Google Kubernetes Engine vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] comparison

Google and Nutanix are both solutions in the Container Management category. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Nutanix users who would recommend it.

Google Kubernetes Engine

Read 39 Google Kubernetes Engine reviews

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95% willing to recommend

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...

Read 14 Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] reviews

100% willing to recommend

Google Kubernetes Engine

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 1, 2025

Google Kubernetes Engine and Nutanix Kubernetes Engine compete in the Kubernetes space. Google Kubernetes Engine seems to have an edge in pricing and support, while Nutanix is noted for its robust features.

Features: Google Kubernetes Engine is known for seamless deployment with managed autoscaling, instant scaling, and integration within Google Cloud. It also provides detailed monitoring and a managed backup service. Nutanix Kubernetes Engine offers simplicity in cluster creation, easy on-premises deployment, and integration with storage and hypervisor virtualization features.

Room for Improvement: Google Kubernetes Engine's security and monitoring features need enhancement, and its documentation could be clearer regarding configuration and backup. Nutanix Kubernetes Engine should improve its user interface and expand features such as auto-scaling and disaster recovery capabilities, along with better third-party integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Google Kubernetes Engine supports Public, Hybrid, and Private Cloud deployments, offering flexibility with varying levels of customer support. Nutanix Kubernetes Engine, focusing on on-premises deployment, is easier for organizations already using Nutanix infrastructure, with robust tech support for these setups.

Pricing and ROI: Google Kubernetes Engine's pricing varies with usage and redundancy needs, making it potentially costly for smaller enterprises, though it provides positive ROI through operational efficiency. Nutanix offers cost-effectiveness for existing users without extra licensing costs and structured pricing tiers that provide financial flexibility.

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Google Kubernetes Engine

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Management (10th)

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Parthasarathy T

Cloud Associate DevOps at Publicis Sapient

Managed solutions enable efficient handling of web applications and migration projects

Google Kubernetes Engine can be improved by enabling the in-place upgrade of the machine type of an existing node pool since I currently need to destroy and recreate it. There is no feature present where I can upgrade directly, and having more than 1,000 to 2,000 workloads in one node pool makes changing the node pool name difficult for all those workloads. I choose eight out of ten mainly because of the node pool upgrade challenge I mentioned, but also because of the existence of Anthos service mesh, which is the ingress controller available only for the enterprise Kubernetes Engine. It would be beneficial if it could be offered in the normal Kubernetes Engine with any limitations.

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Prasanthraj PN

Sales Director at InnovationTQ

Offers efficient deployment and management with easy resource allocation, yet faces challenges in integration and compatibility

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE offers easy and fast deployment, management, stability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. The resource allocation is very simple. If we need to expand the memory, storage space, or processor core, it is very easy to manage through our central control. These features are what stand out the most.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The logs are important for detecting problems in our clusters."

"The deployment of the cluster is very easy."

"The initial setup was very easy because it's like a Google platform as a service. It's just one button to set it up. The deployment took only a few minutes."

"Google Kubernetes Engine's most valuable feature is container deployment."

"It is easy to use and deploy."

"The solution is more user-friendly than AWS or Azure. I can also easily scale out the service in the future when the number of customers grows. GKE is the leader of Kubernetes service and it can be easily updated. I love the tool's user interfaces."

"The solution simplified deployment, making it more automated. Previously, Docker required manual configuration, often done by developers on their computers. However, with Google Kubernetes Engine, automation extends to configuration, deployment, scalability, and viability, primarily originating from Docker rather than Kubernetes. Its most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."

"GKE is easier to understand and use than Elastic Kubernetes Service."

More Google Kubernetes Engine pros

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable features of the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) are its simplicity and efficiency during the initial cluster creation phase."

"The solution is embedded in the hypervisor and there are no deployment costs."

"We can do a lot of provisioning."

"The solution is easy to manage. You can get everything in a single platform. It is also easy to work with Terraform as a code."

"My experience with Nutanix's technical support is excellent."

"The product integrates well with our infrastructure."

"The technical support is excellent."

More Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] pros

Cons

"The product’s visible allocation feature needs improvement."

"An area in which Google Kubernetes Engine could improve is configuration."

"I use the Firebase tool with GKE and it would be helpful if the solution can give notifications when we reach the budget limit."

"I have created a couple of issues with Google tech support, and I am not satisfied with the assistance I received."

"I would like the solution to integrate with another Kubernetes product. I would also like it to monitor other platforms. It needs to also include scale-up container in the tool's next release."

"The product could be cheaper."

"t is not very stable."

"The user interface could be improved."

More Google Kubernetes Engine cons

"The product lacks some virtualization capabilities, making it an area for improvement where the solution can focus on providing users with more virtualization capabilities related to disk systems."

"GUI lacks sufficient information to help with understanding the installation and process."

"There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention."

"I have issues with the product's interoperability."

"NKE could benefit from additional features that support more advanced Kubernetes functionalities and configurations."

"We need a backup of production clusters."

"It's mostly for lab purposes; we haven't seen a lot of traction in the market from enterprise customers yet."

"One major issue we faced was that appliances couldn't migrate from VMware to the tool. However, this seems to be a common problem across platforms. We've seen the same issue when migrating from VMware to RHV or other solutions. It's not specifically a Nutanix problem but rather an issue migrating appliances from one VM infrastructure to another. Some kernel-level and storage-level issues impact this process."

More Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are planning to use external support, and hire a commercial partner for it."

"I would rate Kubernetes' pricing four out of five."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"Its pricing is good. They bill us only per user. That's nice."

"The pricing for GKE is dependent on the type of machine or virtual machine (VM) that is selected for the nodes in the cluster. There is a degree of flexibility in choosing the specifications of the machine, such as the number of CPUs, GPUs, and so on. Google provides a variety of options, allowing the user to create the desired cluster composition. However, the cost can be quite steep when it comes to regional clusters, which are necessary for high availability and failover. This redundancy is crucial for businesses and is required to handle an increase in requests in case of any issues in one region, such as jumping to a different region in case of a failure in the Toronto region. While it may be tempting to choose the cheapest type of machines, this may result in a limited capacity and user numbers, requiring over-provisioning to handle additional requests, such as those for a web application."

"I would rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten. The tool costs around 3000 dollars per month. There are no additional costs apart from these."

"The product is a little bit expensive."

"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. The product is competitively priced."

More Google Kubernetes Engine pricing and cost advice

"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"I rate NKE's pricing a six out of ten."

"While deploying Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix is cost-effective, there may be additional costs for remote branch offices where Kubernetes is less common."

"The product's licenses are included in the software version deployed in our data center."

"The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing as four out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Computer Software Company

Retailer

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Kubernetes Engine?

The product has no downtime.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Kubernetes Engine?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Google Kubernetes Engine is straightforward, as I previously indicated. The need for humans is reduced with GCP since there is no need for ...

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What needs improvement with Google Kubernetes Engine?

See all answers

What do you like most about Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?

The most valuable features of the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) are its simplicity and efficiency during the initial cluster creation phase.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?

In terms of features, I cannot comment technically, but the real value is the consolidated out-of-the-box solution that Nutanix offers. Nutanix has built great branding and a lot of credibility and...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?

I have experience with OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Nutanix, as we are one of the largest Nutanix resellers in the Middle East. We handle Kubernetes on the cloud as well, so we manage most of the Kub...

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Comparisons

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 24% of the time

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 17% of the time

Docker vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 16% of the time

Kubernetes vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 14% of the time

Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode) vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 14% of the time

More Google Kubernetes Engine Competitors

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

Compared 28% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

Compared 22% of the time

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

Compared 18% of the time

Kubernetes vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

NGINX Ingress Controller vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

Compared 3% of the time

More Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Kubernetes Engine

October 2025

Download Google Kubernetes Engine product report

Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]

October 2025

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] report

Download Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] product report

Also Known As

GKE

Nutanix Karbon

Overview

Kubernetes Engine is a managed, production-ready environment for deploying containerized applications. It brings our latest innovations in developer productivity, resource efficiency, automated operations, and open source flexibility to accelerate your time to market.

Google

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] offers easy deployment, efficient resource management, and seamless integration with existing infrastructure, supporting virtualization and configurable RBAC.

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] simplifies Kubernetes cluster deployment and management, offering robust features such as health checks and seamless upgrades. It integrates with existing systems, supports virtualization, and provides a unified console. Automatic load management and scalability contribute to its stability. Though migrating via VMware poses challenges and documentation updates are needed, potential enhancements include dynamic resource scaling, advanced backup options, and improved disaster recovery. NKE is ideal for microservices, container management, and application modernization, playing a vital role in DevOps settings.

What are the key features of Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]?

Easy Deployment: Simplifies cluster setup and management for quick ramp-up.
Resource Allocation: Efficiently allocates computing resources for optimized operations.
Seamless Upgrades: Handles updates without causing downtime.
Integration: Works with existing infrastructure, allowing virtualization support.
Console Management: Offers a single interface for robust management features.

What benefits should users look for in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL]?

Cost-Effectiveness: Provides a reliable Kubernetes platform with reduced operational costs.
Scalability: Ensures stability and growth alongside increasing demands.
Support Features: Includes robust technical support for a seamless experience.
Efficiency: Enhances workload management in DevOps environments.
Configurable Options: Allows tailored RBAC and scalable virtualization benefits.

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] is deployed in industries focusing on microservices and application modernization, serving development to testing environments. It integrates with hardware and API tools, supporting DevOps workloads and infrastructure management. Primarily used on-premises, it supports large-scale application deployment leveraging network capabilities.

Nutanix

Sample Customers

Philips Lighting, Alpha Vertex, GroupBy, BQ

JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen

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