---
title: "Top 4 Kubernetes Service Types"
description: "Explore the top 4 Kubernetes service types with a helpful diagram."
image: "https://assets.bytebytego.com/diagrams/0005-4-k8s-service-types.png"
createdAt: "2024-02-24"
draft: false
categories:
  - devops-cicd
tags:
  - Kubernetes
  - Networking
---

![](https://assets.bytebytego.com/diagrams/0005-4-k8s-service-types.png)

The diagram below shows 4 ways to expose a Service.

In Kubernetes, a Service is a method for exposing a network application in the cluster. We use a Service to make that set of Pods available on the network so that users can interact with it.

There are 4 types of Kubernetes services: ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer and ExternalName. The “type” property in the Service's specification determines how the service is exposed to the network.

## Kubernetes Service Types

*   **ClusterIP**

    ClusterIP is the default and most common service type. Kubernetes will assign a cluster-internal IP address to ClusterIP service. This makes the service only reachable within the cluster.

*   **NodePort**

    This exposes the service outside of the cluster by adding a cluster-wide port on top of ClusterIP. We can request the service by NodeIP:NodePort.

*   **LoadBalancer**

    This exposes the Service externally using a cloud provider’s load balancer.

*   **ExternalName**

    This maps a Service to a domain name. This is commonly used to create a service within Kubernetes to represent an external database.