If you think deploying often (not 125k per year), load balancing, and a fully declaratively defined operational process to what is essentially an industry stand

If you think deploying often (not 125k per year), load balancing, and a fully declaratively defined operational process to what is essentially an industry standard is overkill, then yeah to some it might be. But Kubernetes is a standard and if you know it then you might as well use it even for smaller companies that dont really need the brawny features of it. In the end, theres nothing mandating that you would save a a lot of money throwing it out of the equation.