 read as Platform9 Managed Kubernetes
Scaleway read as Scaleway Kapsule
UpCloud read as UpCloud Managed Kubernetes
Vultr read as Vultr Kubernetes Engine
Unresolved, counted raw
Azure AKS — Free tier
GCP Cloud Run
Google Cloud Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Google Kubernetes Engine – Autopilot
HashiCorp Nomad
Hetzner Cloud Kubernetes
Kamal
Linode Kubernetes Engine – LKE
OVH Cloud
OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes
OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes Service
Obsium
Oracle OCI OKE
Portainer-managed Kubernetes
Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes
Self-managed Kubernetes
Tencent Kubernetes Service (TKE)
VSHN
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.