specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Kubernetes Services
providerId: kubernetes-services
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Kubernetes
  - Networking
  - Open Source
  - CNCF
description: The Kubernetes Services API (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer, ExternalName, Headless,
  Gateway API) is a core part of the Kubernetes project — Apache-2.0 licensed and free to use. There
  is no vendor charge for the Service abstraction itself. Costs accrue from the underlying cloud-provider
  load balancers (NLB, ALB, GCLB, Azure LB), public IPs, and inter-zone/egress data transfer that LoadBalancer-typed
  Services may provision.
sources:
  - https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/
  - https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/
plans:
  - id: kubernetes-services-open-source
    name: Open Source
    type: freemium
    description: Kubernetes Services are part of the upstream Kubernetes project; no vendor licensing
      cost for the API itself.
    entries:
      - label: Service abstraction
        name: oss
        type: quota
        metric: usage
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: ClusterIP
      - name: NodePort
      - name: LoadBalancer (provisions cloud-provider LB billed externally)
      - name: ExternalName
      - name: Headless services
      - name: EndpointSlice
      - name: Topology-aware routing
      - name: Gateway API (next-generation Service evolution)
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
x-canonical:
  generated: '2026-10-08'
  vocabulary: all/0-working/economics/plans-canonical.yml
  models:
  - free
  units:
  - none
  plans:
  - name: Open Source
    access: freemium
    model: free
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - none
    periods:
    - per-use