MiniStack Now Emulates Amazon EKS — Free, Open-Source AWS Emulator v1.2.20

EKS Joins the Free AWS Emulator

MiniStack v1.2.20 adds Amazon EKS to its list of emulated AWS services. Create clusters, manage node groups, and hit the EKS API surface — all locally, all free.

If you haven't seen MiniStack before: it's a free, MIT-licensed AWS emulator. 40+ services on a single Docker container, single port (4566). No account, no API key, no telemetry. Drop-in compatible with the AWS CLI, Terraform, CDK, and every AWS SDK.

docker run -p 4566:4566 nahuelnucera/ministack

EKS Emulation in Action

aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 eks create-cluster \
  --name my-cluster \
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/eks-role \
  --resources-vpc-config subnetIds=subnet-1,securityGroupIds=sg-1

aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 eks describe-cluster \
  --name my-cluster

aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 eks create-nodegroup \
  --cluster-name my-cluster \
  --nodegroup-name my-nodes \
  --node-role arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/node-role \
  --subnets subnet-1

Terraform and CDK work without changes — just point your provider endpoint to localhost:4566.

Why This Matters

EKS is one of those services that's painful to test against real AWS. Clusters take 10-15 minutes to provision, cost money even when idle, and are overkill when all you need is to validate your IaC or integration logic.

With MiniStack, your Terraform plans, CDK deploys, and SDK integration tests hit a local EKS API instantly. No cluster spin-up time, no AWS bill.

What MiniStack Emulates (40+ Services)

Not just EKS. The full list keeps growing:

Core (in-memory):
S3, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, Lambda, IAM, STS, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch Logs, SSM Parameter Store, EventBridge, Kinesis, CloudWatch Metrics, SES, Step Functions, Cognito, API Gateway, CloudFormation, ACM, Route 53, Cloud Map

Infrastructure (real Docker containers):
RDS (real Postgres/MySQL), ElastiCache (real Redis), ECS (real Docker containers), Athena (real SQL via DuckDB), Glue

Compute & Container:
EC2, EKS, ECR, Auto Scaling, ELBv2

Data & Analytics:
Firehose, Redshift, S3 Files

Other:
AppConfig, CodeBuild, Scheduler, Resource Groups Tagging API

How It Compares

	LocalStack Free	LocalStack Pro	MiniStack
EKS	❌	✅ Paid	✅ Free
Core services	Now paid	✅	✅ Free
RDS/ElastiCache/ECS	❌	✅	✅ Real containers
Startup	~30s	~30s	~2s
RAM at idle	~500MB	~500MB	~21MB
Image size	~1GB	~1GB	~270MB
License	BSL	Proprietary	MIT
Price	Paid	$35+/mo	Free forever

Try It

docker run -p 4566:4566 nahuelnucera/ministack

No account. No API key. No telemetry.

• GitHub: github.com/ministackorg/ministack
• Docker Hub: nahuelnucera/ministack
• Website: ministack.org

MIT licensed. PRs welcome.