Google Kubernetes Engine vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) comparison

Google and Nutanix are both solutions in the Container Management category. Google is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.5, while Nutanix is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.7. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Nutanix users who would recommend it.

Google Kubernetes Engine

Read 40 Google Kubernetes Engine reviews

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913 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform...

Read 8 Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) reviews

1,472 Views
1,472 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Google Kubernetes Engine

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

Google Kubernetes Engine and Nutanix Kubernetes Platform compete in the cloud management and orchestration category. GKE seems to have the upper hand in integration with Google Cloud and ease of deployment, while NKP shines in hybrid cloud management and performance.

Features: GKE is known for its autoscaling, seamless integration with Google services, and effective management of the control plane. It allows easy deployment across cloud platforms. NKP stands out with hybrid cloud management, robust security features, and the use of NVME storage for enhanced performance, offering flexibility and ease in deploying clusters.

Room for Improvement: GKE could enhance its documentation, monitoring, and backup systems and improve security integration. NKP needs to improve user support, expand marketplace offerings, and simplify installation processes. Both platforms need to focus on enhancing security and monitoring, but GKE users have specifically noted the need for better documentation and automated data solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GKE excels in public cloud deployment, appreciated for its managed nature within Google's ecosystem, though it receives criticism for response times in support. NKP is praised for hybrid and on-premises capabilities but relies on technical expertise and internal issue handling due to limited external support.

Pricing and ROI: GKE offers competitive pricing with flexible configurations but can be costly for high availability and large deployments. It delivers cost savings and improved productivity but faces rising competition, impacting market advantage. NKP provides enterprise-level value at affordable pricing, appealing to businesses needing robust storage and scalability, offering a strong ROI for enterprise solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Kubernetes Engine vs. Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Kubernetes Engine vs. Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

December 2025

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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

Google Kubernetes Engine

Ranking in Container Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform...

Ranking in Container Management

12th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Parthasarathy T

Cloud Associate DevOps at Publicis Sapient

Managed solutions enable efficient handling of web applications and migration projects

Google Kubernetes Engine can be improved by enabling the in-place upgrade of the machine type of an existing node pool since I currently need to destroy and recreate it. There is no feature present where I can upgrade directly, and having more than 1,000 to 2,000 workloads in one node pool makes changing the node pool name difficult for all those workloads. I choose eight out of ten mainly because of the node pool upgrade challenge I mentioned, but also because of the existence of Anthos service mesh, which is the ingress controller available only for the enterprise Kubernetes Engine. It would be beneficial if it could be offered in the normal Kubernetes Engine with any limitations.

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RashidAnwar

Senior Project Lead at Tetra Pak

Centralized cluster deployment has improved remote site operations and supported hybrid application models

The initial setup was not straightforward. It was challenging, but then it was manageable. It is relatively easy, but we do have challenges. Not everything is straightforward. There are things that can be addressed. In a couple of cases, we needed some third-party expertise to ensure that we did it correctly. In most cases, we were able to do it on our own. When hosting something on Azure and connecting with an HTTPS link, there are some dependencies that need to be tweaked on Nutanix. Otherwise, it does not communicate with the on-premises infrastructure. There were a few tweaks that we struggled with for almost a couple of days. That was not part of the original design manual. We needed to make some tweaks within the cluster ourselves to achieve the goal. There were some shortcomings in the design that we had to customize ourselves to achieve, especially integration with Azure Cloud.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We appreciate that it is quite easy to set up a Kubernetes cluster in Google Cloud, using the managed services within this solution."

"Google Kubernetes Engine is helping tremendously to make the high availability of the service."

"The solution is available across AWS, GCP and Azure and is seamless."

"The feature that I like the most is the ease of use as compared to AWS. Its ease of use is very high, and I can quickly deploy clusters with a simple template."

"We hardly have a breakdown. It's been very stable."

"We used automation for the initial setup. It was okay. So it wasn't too complex."

"Its functionalities, such as computing the namespaces, clusters, pods, and restart logs, are easy to use."

"The logs are important for detecting problems in our clusters."

More Google Kubernetes Engine pros

"Migration from public cloud to private cloud and vice versa is actually seamless using Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), making it very handy when providing a Kubernetes platform for customers needing on-premises solutions during application modernization."

"The platform is stable."

"The stability of Nutanix is exceptional; when operational, it performs flawlessly and demonstrates remarkable resilience."

"The platform is easy to set up, maintain, and update."

"Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is a centralized platform that allows us to deploy different clusters from a centralized location."

"Compared to Azure or Amazon, Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is not as secure, but the new edition may improve these functionalities."

"We have great support from Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) and the experience has been excellent; the relationship maintained with the team in India is particularly strong, and the support directly from Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) itself has been exceptional."

"Before working with Nutanix Kubernetes (NKP), I was working on Dockers, which required separate setups for each microservice, application, or web server, but now everything is under one umbrella, allowing us to manage it all without going here and there."

Cons

"The product’s visible allocation feature needs improvement."

"There is room for improvement in the cluster updates process. Specifically, when managing both non-production and production clusters, we need a sequential functionality."

"I think that security is an important point, and there should be additional features for the evaluation of data in containers that will create a more secure environment for usage in multi-parent models."

"The tool's configuration features need improvement."

"The user interface could be improved."

"There is room for improvement in this solution. For example, auto-scaling can be complex. We expect it to be easier to set up and manage, even for our customers."

"t is not very stable."

"The user interface is a bit confusing sometimes. You need to navigate between the various consoles we have. It's hard to figure out where things are. It's frustrating. The documentation could be a bit better."

More Google Kubernetes Engine cons

"There were some shortcomings in the design that we had to customize ourselves to achieve, especially integration with Azure Cloud."

"There are some limitations with the non-air gap version as it requires complete internet access, which poses restrictions due to government regulations."

"Regarding the stability and reliability of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I sometimes worry about incidents that occur, but we don't receive a clear explanation of what happened."

"They have to improve their marketplace offering for Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) which is currently limited."

"In Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I believe the migration process needs to be much simpler, similar to other Kubernetes platforms we are using, with all steps being clear and direct to facilitate an easier experience for everyone."

"A significant limitation of the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is its requirement for extensive Kubernetes knowledge."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Initially, Google Kubernetes Engine was a little bit cheaper, but now its prices have been increased compared to the pricing model and the features that are made available by its competitors."

"This is an open source solution, so there is no pricing or licensing."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"Currently, it costs around $1000 per month which sorted our deployment. So once we get more clients, having a huge suffix, costs can go up."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"The price for Google Kubernetes Engine could be lower - I'd rate its pricing at three out of five."

"The pricing for GKE is dependent on the type of machine or virtual machine (VM) that is selected for the nodes in the cluster. There is a degree of flexibility in choosing the specifications of the machine, such as the number of CPUs, GPUs, and so on. Google provides a variety of options, allowing the user to create the desired cluster composition. However, the cost can be quite steep when it comes to regional clusters, which are necessary for high availability and failover. This redundancy is crucial for businesses and is required to handle an increase in requests in case of any issues in one region, such as jumping to a different region in case of a failure in the Toronto region. While it may be tempting to choose the cheapest type of machines, this may result in a limited capacity and user numbers, requiring over-provisioning to handle additional requests, such as those for a web application."

"We are planning to use external support, and hire a commercial partner for it."

More Google Kubernetes Engine pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

26%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Kubernetes Engine?

The product has no downtime.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Kubernetes Engine?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Google Kubernetes Engine is straightforward, as I previously indicated. The need for humans is reduced with GCP since there is no need for ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Kubernetes Engine?

The price could be a bit cheaper. I don't see anything with Google Kubernetes Engine that needs to be improved. I think they are already implementing Kubernetes itself, so they are the owners. Howe...

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What needs improvement with Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?

Other areas of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) that could be improved include backup, replication, and disaster recovery. Currently, we can create the Kubernetes cluster, but for backup or disast...

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What is your primary use case for Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?

We are not the end users of this solution; we are a kind of cloud provider for the government. The institutions ask for a platform, and we create it while providing all the necessary infrastructure...

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What advice do you have for others considering Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)?

Regarding API-driven infrastructure of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), I didn't quite understand that question. I don't think we utilize it, but I am unsure if it is there. My overall review rat...

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Comparisons

Kubernetes vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 13% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 13% of the time

Docker vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 12% of the time

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 12% of the time

Amazon EKS vs Google Kubernetes Engine

Compared 5% of the time

More Google Kubernetes Engine Competitors

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

Compared 35% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

Compared 15% of the time

Kubernetes vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

Compared 14% of the time

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Ezmeral Container Platform vs Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

Compared 2% of the time

More Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Kubernetes Engine

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

January 2026

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) report

Download Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) product report

Also Known As

GKE

No data available

Overview

Kubernetes Engine is a managed, production-ready environment for deploying containerized applications. It brings our latest innovations in developer productivity, resource efficiency, automated operations, and open source flexibility to accelerate your time to market.

Google

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) offers a comprehensive solution for managing Kubernetes environments, catering to complex enterprise requirements with robust functionality and ease of use.

NKP delivers an integrated approach to deploying, managing, and scaling Kubernetes clusters. It simplifies operations with features that enhance scalability, security, and efficiency. By offering seamless integration with existing infrastructure, it eases the transition to a cloud-native ecosystem, enabling enterprises to leverage Kubernetes to its fullest potential.

What are the most important features of NKP?

Automated Operations: Streamlines cluster management by automating routine tasks.
Security and Compliance: Offers advanced features to ensure data protection and regulatory compliance.
Scalability: Easily scales resources to meet growing demands.
Unified Management: Provides a single interface for managing on-premises and cloud-based Kubernetes environments.
Integrated Monitoring: Offers built-in tools for continuous monitoring and performance optimization.

What benefits or ROI should you look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs through automation and streamlined processes.
Improved Agility: Enhances development speed and response to market changes.
Resource Optimization: Maximizes resource usage through efficient management.
Enhanced Security: Protects data and applications with robust security features.
Lower Time to Market: Accelerates deployment of applications and services.

NKP finds application in industries ranging from healthcare to finance, where reliable and scalable infrastructure is critical. In healthcare, it aids in managing sensitive data with strict compliance requirements. The finance sector benefits from its ability to securely handle large volumes of transactions while ensuring high availability.

Nutanix

Sample Customers

Philips Lighting, Alpha Vertex, GroupBy, BQ

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Google Kubernetes Engine vs. Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

December 2025

Free Report: Google Kubernetes Engine vs. Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP)

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