AWS Controllers for Kubernetes

What AWS Controllers for Kubernetes is

AWS Controllers for Kubernetes (ACK) brings AWS resource management into Kubernetes. Teams describe the AWS resources they want through Kubernetes custom resources, and ACK periodically checks those declarations against the actual state in AWS, correcting drift. Its documentation lists 74 service controllers, including S3, RDS, Lambda, and DynamoDB. The approach supports declarative, version-controlled infrastructure alongside application workloads, as well as management across AWS accounts and regions. ACK can work with read-only resources and read-only adoption, which supports migrations from other infrastructure-as-code tools.

Amazon EKS users can use EKS Capabilities, where AWS handles installation and upgrades and provides automatic updates, scaling, and tuning. Alternatively, a self-managed Helm installation supports EKS, GKE, AKS, on-premises Kubernetes clusters, and local development. That route is listed as free for Kubernetes 1.20 or later on any Kubernetes cluster. EKS Capability billing is hourly, with charges based on enabled capabilities and each ACK resource managed. Controllers use AWS IAM permissions to access resources; configuration uses YAML or JSON, and state management is self-hosted.

Who it suits

ACK suits teams managing AWS infrastructure through Kubernetes and wanting declarative, version-controlled resource definitions with drift correction. EKS users seeking AWS-managed controller operations can choose EKS Capabilities, while teams needing version or configuration control, or using other Kubernetes environments, can use Helm.

Limits

Self-managed ACK is listed as free. EKS Capability charges are hourly and include a base rate for each enabled capability plus usage charges for each ACK resource managed; it requires Amazon EKS and has no minimum commitment or upfront fees.

Getting started

1. Open the ACK documentation website.
2. Choose EKS Capabilities if you use Amazon EKS and want managed controller operations.
3. Otherwise, use the self-managed Helm installation on Kubernetes 1.20 or later.
4. Define AWS resources using Kubernetes custom resources in YAML or JSON.
5. Authorize controller access with AWS IAM permissions.

Verdict

Choose ACK if you want Kubernetes declarations to manage AWS resources and correct drift, especially across accounts or regions. EKS users who want AWS to operate controller installation and updates can choose EKS Capabilities; teams seeking version and configuration control can self-manage with Helm. The managed option has hourly capability and resource charges, while self-managed ACK is listed as free.