The AWS cost of supporting old Kubernetes clusters is six times higher than the standard price. Kubernetes evolves rapidly, with new features, design updates, and bug fixes released every 4 months on average.
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Standard Support: 14 months from the release date in Amazon EKS.
Extended Support: 12 months after standard support ends, but at a higher cost ($0.60 per cluster per hour vs. $0.10).
Kubernetes version | Upstream release | Amazon EKS release | End of standard support | End of extended support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1.32 | December 11, 2024 | January 23, 2025 | March 23, 2026 | March 23, 2027 |
1.31 | August 13, 2024 | September 26, 2024 | November 26, 2025 | November 26, 2026 |
1.30 | April 17, 2024 | May 23, 2024 | July 23, 2025 | July 23, 2026 |
1.29 | December 13, 2023 | January 23, 2024 | March 23, 2025 | March 23, 2026 |
1.28 | August 15, 2023 | September 26, 2023 | November 26, 2024 | November 26, 2025 |
1.27 | April 11, 2023 | May 24, 2023 | July 24, 2024 | July 24, 2025 |
1.26 | December 9, 2022 | April 11, 2023 | June 11, 2024 | June 11, 2025 |
1.25 | August 23, 2022 | February 22, 2023 | May 1, 2024 | May 1, 2025 |
1.24 | May 3, 2022 | November 15, 2022 | January 31, 2024 | January 31, 2025 |
The cost to run an Amazon EKS cluster is based on the Kubernetes minor version of the cluster control plane. Extended Support is running by default.
Regular upgrades are strongly recommended to avoid unnecessary expenses and ensure access to the latest features and security patches.
Support type | Duration | Price (per cluster per hour) |
Standard | 14 months starting from the date a version is generally available on Amazon EKS | $0.10 |
Extended | 12 months starting from the date a version reaches the end of standard support in Amazon EKS | $0.60 |
You can find more information on that AWS documentation or that AWS blog post.
How to identify?
You can identify clusters running on Extended Support using the following methods:
From our Cost Optimizations Report, check at EKS_Extended_Support section.
In AWS Console, navigate to the EKS service, then select the Clusters section. Review the Kubernetes version of each cluster and compare it with the support timeline above.
In AWS Console, go to Billing and Cost Management, then select the Bills section. Click on Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes, followed by your region. Search for "ExtendedSupport". If you see a line item for this cost, your cluster is on extended support:
How to fix?
Upgrade your clusters to a supported minor version.
Note: You cannot downgrade the Kubernetes version.
In AWS Console, go to the EKS service, then select the Clusters section. Click Upgrade Now next to the Kubernetes version for the cluster you want to update.
Upgrade versions one by one to ensure compatibility and stability.
Note: If your EKS clusters are provisioned automatically (e.g., via CloudFormation or Terraform), update your infrastructure-as-code (IaC) to reflect the new version.