Build a cheap cluster
There is a blog where the author gives a good explanation and open source code for a cheap 3 nodes HA production cluster. It's in Digitalocean but could be replicated in any similar host provider. It's too long to post everything here so check this link
That depends on whether you want to use the Cloud or not. Alternatives that come to mind could be:
- Using Virtual Machines in your own Computer using solutions like Vagrant (as @sfgroups mentioned) or handcrafted VMs directly.
- Building a Cluster using Raspberry Pi computers.
- Look for cheaper cloud providers
In all of these cases, you could follow guides to build your cluster from scratch like https://github.com/kelseyhightower/kubernetes-the-hard-way (note that this is meant for GCE but most of it is applicable to other systems)
You can use DC/OS Vagrant to spin up a local DC/OS cluster. You do need a pretty burly machine for it to work since you're basically running a full DC/OS cluster, and if you plan on testing out any data services or big workloads there, you'll need an even bigger machine. (check on the requirements)