specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Azure Kubernetes Service
providerId: azure-kubernetes-service
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:
  - Containers
  - Kubernetes
  - DevOps
  - Compute
description: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) charges only for the cluster control plane on the Standard
  and Premium tiers (Free tier is no-cost) plus the underlying VM, storage, and networking. Customers
  always pay for the agent-node VMs, OS disks, persistent volumes, load balancers, and egress regardless
  of tier. The Free tier offers best-effort uptime; Standard and Premium include a financially-backed
  uptime SLA (99.9% / 99.95%). Premium adds 24-month Long-Term Support (LTS) for regulated environments.
sources:
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/kubernetes-service/
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/free-standard-pricing-tiers
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/quotas-skus-regions
plans:
  - id: azure-kubernetes-service-free
    name: Free Tier
    type: freemium
    description: Free cluster management (no SLA) for dev/test, learning, and small-scale workloads.
      Best-effort uptime; recommended for less than 10 nodes.
    entries:
      - label: Cluster management
        name: control_plane
        type: subscription
        metric: cluster
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Underlying VMs / storage / network
        name: infra
        type: metered
        metric: varies
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: see Azure pricing calculator
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: All AKS features
      - name: No uptime SLA
      - name: Recommended < 10 nodes
  - id: azure-kubernetes-service-standard
    name: Standard Tier
    type: usage-based
    description: Production workloads. 99.9% (no AZ) / 99.95% (with AZ) Kubernetes API server uptime
      SLA. Auto-scales control plane components. Up to 5,000 nodes per cluster.
    entries:
      - label: Cluster management (Standard)
        name: control_plane_standard
        type: subscription
        metric: cluster
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: see Azure Kubernetes Service pricing page (per-cluster-hour)
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Underlying VMs / storage / network
        name: infra
        type: metered
        metric: varies
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: see Azure pricing calculator
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: All Free features
      - name: 99.9% / 99.95% Uptime SLA
      - name: Auto-scaling control plane
      - name: Up to 5,000 nodes / cluster
  - id: azure-kubernetes-service-premium
    name: Premium Tier
    type: usage-based
    description: Standard plus Microsoft maintenance past community support (Long-Term Support, 2-year
      Kubernetes version support) for regulated environments.
    entries:
      - label: Cluster management (Premium)
        name: control_plane_premium
        type: subscription
        metric: cluster
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: see Azure Kubernetes Service pricing page (LTS uplift)
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Underlying VMs / storage / network
        name: infra
        type: metered
        metric: varies
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: see Azure pricing calculator
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: All Standard features
      - name: 24-month Long-Term Support (LTS)
      - name: Premium uplift on per-cluster-hour rate
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
x-canonical:
  generated: '2026-10-08'
  vocabulary: all/0-working/economics/plans-canonical.yml
  models:
  - hybrid
  - metered
  - subscription
  units:
  - compute
  - negotiated
  plans:
  - name: Free Tier
    access: freemium
    model: subscription
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - compute
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month
    - per-use
  - name: Standard Tier
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month
    - per-use
  - name: Premium Tier
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month
    - per-use
  - name: Free
    access: freemium
    model: hybrid
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - hour
  - name: Standard
    access: other
    model: subscription
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - hour
  - name: Premium
    access: other
    model: subscription
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - hour