GKE = Google Kubernetes Engine (aka Google Container Engine for Kubernetes on Google Cloud Platform)
Docker isn't easy to install (see my OP). Kubernetes is probably more difficult to install, but it's not more expensive to use GKE than to roll your own Kubernetes elsewhere. And once you understand Kubernetes from a user perspecitve, it's easier to set up on your own.
> it's not more expensive to use GKE than to roll your own Kubernetes elsewhere.
$13 per month per egress rule, bandwidth costs a factor of 100 more expensive than dedicated hosters, and costs for hardware 10x of what dedicated hosters offer.
I’m not sure what your definition of "more expensive" is, but compared to renting dedicated hardware (e.g., from Hetzner), or colocating, GKE is significantly more expensive.
Of course, if you’re on the scale of Spotify, you can get much better deals – but from what I see on https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator/, it’s not cost-effective.
Maybe it’s my inexperience. I’ve not had to define egress rules yet. I run 1 preemptible n1-standard-2 node and pay for ancillary services. It’s $35-40/month.
I have the equivalent of 2 n1-standard-4 nodes (a bit more performant, actually), rented as dedicated servers, for $30 a month. Including egress and bandwidth.
That’s why I disagreed with the "GKE isn’t more expensive".
"but it's not more expensive to use GKE than to roll your own Kubernetes elsewhere."
depends on what scale your at and the fact that your vendor locked, can't use GKE in other data centers
I don't understand ur comment, yea using something in preinstalled in the cloud is easier than installing something on your own.