Managed Kubernetes vs Self-Managed#

The fundamental tradeoff is straightforward: managed Kubernetes trades control for reduced operational burden, while self-managed Kubernetes gives you full control at the cost of owning everything – etcd, certificates, upgrades, high availability, and recovery.

This decision has cascading effects on team structure, hiring, on-call burden, and long-term maintenance cost. Choose deliberately.

Managed Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE)#

The cloud provider runs the control plane: API server, etcd, controller manager, scheduler. They handle patching, scaling, and high availability for these components. You manage worker nodes and workloads.

Choose managed Kubernetes when:

• You are running in a public cloud and want to focus engineering effort on workloads, not infrastructure
• You need an SLA on control plane availability (99.95% for most providers)
• Compliance requirements favor managed services with provider-backed security certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP)
• Your team does not have deep Kubernetes operations expertise and you do not want to build it
• You want integrated cloud services (load balancers, IAM, storage, DNS) without manual plumbing

Cost structure:

• EKS: $74.40/month per cluster control plane + node costs
• AKS: Free tier available (no SLA), Standard tier $74.40/month (with SLA)
• GKE: Free for one zonal Autopilot or Standard cluster, $74.40/month for additional or regional clusters

Limitations of managed Kubernetes:

• Upgrade timelines are dictated by the provider. You cannot run an arbitrary Kubernetes version – only supported versions (typically current minus two or three minor versions)
• Control plane customization is limited. You cannot set arbitrary API server flags, swap etcd for a different backend, or run custom admission controllers at the control plane level
• Some features are provider-specific and create lock-in: EKS Pod Identity, AKS Workload Identity, GKE Autopilot node management
• Debugging control plane issues requires opening support tickets rather than checking logs directly

kubeadm#

kubeadm is the official Kubernetes bootstrapping tool. It initializes a control plane on your infrastructure, handles certificate generation, and joins worker nodes to the cluster. Everything beyond that is your responsibility.

Choose kubeadm when:

• You are deploying on bare metal and need full control over the Kubernetes version and configuration
• You need to customize control plane flags (API server admission plugins, etcd configuration, scheduler policies)
• Air-gapped environments where cloud APIs are unavailable
• You have a team with deep Kubernetes expertise willing to manage etcd backups, certificate rotation, and version upgrades
• You need a specific Kubernetes version that cloud providers do not yet support

What you own with kubeadm:

• etcd cluster management: backups, compaction, defragmentation, disaster recovery
• Certificate lifecycle: rotation, renewal, custom CA integration
• High availability: you must configure load balancing across multiple control plane nodes, set up etcd clustering, and handle failover
• Upgrades: kubeadm provides upgrade commands, but you execute them node by node and handle drain/cordon operations
• Networking: you choose and install the CNI plugin yourself

Tradeoff reality: kubeadm gives you exactly what you ask for – no more, no less. There is no dashboard, no integrated monitoring, no managed upgrades. Budget 1-2 engineers spending meaningful time on cluster operations.

k3s#

k3s is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution by Rancher (now SUSE). It ships as a single binary under 100MB, uses SQLite by default (with etcd, MySQL, or PostgreSQL as options), and replaces some Kubernetes components with lighter alternatives (Traefik for ingress, local-path for storage, Flannel for CNI).

Choose k3s when:

• Edge deployments or IoT where resources are constrained (ARM devices, small VMs)
• Development and testing environments that need a real Kubernetes API without the overhead
• Environments where a single-node cluster is acceptable
• You want the fastest path to a running cluster (single command installation)
• Lightweight multi-cluster scenarios with many small clusters

Tradeoffs:

• Some standard Kubernetes features are removed or replaced. Cloud provider integrations, legacy features, and in-tree storage drivers are stripped out
• The community for production issues is smaller than upstream Kubernetes
• Upgrades follow k3s releases rather than upstream Kubernetes release cadence directly
• While CNCF certified, some third-party tools assume a standard Kubernetes setup and may need minor adjustments

RKE2#

RKE2 (also called RKE Government) is Rancher’s next-generation Kubernetes distribution. It combines the ease of k3s with CIS Benchmark hardening out of the box and FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptographic modules.

Choose RKE2 when:

• Government or regulated environments requiring CIS hardened Kubernetes
• FIPS 140-2 compliance is mandatory
• You want Rancher ecosystem integration (Rancher management server, Fleet for GitOps)
• You need a distribution that passes CIS Kubernetes Benchmark without additional configuration
• Air-gapped deployment with pre-built artifacts and offline installers

Tradeoffs:

• Tied to the Rancher/SUSE ecosystem. While it runs standard Kubernetes, operational tooling and management leans toward Rancher
• Smaller community than upstream Kubernetes or managed providers
• Upgrades require following the RKE2 release process rather than standard kubeadm procedures

Talos Linux#

Talos Linux is an immutable operating system purpose-built for running Kubernetes. There is no SSH access, no shell, no package manager. The entire OS is managed through an API. The Kubernetes control plane is baked into the OS image.

Choose Talos Linux when:

• Security-first: minimal attack surface is a priority. No SSH means no shell access for attackers
• Immutable infrastructure: you want all configuration to be declarative and API-driven
• GitOps everything: OS-level changes are applied through configuration files, not manual commands
• Bare metal or cloud with full automation – no manual node setup

Tradeoffs:

• Debugging is fundamentally different. You cannot SSH into a node and check logs manually. All troubleshooting goes through the Talos API
• Smaller community and ecosystem. Fewer Stack Overflow answers, fewer blog posts, fewer people who have seen your specific problem
• Learning curve is steep if your team is accustomed to traditional Linux administration

Comparison Table#

Decision Matrix by Environment#

Running in public cloud, production workloads: Use managed Kubernetes. The control plane fee ($74/month) is negligible compared to the engineering time required to manage it yourself. This is almost always the correct choice for cloud-based production environments.

Bare metal datacenter, production: kubeadm if you need maximum control and have the team. RKE2 if you need hardening out of the box. Talos if you want immutable infrastructure and API-driven management.

Edge or IoT: k3s. Nothing else comes close for resource-constrained environments.

Development and testing: k3s or minikube/kind (for ephemeral clusters). Managed Kubernetes for shared development environments where you want production parity.

Government or regulated: RKE2 for FIPS and CIS compliance. Managed providers also offer government regions (GovCloud, Azure Government) with FedRAMP authorization.

The Hybrid Approach#

Many organizations run managed Kubernetes in the cloud alongside lightweight distributions at the edge. Rancher or Cluster API provides a single management layer across heterogeneous clusters.

A common pattern: GKE/EKS/AKS for primary workloads in the cloud, k3s clusters at retail locations or edge sites, all managed through a central Rancher instance or ArgoCD with ApplicationSets targeting multiple clusters.

Common Mistakes#

Self-managing in cloud to “save money.” The control plane fee for managed Kubernetes is $74/month. A single engineer spending even a few hours per month on control plane operations costs far more. The managed fee is almost always worth it for cloud deployments.

Choosing kubeadm without the team to support it. kubeadm requires ongoing expertise in etcd management, certificate rotation, and upgrade orchestration. If your team does not have this expertise and is not willing to build it, a failed etcd backup will cost you far more than a managed service fee.

Assuming k3s is not production-ready. k3s is CNCF certified Kubernetes. Many organizations run it in production, particularly at the edge. The concern is not whether k3s is production-ready but whether your team can support it for your specific use case.

Ignoring the lock-in spectrum. Even managed Kubernetes creates lock-in through cloud-specific features. Using EKS Pod Identity, AKS Workload Identity, or GKE-specific CRDs means migration between providers is not a simple kubectl apply. Minimize provider-specific abstractions if multi-cloud is a possibility.