I´m planning a new web-project and want to implement node.js microservices. Now I´ve read a lot and found out that it will be a recommended way to do that with docker/kubernetes for availability and scaling.

It will be my first project and a have a lot of question now. Hopefully the community helps me out a bit with it:

Kubernetes-Cluster: One of my first questions is the cluster. What is the best way to start with the cluster? Azure AKS is mostly used in web-tutorials, but isn´t it possible to start with an own server installing Docker and Kubernetes via a webhosting?

My biggest problem is that I don´t know to to calculate prices on Azure. For me it is clear that the cluster hasn´t any costs, but how do I calculate VM and Traffic.

And what about having a lot of API´s, should be each API an own AKS-Service on Azure = 1 VM which is 24 hours up and running?

It should be a webproject, all API´s must be available 24 hours. Has anyone experiences with using Azure AKS with an similar project and has some explanations for me.

If it is possible with an webhosting package, has someone a tutorial how to start with it?

Thanks to all for help, hopefully there is someone to clarify some points for me.