Supported Cloud Providers
Getting Started
Setting up Porter with your cloud account involves three steps:Connect your cloud account
Provide Porter with credentials to access your cloud provider. Porter uses secure methods like IAM role assumption (AWS), service principals (Azure), or service accounts (GCP) to manage resources without storing static credentials.Connect a cloud account →
Create a cluster
Porter provisions a Kubernetes cluster with sensible defaults including networking, load balancers, and node groups. Provisioning takes approximately 30-45 minutes.Create a cluster →
Deploy your application
Once your cluster is ready, deploy applications from GitHub or a container registry.Deploy your first app →
What Porter Provisions
Infrastructure provisioned by Porter includes:| Component | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Network | VPC | VNet | VPC |
| Load Balancer | Network Load Balancer | Azure Load Balancer | Cloud Load Balancer |
| Kubernetes Cluster | EKS | AKS | GKE |
| Container Registry | ECR | ACR | Artifact Registry |
Default Node Groups
Porter provisions three node groups by default:| Node Group | Purpose | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| System | Kubernetes system workloads | 2× t3.medium | 2× Standard_B2s | 2× e2-medium |
| Monitoring | Observability stack | 1× t3.large | 1× Standard_B2ms | 1× e2-standard-2 |
| Application | Your workloads | 1× t3.medium (autoscales) | 1× Standard_B2s (autoscales) | 1× e2-medium (autoscales) |
On AWS, the application node group uses cost optimization by default, which automatically selects the most cost-effective instance types for your workloads.
You can customize machine types, node counts, and disk sizes after initial provisioning through the Node Groups settings.
FAQ
How much does the underlying infrastructure cost?
The cost varies based on resource usage. By default, clusters provisioned by Porter cost approximately:| Provider | Estimated Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| AWS | ~$225/month |
| GCP | ~$253/month |
| Azure | ~$165/month |
Can I use my existing cloud credits?
Yes. Porter provisions infrastructure directly in your cloud account, so any credits you have with AWS, GCP, or Azure apply to the resources Porter creates.What permissions does Porter need?
Porter requires permissions to create and manage Kubernetes clusters, networking resources, and container registries. The setup process varies by provider:- AWS: Automatic setup — Porter guides you through creating a CloudFormation stack that provisions the required IAM role with one click
- Azure: Manual setup required — you’ll need to create a service principal using our setup script or the Azure CLI
- GCP: Manual setup required — you’ll need to create a service account and download a JSON key file