Managed Kubernetes platforms for small business buyers
Asked as “managed Kubernetes platform”, and as “hosted Kubernetes service”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 52 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
62%
Clear leader
62DigitalOcean Kubernetes31Google Kubernetes Engine04Civo Kubernetes04others
62% of first choices, clear leader.
Since October 2026▲+7Since October 2026: 55% → 62%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.DigitalOcean Kubernetes held the lead, +7 points on 55%, inside the 11-point floor.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business
DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%Clear leader▲+7Since October 2026: 55% → 62%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.This pageMid-market
Google Kubernetes Engine52%Clear leader▲+9Since October 2026: 43% → 52%, +9 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →EnterpriseGoogle Kubernetes Engine57%Clear leader▲+26Since October 2026: 31% → 57%, +26 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →
DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%Clear leader▲+7Since October 2026: 55% → 62%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.This pageMid-marketGoogle Kubernetes Engine52%Clear leader▲+9Since October 2026: 43% → 52%, +9 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →EnterpriseGoogle Kubernetes Engine57%Clear leader▲+26Since October 2026: 31% → 57%, +26 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Standing →The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince October 2026
01DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%3%69endorsed leader▲+7Since October 2026: 55% → 62%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.55% → 62%
DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%3%69endorsed leader▲+7Since October 2026: 55% → 62%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.55% → 62%02Google Kubernetes Engine Lab in the set31%23%86endorsed leader▲+6Since October 2026: 25% → 31%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.25% → 31%
Google Kubernetes Engine Lab in the set31%23%86endorsed leader▲+6Since October 2026: 25% → 31%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.25% → 31%03
Civo Kubernetes4%7%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 4% → 4%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.4% → 4%
Civo Kubernetes4%7%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 4% → 4%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.4% → 4%Show the eleven products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
14
Red Hat OpenShift0%67%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Red Hat OpenShift0%67%18criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%13
Amazon EKS0%50%74criticized challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%
Amazon EKS0%50%74criticized challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%12
Rancher0%50%16criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Rancher0%50%16criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%05
Azure Kubernetes Service0%23%64accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%
Azure Kubernetes Service0%23%64accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%11
Fly.io0%9%11accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Fly.io0%9%11accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%10
Railway0%8%12accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Railway0%8%12accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%09
Render0%6%16accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Render0%6%16accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%04
Linode Kubernetes Engine0%6%36accepted challenger▼−7Since October 2026: 7% → 0%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.7% → 0%
Linode Kubernetes Engine0%6%36accepted challenger▼−7Since October 2026: 7% → 0%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.7% → 0%06
Northflank0%0%16accepted challenger▼−4Since October 2026: 4% → 0%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.4% → 0%
Northflank0%0%16accepted challenger▼−4Since October 2026: 4% → 0%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.4% → 0%08
Google Cloud Run Lab in the set0%0%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Google Cloud Run Lab in the set0%0%15accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%07
Qovery0%0%14accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Qovery0%0%14accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. Both editions asked the same fourteen models. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Google Kubernetes Engine is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.5 Flash is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice three times of 4; the other thirteen models thirteen times of 52. Google Cloud Run is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.5 Flash is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other thirteen models zero times of 52. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.
For buyers
Head to head
Google Kubernetes Engine vs DigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes Engine vs Azure Kubernetes ServiceGoogle Kubernetes Engine vs Amazon EKS
Head-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.All fifteen head-to-head pages: the top six products, each against each
Google Kubernetes Engine vs Linode Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes Engine vs Civo KubernetesDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Linode Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes vs Civo KubernetesAzure Kubernetes Service vs Amazon EKSAzure Kubernetes Service vs Linode Kubernetes EngineAzure Kubernetes Service vs Civo KubernetesAmazon EKS vs Linode Kubernetes EngineAmazon EKS vs Civo KubernetesLinode Kubernetes Engine vs Civo Kubernetes
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
0102030405060708091011121314Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative80%
Key
01DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%
DigitalOcean Kubernetes62%02Google Kubernetes Engine31%
Google Kubernetes Engine31%03Civo Kubernetes4%
Civo Kubernetes4%04Linode Kubernetes Engine0%
Linode Kubernetes Engine0%05Azure Kubernetes Service0%
Azure Kubernetes Service0%06Northflank0%
Northflank0%07Qovery0%
Qovery0%08Google Cloud Run0%
Google Cloud Run0%09Render0%
Render0%10Railway0%
Railway0%11Fly.io0%
Fly.io0%12Rancher0%
Rancher0%13Amazon EKS0%
Amazon EKS0%14Red Hat OpenShift0%
Red Hat OpenShift0%What they warned about
Nine of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.20, Qwen 3.7 Flash and GLM 4.7 FlashX changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Amazon EKS50%
37 of 74 labels negative · 14 of 14 models · 10 hard negative
“the main managed Kubernetes platforms to approach with caution—or avoid unless you have a very specific reason—... EKS, in particular, is frequently cited as becoming "prohibitively expensive"” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
Google Kubernetes Engine23%
20 of 86 labels negative · 13 of 14 models · 5 hard negative
“Platforms that are consistently flagged as poor / high-risk fits for SMBs ... EKS, GKE Standard, and AKS manage the control plane only” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
Azure Kubernetes Service23%
15 of 64 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 5 hard negative
“AKS is a criticized challenger ... its free tier carries no financially backed guarantee at all” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
Red Hat OpenShift67%
12 of 18 labels negative · 10 of 14 models · 7 hard negative
“Red Hat OpenShift is particularly problematic for small teams. OpenShift is expensive with subscriptions that can exceed underlying compute costs” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
What they cite
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
70 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 771 links across 168 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 54 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.
vendor site · Qovery38 answers · 77 citations · 10 models
vendor site · DigitalOcean35 answers · 72 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Control Plane32 answers · 35 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Northflank19 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Rackspace19 answers · 19 citations · 7 models
publisher (Gane)18 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Mirantis17 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
vendor site · GitHub15 answers · 22 citations · 6 models
15 answers · 15 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Google13 answers · 18 citations · 6 models
vendor site · DigitalOcean12 answers · 17 citations · 6 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
30 answers · 10 models
25 answers · 9 models
24 answers · 11 models
19 answers · 7 models
18 answers · 6 models
18 answers · 9 models
17 answers · 9 models
15 answers · 7 models
14 answers · 7 models
13 answers · 8 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best managed kubernetes platform”, “managed kubernetes platform”, “managed kubernetes platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean parent site DigitalOcean Kubernetes 62% | 62% | 93 | 74,000 | 942 | ||||
| Google Kubernetes Engine cloud.google.com | 31% | 191 | 2,400 | 15 | 7,405,347 | 4 | ||
| Civo Kubernetes civo.com | 4% | 25 | 20 | 1 | 4,772 | |||
| AKS Automatic | 2% | |||||||
| OVHcloud Managed K8s | 2% | |||||||
| Linode linode.com Linode Kubernetes Engine 0% | 0% | 45 | 30 | 1 | 15,263 company | 76 | ||
| Azure azure.microsoft.com Azure Kubernetes Service 0% | 0% | 165 | 301,000 | 47,904 | 1,848,766 | $6,123 | ||
| Northflank northflank.com | 0% | 53 | 1,300 | 8 | 48,493 | 1 | ||
| Qovery qovery.com | 0% | 28 | 390 | 4 | 2,459 | 0 | ||
| Google Cloud google.dev Google Cloud Run 0% | 0% | 22 | 165,000 | 7,596 | 881,346 | 109 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 19 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (cloud.google.com, digitalocean.com, mirantis.com, spot.rackspace.com). The first result for “best managed kubernetes platform” is cycle.io.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best managed Kubernetes platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which hosted Kubernetes service would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top managed Kubernetes platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best managed Kubernetes platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a managed Kubernetes platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which managed Kubernetes platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean KubernetesChangedGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, Nutanix Kubernetes Platform, Red Hat OpenShift
One alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceOne alternative
Amazon EKSFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Linode Kubernetes EngineGPT-5.4 miniDigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes EngineChangedGoogle Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Serviceno first choiceagainst: AWS Lightsail Kubernetes, Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine
Four alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShiftTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceOne alternative
Google Kubernetes EngineGemini 3.5 FlashGoogle Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes EngineHeldGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, HetznerGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine Enterprise, Linode Kubernetes Engine, RKE2, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, k3s, kubeadm
Three alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesThree alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Akamai Linode Kubernetes Engine, Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineSix alternatives
AWS ECS, AWS EKS Auto Mode, Civo Kubernetes, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, GCP Cloud Run, Linode Kubernetes EnginePerplexity SonarDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Platform9 Managed Kubernetes, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShiftDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, standard GKEno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated/Managed OpenShift, VMware Tanzu
Four alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, NorthflankFive alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes, Scaleway KapsuleFour alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, NorthflankThree alternatives
Google Cloud Run, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineGrok 4.20Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware TanzuDigitalOcean KubernetesChangedagainst: Amazon EKSGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Rancher, Red Hat OpenShiftDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Portainer, RancherGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, k3sagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine
Seven alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Platform9 Managed Kubernetes, Qovery, Rackspace SpotTwo alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineFour alternatives
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) with Auto Mode, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with Automatic Mode, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Heroku, RenderFour alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineMistral SmallDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Auto Mode, Fly.io, Heroku, Railway, RenderCivo Kubernetesno first choiceagainst: IBM IKS, VMware Tanzuagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Portainer, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu
Two alternatives
Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Exoscale’s Scalable Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Cloud Run, Porter, QoveryThree alternatives
DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Scaleway KapsuleSix alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes, RancherDeepSeek V4 FlashDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift
One alternative
Google Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Google Kubernetes EngineFive alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Northflank, Porter, QoveryThree alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineEight alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Container Apps, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Humanitec, Northflank, Porter, QoveryLlama 4 MaverickDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldno first choiceCivo Kubernetesno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine Enterprise, Rafay Systems
Three alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Scaleway KapsuleQwen 3.7 FlashGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean KubernetesChangedagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engineno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, Portainer, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift
Two alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesOne alternative
NorthflankTwo alternatives
Linode Kubernetes Engine, Vultr Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineSix alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, EKS Fargate, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes EngineKimi K2DigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKSGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure, Google Kubernetes EngineAKS Automatic, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure AKS with OpenShift, Google Kubernetes Engine, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift
Two alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Azure AKS Free tier, Google Kubernetes EngineOne alternative
Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
Civo Kubernetes, Linode Kubernetes EngineEleven alternatives
Azure Container Apps, ECS/Fargate, EKS Auto Mode, Fly.io, Google Cloud Run, Nomad, Railway, Rancher, Red Hat OpenShift, Render, VMware TanzuGLM 4.7 FlashXDigitalOcean KubernetesGoogle Kubernetes EngineChangedDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKSDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Service
Five alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, VMware TanzuThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesFive alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Northflank BYOC, Porter, QoveryFive alternatives
Akamai Linode Kubernetes Engine, Azure Kubernetes Service, Civo Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine, Ionos CLOUD Managed KubernetesTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceMiniMax M2.5DigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes Engine, OVHcloud Managed K8sno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes
Five alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShiftOne alternative
Linode Kubernetes EngineThree alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean KubernetesFour alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Railway, Render, k3sGPT-6 LunaGoogle Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes EngineHeldDigitalOcean Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesno first choiceagainst: Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine
Three alternatives
AKS Automatic, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, EKS Auto ModeTwo alternatives
AKS Automatic, EKS Auto ModeTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineMuse Glimmer 30BDigitalOcean KubernetesDigitalOcean KubernetesHeldagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineEKS Auto Mode, Google Kubernetes Engineagainst: Google Kubernetes EngineDigitalOcean Kubernetesagainst: Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineGoogle Kubernetes Engineagainst: Alibaba Cloud ACK, Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, Red Hat OpenShift
Two alternatives
Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes EngineTwo alternatives
Exoscale Scalable Kubernetes Service SKS, OVHcloud Managed KubernetesSix alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service, DigitalOcean Kubernetes, Northflank BYOC, Porter, QoveryThree alternatives
Azure Kubernetes Service, Linode Kubernetes Engine, Scaleway KapsuleTwo alternatives
Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes ServiceBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 18:06 | yes | 18 | 10 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 11:37 | yes | 4 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 08:41 | no | 0 | 13 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 10:34 | yes | 10 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 14:15 | yes | 5 | 12 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 11:53 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 17:51 | yes | 20 | 34 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 17:42 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 15:48 | no | 0 | 28 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 12:58 | yes | 9 | 50 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 12:49 | yes | 14 | 63 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 15:39 | no | 0 | 101 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 09:38 | yes | 4 | 11 s |
| Direct recommendation | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 11:23 | yes | 15 | 15 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 13:03 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 14:40 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 09:09 | no | 0 | 13 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 10:23 | yes | 10 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 13:58 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 14:06 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 16:35 | yes | 20 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 19:35 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 13:15 | yes | 5 | 35 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 13:21 | yes | 20 | 54 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 16:37 | yes | 25 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 14:42 | yes | 5 | 42 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 16:16 | yes | 3 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 18:48 | yes | 12 | 17 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 10:59 | yes | 19 | 11 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 19:08 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 16:33 | no | 0 | 20 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 11:12 | yes | 10 | 6 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 17:32 | yes | 9 | 18 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 18:19 | yes | 5 | 8 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 17:50 | yes | 24 | 39 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 14:42 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 16:52 | no | 0 | 33 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 11:40 | yes | 10 | 39 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 09:30 | yes | 12 | 48 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 09:00 | yes | 15 | 76 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 13:17 | yes | 6 | 15 s |
| Comparative | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 14:56 | yes | 14 | 35 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 15:55 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 12:45 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 13:51 | yes | 15 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 14:35 | yes | 10 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 14:23 | yes | 5 | 11 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 10:55 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 13:02 | yes | 25 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 12:18 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 16:28 | yes | 5 | 31 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 18:34 | yes | 10 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 18:06 | yes | 14 | 22 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 11:20 | yes | 15 | 37 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 09:41 | yes | 3 | 13 s |
| Budget constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 16:51 | yes | 14 | 17 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 08:39 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 14:05 | yes | 5 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 08:48 | yes | 6 | 19 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 11:36 | yes | 10 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 16:34 | yes | 9 | 18 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 11:26 | no | 0 | 11 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 17:03 | yes | 23 | 61 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 10:10 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 18:32 | yes | 5 | 37 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 15:19 | yes | 20 | 31 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 14:00 | yes | 14 | 41 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 12:14 | no | 0 | 18 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 11:16 | yes | 6 | 19 s |
| Scale constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 19:11 | yes | 14 | 36 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 11:28 | yes | 17 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 11:13 | yes | 6 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 10:20 | no | 0 | 17 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 12:04 | yes | 10 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 14:43 | yes | 10 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 09:48 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 15:26 | yes | 25 | 32 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 12:11 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 16:48 | yes | 23 | 55 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 10:15 | yes | 24 | 58 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 13:02 | yes | 23 | 280 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 16:44 | no | 0 | 14 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 13:50 | yes | 3 | 16 s |
| Negative framing | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 09:41 | yes | 15 | 27 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
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Category-scoped readings
Amazon EKS Auto Mode read as Amazon EKS
Civo read as Civo Kubernetes
DigitalOcean read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean (DOKS) read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes - DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes – DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
DigitalOcean Kubernetes, DOKS read as DigitalOcean Kubernetes
Linode read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (Akamai/Kodbox) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (LKE) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Linode (by Akamai) read as Linode Kubernetes Engine
Mirantis read as Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
OVHcloud read as OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes
OVHcloud Kubernetes read as OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes
OVHcloud MKS read as OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes
Platform9 read as Platform9 Managed Kubernetes
Scaleway read as Scaleway Kapsule
UpCloud read as UpCloud Managed Kubernetes
Vultr read as Vultr Kubernetes Engine
Unresolved, counted raw
AWS ECS Fargate
AWS EKS Auto Mode
AWS Lightsail Kubernetes
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Auto Mode
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) with Auto Mode
Azure AKS Free tier
Azure AKS with OpenShift (ARO)
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with Automatic Mode
Exoscale SKS
Exoscale Scalable Kubernetes Service SKS
Exoscale’s Scalable Kubernetes Service
Fargate
Fargate/ECS
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) App Engine
IBM IKS
Ionos CLOUD Managed Kubernetes
Linode Kubernetes
OVHcloud Managed K8s
Plural.sh
Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated/Managed OpenShift
VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Service (Tanzu)
kubeadm
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.