Kubernetes 1.31 on EKS reaches the end of extended support on November 26, 2026; after that AWS upgrades the control plane on its own schedule, with no notice and no rollback. Version 1.34 leaves standard support on December 2, when the control plane goes from $0.10 to $0.60 an hour. What happens, what doesn't, and what to do this month.
From the EKS Kubernetes release calendar. Billing for extended support starts at 00:00 UTC on the end-of-standard-support date.
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Only the control plane is upgraded. Managed node groups and self-managed nodes stay on the old version; Auto Mode nodes may update.
AWS gives no time and sends no notice before it happens, and an automatically upgraded cluster can't be rolled back.
Add-ons (VPC CNI, CoreDNS, kube-proxy) and anything using APIs removed in the new version are yours to fix afterwards.
Nodes keep working up to three minor versions behind the control plane, but that skew isn't a state to stay in.
Standard support is $0.10 per cluster-hour, about $73 a month. Extended support is $0.60, about $438. Ten clusters left on 1.34 past December 2 cost an extra $3,650 a month for no new capability.
Run aws eks describe-cluster-versions and list every cluster's version in every account and Region.
Upgrade any 1.31 cluster yourself before November 26, one minor version at a time, so you choose the time and can roll back within seven days.
Schedule 1.34 clusters to 1.35 before December 2.
Check EKS upgrade insights for deprecated APIs before each step.
Upgrade node groups and add-ons right after each control plane step; restart Fargate pods so they pick up the new kubelet.
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Book a free 30-minute call about it. Bring your setup and your bill; you'll leave knowing what we'd do first and roughly what it costs, whether or not you hire us.
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As of November 2, 2026. Provided as is, for general information, and accurate to the best of our knowledge on the date shown. Not legal, compliance, tax, financial or other professional advice. Prices, limits and vendor services change; check current vendor documentation before relying on anything here. Terms of use.