Amazon EKS Reviews

Name: Amazon EKS
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 4.3 (55 reviews)

4.3 out of 5

55 reviews
98% willing to recommend

What is Amazon EKS?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) is a fully managed Kubernetes service. Customers such as Intel, Snap, Intuit, GoDaddy, and Autodesk trust EKS to run their most sensitive and mission critical applications because of its security, reliability, and scalability.

Get the Amazon EKS Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EKS, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift and more!

Amazon EKS is the #2 ranked solution in Container Management software and #18 ranked solution in Container Security Solutions. PeerSpot users give Amazon EKS an average rating of 8.6 out of 10. Amazon EKS is most commonly compared to Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Amazon EKS vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Amazon EKS is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 68% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 21% of all views.

Helped 864,155 peers since 2012

Featured Amazon EKS reviews

Rock Wang

cloud architect at selfstarter

The most beneficial aspect of Amazon EKS is that it helps manage the Kubernetes master node, so I don't need to maintain the master node, including tasks like upgrading. This allows me to focus on business code. If using services like Fargate, I only need to maintain my workload, simply uploading code that will be deployed to the Kubernetes cluster. This is especially beneficial for startup companies that lack the technical resources to manage the Kubernetes cluster. Furthermore, Amazon EKS allows me to utilize Kubernetes cluster-level expansion. If there’s insufficient resource on a machine, the cluster can automatically expand to add new nodes.

Read full review

Yossi Shmulevitch

Owner at SoftContact

Regarding the flexibility part, if I want to use something such as Kong/Linkerd service mesh or other solutions, most of the CSPs bind you to their own solutions rather than allow other options to be made and integrated with, and this is what I mostly miss in their part. In terms of built-in observability in Amazon EKS, I know it's mostly about the great integration with AWS itself. When I want to integrate it with any Grafana or Prometheus solution within AWS, things work efficiently with IAM. However, when I want to cross the boundary of the CSP, that becomes an issue. Integrating some open-source solutions works, but I need to work really hard for that. The major area for improvement I've seen involves deep diving into one CSP with no equivalent solution elsewhere. The most important consideration is about the pricing and the flexibility of moving and building a multi-cloud environment for most customers. The issue is that when CSPs try to lock you in, flexibility becomes the most critical aspect. Amazon aims to put you in a very Amazon-centric environment, but you need to be aware when you're using Amazon EKS that you're not locked in. The major paradigm for customers with maturity in using cloud solutions is to avoid vendor lock-in. Most early adopters understand this, but the main mass, such as the banking companies I work with, aren't in the same state of mind; they need to build everything from a Cloud Native perspective with as much OSS as possible.

Read full review

Bavan Balakrishnan

Senior SOC Developer at XVE Security

We initially had some issues getting the logging out of it, because what they're providing into CloudTrail is what we get. If we wanted to go in-depth, we had to deploy third-party tools. We did try the sidecar way of getting the logs. Ideally, if the platform was able to provide those kinds of valuable logs, that would be beneficial. Adding enhanced logging capabilities would be a nice improvement.

Read full review

Amazon EKS mindshare

Product category:

As of August 2025, the mindshare of Amazon EKS in the Container Management category stands at 11.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Management

PeerResearch reports based on Amazon EKS reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Container Management	Aug 1, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Aug 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon EKS vs Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform	Aug 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon EKS vs VMware Tanzu Platform	Aug 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon EKS vs Kubernetes	Aug 1, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	4.0	1.1%	94%	78 interviews Add to research
Red Hat OpenShift	4.2	2.4%	95%	62 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Amazon EKS provides auto-scaling, orchestration, and integration features that improve deployment and scalability. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and Kubernetes compatibility, simplifying management and reducing infrastructure concerns. Fargate abstracts clusters, easing application deployment and scaling. AWS manages control planes, offering flexibility and strong support. The security, high performance, cost optimization, and integration with services like IAM and CloudWatch make it ideal for startups needing efficient cloud-native applications.

"Based on my experience, the best features are backed up with extensive security that AWS allows and is firmly integrated into their entire AWS cloud."
"I can recommend using it to save costs and for faster deployment, better performance, security, and easy clustering."
"The best features of Amazon EKS are simplicity and the management portal; it is a neat solution, so you don't have to fiddle around with too many open-source tools."

Room for Improvement

Amazon EKS users highlight stability and security issues, especially with initial setup and documentation. Connectivity troubles and user interface improvements are also noted. The pricing, particularly in certain regions, appears high. Users express the desire for better integration, logging, and configuration options. Many find the EKS dashboard less user-friendly. Kubernetes version maintenance and AWS lock-in are concerns. Overall, enhancements in observability and support mechanisms are requested to align more with user expectations.

"The major area for improvement I've seen involves deep diving into one CSP with no equivalent solution elsewhere."
"The documentation should be easier to understand for beginners. It needs to be straightforward and easily grouped together because information tends to be scattered."
"There is room for improvement for Amazon EKS because we initially had some issues getting the logging out of it, since what they're providing into CloudTrail is what we get."

ROI

Users indicate Amazon EKS offers a cost-benefit over on-premises infrastructure due to improved data security and operational efficiency. It’s described as a valuable investment, with positive returns on investment seen in production environments. Despite some opting for Google Kubernetes Engine for cost savings, many still value Amazon EKS for its performance and manageability. The platform is noted for enabling easy deployment, scaling, monitoring, and troubleshooting with minimal downtime and issues.

Pricing

Amazon EKS pricing is perceived as varied and dependent on factors like instance type and number of nodes. While some find it more costly than competitors like Google Cloud or Azure, others appreciate its competitive pricing models. There is no upfront license cost, and it follows a pay-as-you-go structure. Pricing is typically rated around seven out of ten and deemed affordable for larger enterprises but potentially expensive for smaller startups.

"The product pricing depends on the specific requirements."
"The product is available at such a huge scale in the market since the resources that are offered under the tool are competitively priced and available at a much cheaper rate compared to other solutions."
"Amazon EKS is not a cheap solution."

Popular Use Cases

Amazon EKS is primarily used for running production workloads, managing containers, and deploying microservices. Organizations utilize EKS for cloud-native applications, auto-scaling, and container orchestration across various industries, including healthcare, finance, and ecommerce. It supports deployment pipelines, secures environments, and simplifies cluster management. EKS is employed for applications' hosting, infrastructure management, and transitioning on-premises applications to the cloud. Kubernetes capabilities make EKS an attractive choice for container-based development.

Service and Support

Amazon EKS customer service and support are generally responsive and helpful. Many users do not frequently need support due to the platform's clarity. Those who have engaged with support often report prompt responses, though some experienced delays or incomplete resolutions. Paid support plans receive higher ratings. Users rate support between seven and nine out of ten. While technical support aids in resolving issues, users sometimes rely on documentation and community resources for faster troubleshooting.

Deployment

Amazon EKS's initial setup is generally straightforward, but experiences vary. Some find it easy with automation tools like Terraform, while others note challenges, especially without prior Kubernetes knowledge. Technical expertise can ease the process, and the setup time ranges from minutes to days, depending on complexity and team size. Proper documentation assists in simplifying the task, yet configuring role permissions remains tricky for some, particularly when aligning with DevOps practices.

Scalability

Amazon EKS is consistently rated as highly scalable. Users report that it effectively handles large numbers of users and applications with ease. Operational efficiency is improved through autoscaling features, including automatic upscaling and downscaling. Its ability to integrate well with Kubernetes and manage workloads efficiently is praised by various development teams. While some users note occasional issues during scaling, these interruptions are rare. Reliability and scalability capabilities rank well among organizations.

Stability

Amazon EKS exhibits high stability with consistent improvements in newer versions. Users report few issues, with network connectivity occasionally noted. Proactive updates enhance performance, and it’s praised for reliability across environments. Many rate its stability between 8 and 10, attributing minor issues primarily to external factors or configuration errors rather than EKS itself. In general, especially with AWS support, EKS provides a stable experience.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Amazon EKS Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Government

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

University

Energy/Utilities Company

Educational Organization

Transportation Company

Media Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Non Profit

Hospitality Company

Performing Arts

Consumer Goods Company

Legal Firm

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Recruiting/Hr Firm

Logistics Company

Leisure / Travel Company

Marketing Services Firm

Wellness & Fitness Company

Compare Amazon EKS with alternative products

Learn more about Amazon EKS

EKS is the best place to run Kubernetes for several reasons. First, you can choose to run your EKS clusters using AWS Fargate, which is serverless compute for containers. Fargate removes the need to provision and manage servers, lets you specify and pay for resources per application, and improves security through application isolation by design. Second, EKS is deeply integrated with services such as Amazon CloudWatch, Auto Scaling Groups, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), providing you a seamless experience to monitor, scale, and load-balance your applications. Third, EKS integrates with AWS App Mesh and provides a Kubernetes native experience to consume service mesh features and bring rich observability, traffic controls and security features to applications. Additionally, EKS provides a scalable and highly-available control plane that runs across multiple availability zones to eliminate a single point of failure.
EKS runs upstream Kubernetes and is certified Kubernetes conformant so you can leverage all benefits of open source tooling from the community. You can also easily migrate any standard Kubernetes application to EKS without needing to refactor your code.

Amazon EKS was previously known as Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service.