wtf is aws-eks-calculator?

The aws-eks-calculator is a tool that helps you estimate how much it costs to run certain features on Amazon's EKS platform, which is Amazon's managed service for running containerized applications. Instead of forcing you to dig through complex pricing pages or spreadsheets, it gives you a simple interface right in your terminal where you can plug in some numbers and immediately see projected costs. The tool compares the cost of using specific AWS-bundled capabilities, like ArgoCD, ACK, and kro, against setting up and managing those same tools yourself. You navigate through a text-based interface using your keyboard, filling in fields that represent your expected usage. If you connect your AWS account, it pulls live, up-to-date pricing data for your specific region. If you don't connect an account, it falls back on standard default rates so you can still get a rough estimate. You can also export your results to a spreadsheet for easier sharing. This is designed for engineering managers, cloud architects, or founders who are already running applications on EKS and need to make budget decisions. For example, if you are deciding whether to pay for a managed AWS version of a tool versus having your team install and maintain the open-source version, this tool gives you the financial breakdown to make that call. It helps answer the practical question of whether the convenience of a managed service is worth the extra cost for your specific workload. The project is built in Go and runs entirely as a terminal application, meaning there is no web interface to install or manage. It is a focused utility that assumes you already have EKS clusters up and running. The documentation points to a separate file for the exact math and formulas used behind the scenes, which is helpful if you need to verify exactly how the estimates are calculated before bringing those numbers to a budget meeting.