I'm trying to use the free tier (autopilot mode) to learn k8s on gcp. However I cam across the following https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63987678/is-it-possible-to-have-google-cloud-kubernetes-cluster-in-the-free-tier. However when I checked the link given in the question I could not find the specified limitation f1-micro machines are not supported due to insufficient memory. Is this still valid ? can I use k8s on gcp in the free tier without incurring any cost?
For study purpose, I believe its better to have classic (Standard) GKE cluster rather than autopilot, where you have less managing options.
When its come to pricing, using Preemptible nodes in GKE cluster is a better option where pricing is really low.
you can enable this selecting as below
Hi If you want to learn the K8s on GCP you can try using qwiklabs where you get some initial credits by which you can access some of the labs where you can learn and practice your activities. https://go.qwiklabs.com/qwiklabs-free
There is no way to get a free GKE cluster on GCP, but you can get a very cheap one by following the instructions at https://github.com/Neutrollized/free-tier-gke.
Using a combination of GKE's free management tier and a low cost machine type, the cost estimate is less than $5 per month: .
More details on what is available as part of the free tier can be found here: https://cloud.google.com/free.
Also, for your question regarding limitation of f1-micro to be used in GKE,if you follow the documentation limitation It is written that- Minimum CPU platform cannot be used with shared core machine types. Now since f1-micro machines are shared core machine types. So it is valid and cannot be used.
As described in the documentation, there is no management cost for 1 Autopilot or 1 GKE standard zonal mode.
You don't pay for the control plane. But then you have to pay for your workload measured in seconds for autopilot (pod level) and seconds for GKE standard (node level (compute engine))
