HPA, VPA, or KEDA: Choosing the Right Kubernetes Autoscaler to Reduce Cloud Costs
Kubernetes offers three autoscaling tools — HPA, VPA, and KEDA — each targeting a different source of cloud waste. The Horizontal Pod Autoscaler adjusts the number of running pod replicas based on metrics like CPU or traffic, but cannot scale below one replica, meaning idle services still incur costs. The Vertical Pod Autoscaler reduces waste by right-sizing each pod's CPU and memory requests to match actual usage, addressing the common problem of over-provisioning in clusters. KEDA, a CNCF-graduated project, enables event-driven scaling including scale-to-zero, eliminating costs during idle periods for workloads like queue processors or batch pipelines. Experts recommend combining all three tools in mature setups, matching each autoscaler to the specific type of waste present in a given workload.
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