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Exoscale Scalable Kubernetes Service
Lausanne, Switzerland
What it is
Exoscale Scalable Kubernetes Service (SKS) is a managed Kubernetes service for deploying, scaling, and hosting containerized applications in Europe. Exoscale operates the control plane and provides control-plane upgrades, reducing routine cluster maintenance for customers. The product page says fully managed clusters can be started in less than one minute. SKS includes a free Starter Cluster billed by the hour, with a managed control plane, CLI, API, Terraform integration, and automatic control-plane patch upgrades. Pro Cluster is also billed hourly, but no numeric price is listed; it includes a highly available control plane, etcd backups, a 99.95% SLA, and Karpenter autoscaling. Networking includes Network Load Balancers for ingress and Kubernetes-compatible instance pools. The Exoscale CSI driver can attach block or object storage for stateful workloads. Clusters have minimal exposure by default, with user controls for authentication, network policies, and role-based access. Kubernetes Audit provides visibility into user and system actions. SKS is vanilla Kubernetes, so monitoring, GitOps, and security tools are not installed by default.
For and against
For
- Free Starter Cluster includes a managed control plane
- Control-plane patch upgrades are automatic
- Pro includes Karpenter autoscaling and etcd backups
- Kubernetes Audit shows user and system actions
Against
- Starter Cluster has no SLA
- Monitoring, GitOps, and security tools are not installed by default
- Pro Cluster has no numeric price listed
- Starter Cluster is limited to three clusters
The verdict
SKS handles control-plane operations while leaving cluster tooling choices to the customer. The free Starter tier has no SLA, and the service does not install monitoring, GitOps, or security tools by default.
Who it suits
SKS suits developers and data engineers building cloud-native applications, particularly European teams that want a managed Kubernetes control plane.
Plans and prices
Starter Cluster
No SLA · managed control plane · CLI, API, Terraform integration · control-plane patch auto-upgrades
Read 3 Oct 2026 · exoscale.com
Pro Cluster
99.95 % SLA · highly available control plane · etcd backups · Karpenter autoscaling
Read 3 Oct 2026 · exoscale.com
On the record
- Audit
- Kubernetes Audit provides visibility into user and system actions.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Autoscaling
- Karpenter can dynamically provision compute resources, and Pro Cluster includes this autoscaling feature.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Cluster setup
- The product page says fully managed clusters can be started in less than one minute.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Exoscale lists Kubernetes Cloud Controller Manager, Karpenter, Terraform, Packer, Vault, Pulumi, and Crossplane among its integrations.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- Exoscale describes its cloud platform as built to help European teams develop cloud-native applications and specifically mentions developers and data engineers.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Limits
- SKS is vanilla Kubernetes and does not include additional tooling such as monitoring, GitOps, or security solutions installed by default.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Managed operations
- Exoscale operates the control plane and provides control-plane upgrades, reducing cluster maintenance work for customers.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Networking
- SKS integrates Network Load Balancers for ingress traffic and supports Kubernetes-compatible instance pools.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- SKS is a managed Kubernetes service for deploying, scaling, and hosting containerized applications in Europe.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Security controls
- Clusters are provisioned with minimal exposure by default, and users control authentication, network policies, and role-based access.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Standards
- Exoscale says every SKS release passes the CNCF Kubernetes conformance tests and supports required Kubernetes APIs.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Storage
- The Exoscale CSI driver supports attaching block or object storage for stateful workloads.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
- Support
- All Exoscale customers receive included ticket support, with paid support plans offering faster response times and additional channels or coverage.exoscale.com · read 3 Oct 2026
