DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS)
Fully managed Kubernetes with free control plane, simple pricing, and integrated developer experience.
DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) is a fully managed Kubernetes service that eliminates control plane management overhead. You get a high-availability control plane at no extra cost, automatic version upgrades, and native integration with the rest of the DigitalOcean ecosystem.
Key Services
- Free HA control plane — no per-cluster management fee (unlike EKS)
- Automatic updates — managed patching across supported Kubernetes versions
- Integrated load balancers — native LBaaS with TLS termination
- CNI options — Cilium and the default DigitalOcean CNI
- Cluster autoscaling — node groups scale on demand
- Private networking — private clusters with VPC support
- 1-click apps — curated Helm charts for common workloads
Best For
Teams that want Kubernetes without the operational burden of managing masters. Transparent worker-node pricing ($12/mo for 2 vCPU / 4GB) keeps cost predictable. Compare alternatives: DOKS vs GKE Autopilot, DOKS vs EKS, DOKS vs AKS. See our buying guide: Best Managed Kubernetes Services.
- Best for: Cloud Platforms
- Pricing: Free control plane; worker nodes from $12/mo (2 vCPU, 4GB); HA included
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Visit DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS)DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Hub
Explore DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS)
Compare DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) With
Features
Compute (VMs / Instances)
Virtual machines and compute instances for general-purpose workloads
Kubernetes-native, not VM-based
Container Registry
Managed Docker/OCI container image registry
Via DO Container Registry integration
Free Tier
Generous free tier for getting started without upfront costs
K8s-specific offering, uses DO credits
Global CDN
Content delivery network for low-latency global content distribution
Via DO Spaces CDN
Managed Databases
Managed relational and NoSQL database services
Via DO Managed Databases integration
Managed Kubernetes
Managed Kubernetes cluster service for container orchestration
Fully managed Kubernetes, free control plane
Multi-Region Deployment
Deploy workloads across multiple geographic regions worldwide
Available in all 15 DO regions
Object Storage
S3-compatible or similar object storage for unstructured data
Via DO Spaces integration
Serverless Functions
Event-driven serverless compute (FaaS) for running code without provisioning servers
Not available on Kubernetes nodes directly
VPC / Private Networking
Virtual private cloud with private networking, subnets, and firewalls
VPC with private node networking
Best For
Find the right DevOps tools for your specific needs. DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) is featured in these buying guides:
Related Links
Category
Alternatives
Comparisons
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs Hetzner Cloud
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs DigitalOcean
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs DigitalOcean App Platform
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs Microsoft Azure
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) vs Vultr
DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS)
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) alternatives
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Enterprise
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) features
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Integrations
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Pricing
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) pros-cons
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Reviews
- DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Security