DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) Features

DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS) handles control plane management, upgrades, and cluster operations so you can focus on applications. Key differentiators: free HA control plane, simple pricing, deep DO ecosystem integration. Supports standard Kubernetes tooling -- no proprietary APIs or custom runtimes.

Free HA Control Plane: Multi-AZ, no per-cluster fee. Automatic etcd backups.

Automatic Upgrades: Control plane + worker node upgrades with configurable maintenance windows. Skip up to 3 minor versions.

Supported Versions: Multiple actively-supported K8s versions (including recent 1.30+).

Cluster Autoscaler: Auto-adjust worker node count based on demand. Configurable min/max per node pool.

Automatic Node Remediation (Preview July 2026): Auto-detect and replace unhealthy workers. Configurable via custom resources.

Node Readiness Controller (Preview): Holds NoSchedule taints until required components (including GPU drivers) report healthy.

GPU Node Pools: NVIDIA GPU Operator manages drivers and CUDA workloads.

CNI: Cilium (eBPF, advanced observability, L7 policies) or standard CNI.

Gateway API: GA -- advanced traffic routing with role-oriented resource model.

Load Balancer Integration: One-click LB via Service: LoadBalancer. HTTP/3, auto TLS, sticky sessions.

SSO via OIDC (GA): Any OIDC provider -- Okta, Auth0, Keycloak, Azure AD, JumpCloud.

Private Clusters: No public IPs on nodes. VPC-only communication.

RBAC + IAM: Two-layer authorization.