Stakater Cloud
vs GKE
GKE is Google's managed Kubernetes — it handles the control plane but everything above it is your responsibility. Stakater Cloud delivers a complete managed OpenShift platform in the EU with GitOps, CI/CD, observability and more — pre-wired and managed for you.
What is Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)?
GKE is Google Cloud's managed Kubernetes service. Autopilot mode removes some node management, but the application platform layer — secrets, GitOps, CI/CD, multi-tenancy, compliance tooling — is still your team's problem to solve.
What is Stakater Cloud?
Stakater Cloud is a fully managed OpenShift platform hosted in the Netherlands. We start at the PaaS layer — your cluster arrives pre-configured, pre-integrated, and with optional full developer platform (SAAP) on top. EU data residency, GDPR/DORA/NIS2 compliant, managed by Red Hat Premier Partner engineers.
How we compare
The real alternative isn't switching cloud providers — it's spending 12–18 months building this yourself with an internal platform team.
| Feature | Stakater Cloud | GKE | DIY on Hyperscaler |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed OpenShift cluster | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| EU data residency | ✓ | Partial | Partial |
| GitOps pre-configured (ArgoCD) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| CI/CD pre-configured (Tekton) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Secrets management (Vault) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Multi-tenancy (MTO) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Full monitoring + logging | ✓ | Basic | ✗ |
| No hyperscaler lock-in | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Predictable EU pricing | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
| Time to first workload | < 15 min | Days–weeks | Months |
Ready to move away from GKE?
Book a call and let's talk about your workloads. We'll show you how Stakater Cloud compares to GKE for your specific situation.