AKS is a managed Kubernetes service that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications in Azure. It handles tasks like scaling, patching, and upgrading the Kubernetes clusters, allowing developers to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure. AKS integrates with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory and Azure Monitor, to provide a seamless management experience. It's ideal for companies looking to run containerized applications at scale with minimal management overhead.
A development team uses AKS because of its tight integration with Visual Studio Code and Bridge to Kubernetes, allowing developers to efficiently debug and test locally. They mostly deploy production workloads on EKS, where their cloud infrastructure is already established. In addition, they also use GKE for workloads that demand higher automation and performance optimization.