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Amazon Elastic Container Service vs Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 1, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Elastic Container Se...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Container Management (12th), Containers as a Service (CaaS) (1st)
Nutanix Kubernetes Engine N...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

AG
Lead Developer at Virtual Restaurant Solutions
Starts strong with functionalities but reveals cost limitations
The main challenge with Amazon Elastic Container Service is the significant learning curve. Everything mentioned took months to understand. It is not for the faint of heart. Though they have graphical interfaces and numerous dashboards that help create all the services graphically, learning to use Bash can be challenging. Because these are headless servers by nature, there is no graphical interface. It is not similar to Windows where you can hit the start button and look for your program, or Mac where you can look for programs on your desktop. Instead, users must understand this new paradigm of a Linux headless server, which requires using command-based prompts for builds and development.
reviewer2741271 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nutanix Administrator at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Has provided seamless upgrade experiences and robust technical support
I have heard there are many features added in NKP that are not available in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, such as load balancer features. The unified control plane feature is not being used in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE. We are currently using a third-party tool for load balancing, but going forward, NKP will include load balancer, ingress, and egress features, making infrastructure management much easier. There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention. Concerning policy-driven governance in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, we have the ability to implement RBAC at the cluster level, which helps maintain security by not granting full admin privileges to every end user, thus restricting access effectively.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I like Amazon EC2 Container Service's elasticity."
"Amazon EC2 Container Service is a flexible product from Amazon. You can put it in the Auto Scaling group for high availability. There are also a lot of choices for pricing."
"ECS is flexible and easy to use."
"I use the tool to manage containerized applications. What I like about Amazon ECS is the interface it provides. Although the configurations can be extensive, such as setting up auto-scaling groups and configuring separate tasks and services for each application, the interface makes it manageable."
"Overall, it is a user-friendly and efficient tool for managing containers."
"The solution is extremely stable and reliable."
"In seven years, we have not faced a single second of downtime."
"Implementing the product has helped me monitor the parameters. I utilize tools like CloudWatch and AWS systems to track these parameters. If any issues arise, I alert our developer team to address and resolve them. The product helps to have a global file system. Also, it helps in data replication from region to region."
"The product integrates well with our infrastructure."
"Nutanix's support is really good."
"The solution is embedded in the hypervisor and there are no deployment costs."
"My experience with Nutanix's technical support is excellent."
"The solution is easy to manage. You can get everything in a single platform. It is also easy to work with Terraform as a code."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The solution provides no downtime features. If we face issues, we create a new port, deploy it there, and then drop the existing one. This way, we avoid NKE downtime on our website."
"Karbon is embedded in the hypervisor, there are no deployment costs and the administration is via Prism Central."
 

Cons

"After the load balancer gets attached to Amazon Elastic Container Service clusters, I can't modify, remove, or replace it later."
"The pricing could be a bit better."
"Since it is a managed service for container orchestration, it may limit our control over certain infrastructure functions."
"Currently, when scaling with Amazon Elastic Container Service, I have to choose between monitoring CPU or memory usage to scale up or scale out; there is no option to monitor both simultaneously."
"The product can become expensive if you don't choose what you want."
"The solution's user experience and management are really bad."
"They could provide easier options for third-party integrations similar to internal AWS services."
"We faced challenges with AWS and I feel the support could have been better - more timely with their response, more knowledgeable staff and more customer friendly."
"Areas for improvement in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) include upgrading management capabilities and enhancing the user interface for improved usability."
"I have issues with the product's interoperability."
"The product lacks some virtualization capabilities, making it an area for improvement where the solution can focus on providing users with more virtualization capabilities related to disk systems."
"It's mostly for lab purposes; we haven't seen a lot of traction in the market from enterprise customers yet."
"There have been challenges related to software bugs, especially regarding long-term licensing options and issues within our customer network."
"There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention."
"In the next release, I would like to have automatic dynamic scaling, both upscaling and downscaling."
"Nutanix has limitations compared to VMware, particularly in testing and industry tie-ups with different OEMs. Deploying virtual machines, especially for industrial automation, can be challenging due to compatibility issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is pricey."
"The pricing is good."
"Our client is paying between $400 and $500 USD per month for this service."
"Amazon Elastic Container Service is an expensive solution."
"The tool's cost is good."
"There is no need to pay anything towards the licensing costs of Amazon EC2 Container Service."
"Amazon ECS is expensive."
"The pricing of Amazon EC2 Container Service is average."
"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The product's licenses are included in the software version deployed in our data center."
"I rate NKE's pricing a six out of ten."
"While deploying Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix is cost-effective, there may be additional costs for remote branch offices where Kubernetes is less common."
"The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing as four out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon EC2 Container Service?
I am not certain about potential improvement areas for Amazon. However, I think the UI should be enhanced to better visualize things.
What is your primary use case for Amazon EC2 Container Service?
Amazon Elastic Container Service is used for hosting different applications in a container environment. It makes it somewhat easy to host applications, and as one of the AWS-provided solutions, it ...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon EC2 Container Service?
I combine Checkmarx, Infosec, and AWS solutions. I work with Amazon solutions such as Amazon Elastic Container Service, Kubernetes, and some of the AI solutions, including Bedrock; these are some o...
What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
In terms of features, I cannot comment technically, but the real value is the consolidated out-of-the-box solution that Nutanix offers. Nutanix has built great branding and a lot of credibility and...
What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
I have experience with OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Nutanix, as we are one of the largest Nutanix resellers in the Middle East. We handle Kubernetes on the cloud as well, so we manage most of the Kub...
What advice do you have for others considering Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE?
I don't have a technical role, but we are a system integrator, so we sell solutions such as OpenShift and Kubernetes as part of the sales team. We are a reseller called eSky IT, and I serve as the ...
 

Also Known As

Amazon ECS, Amazon EC2 Container Service
Nutanix Karbon
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ubisoft, GoPro, TIBCO, Remind
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Red Hat, Kubernetes and others in Container Management. Updated: April 2026.
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