Karpenter is presented as a cost-effective solution for Kubernetes node autoscaling, improving the efficiency and cost of running workloads by evaluating resource requirements and selecting optimal EC2 instance types. Unlike traditional cluster autoscalers, Karpenter leverages AWS technologies like Amazon EventBridge and SQS to manage resources, using EKS Pod Identities for AWS service access. The blog post details the installation and configuration process of Karpenter, including the creation of NodePool and EC2NodeClass constructs for managing node constraints and AWS settings. It highlights the integration of Karpenter with Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) and the benefits of Cluster Consolidation, which optimizes resource usage by consolidating nodes into a more cost-effective configuration. The deployment of the Konnect Data Plane, alongside HPA and Karpenter, demonstrates improved scalability and resource management during high-load scenarios, emphasizing Kong's commitment to performance and elasticity in API gateway infrastructure.