Since you mentioned about CloudRun, I had one query.

I run docker compose locally for development. For prod, I just use a different docker compose file (with some values changed, for example the postgres database url etc.). I do this from a 5 USD per month droplet/vm. I can launch multiple services like this for my microservices platform. I can use a hosted database solution for another 15 USD per month, to get backups etc. Also I get a generous 1 TB bandwidth and predictable performance for my system as a whole.

In the past I have used appengine and been bitten by their update times (took more than 20 mins for a single code update, things could have improved now). Also I need to write deployment artifacts for each service.

Now is there any benefit that cloud run (or any paas) could offer compared to this ? Would it be not easier to just stay with docker-compose and defer upgrading to kubernetes until you turn profitable or become unmanageable with a single VM ?

You have vendor lock-in with all of these though

Not really, no.

Cloud Run implements the Knative API, so you can actually take it away and run it on any Kubernetes cluster anywhere on a cloud or in your datacenter.

Doesn't that require Istio and a few other things as well? I wouldn't wish Istio configuration and maintenance on anyone but the larger shops/teams. You might not be technically locked in, but not everyone can afford to dedicate the attention to tuning and maintaining Istio.

Source: at mid-sized company who has Istio in the stack.

Knative just needs a gateway (LB); not a full mesh. Istio is the default option. Alternatively you can use Gloo, Ambassador or something specifically built for Knative such as Kourier.

Vendor lock-in does not come from using GKE/EKS/AKS or derivatives.

What ends up happening is that your application consumes services (storage, analytics, etc.). You start using those services from the cloud provider, which makes sense as long as it is the right thing for your business (aligns w/ your cloud-native blueprint).

Kubernetes, by itself, is cloud-provider agnostic.

Hello! Cloud Run would be better if it supported Cloud IAP and wildcard managed certificates.

Overall though it is an amazing service and it is really fast and easy to use.

Does cloud run or fargate have an equivalent to a statefulset? Persistent storage and the ability to talk to a specific node/instance?

Thanks; Fargate was what i was anticipating, or Heroku, hadn't looked at Cloud Run but definitely will.

Thanks for repeating what I already said. I responded to the question asked. OP asked if there are simpler alternatives. These are simpler alternatives to Kubernetes.

I don't know which part you're not getting, but it appears that this person's intention is not to learn Kubernetes or deal with nodes in the first place.